Massachusetts considers higher efficiency bar for large commercial buildings

A bill pending in Massachusetts legislature could make the state one of the first to require all large commercial buildings to meet energy efficiency standards, a measure that could cut their emissions by more than 80% by 2040, proponents say.

The Better Buildings Act would require reporting on the energy use of large commercial buildings. Buildings that fail to meet performance standards would have to reduce emissions or pay a fee to the state. Only Washington and Colorado have similar statewide rules, although several cities across the country have taken such measures.

“As a state, we cannot meet our climate goals without tackling emissions from our buildings,” said Ben Hellerstein, State Director of Environment Massachusetts. “And we haven’t really looked at what we need to do to separate our entire building stock from fossil fuels.”

As Massachusetts seeks to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, emissions from existing buildings are likely to be one of the thorniest challenges. Heating and hot water for commercial and residential buildings are responsible for about 27% of the state’s carbon emissions, and electricity generation accounts for another 17%.

Massachusetts has some of the oldest buildings in the country, much of which have oil heaters, drafty windows, and poor insulation. It is widely recognized that reducing emissions in existing buildings requires extensive modernizations and retrofits, often at significant costs for owners.

The climate law passed in February contains measures to reduce emissions from new buildings, such as the requirement for an optional net-zero-energy building regulation, but does little to meet the challenge of existing buildings.

“This is a really big problem and we have nothing in our books to address it,” said Senator Becca Rausch, who introduced the new bill.

The Better Buildings Act would come into force in 2022 and initially require commercial buildings over 25,000 square feet and government buildings over 10,000 square feet to submit reports of their energy use to the state Department of Energy every year, which the Would summarize information in an annual report. The threshold for commercial buildings should drop to 15,000 square meters by 2030.

By the end of 2023, the department would develop performance standards for different building types so that a laboratory would not be subject to the same criteria as an office building or a fitness center. The law would require the state standard to be equal to or below the mean energy consumption for buildings in each category. Individual cities and municipalities could also choose to set stricter standards for their communities.

“We see this as our greatest opportunity to make progress in reducing emissions this year,” said Jacob Stern, assistant director of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Large buildings are a good starting point for remediation efforts because of their oversized impact on emissions, supporters said. For example, in Cambridge, which already has a building energy disclosure program, only 8% of buildings were covered in 2016, but those buildings accounted for 61% of the building space in the city.

“That really is the justification,” said Stern. “It feels like fruit hanging low to us.”

While some of the largest building owners have already started implementing energy efficiency measures to reduce costs, many property owners who would fall under the proposed law are unaware of many of the programs, incentives and technologies that could help make them more efficient. said Erin Cosgrove, Public Policy Manager for Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships. The Better Buildings Act would raise awareness of available options, she said.

The law could even unleash some entrepreneurial creativity and spark the rise of new business models for efficiency or clean energy as startups try to capitalize on the new requirements.

“That will allow some people to get creative,” said Cosgrove.

The ideas for reporting on energy consumption and performance standards have already sparked interest in some cities. Like Cambridge, Boston already has energy disclosure regulations in place for existing buildings. Boston is now considering introducing emissions standards that should be lowered every five years until large buildings have to be carbon neutral by 2050.

In Natick, a suburb west of Boston, the city’s climate action plan has already set standards for building energy consumption as an important strategy for climate reduction. However, implementing such an ambitious program could be challenging for a community. So Natick has been in talks with neighboring cities to form a regional alliance, said Jillian Wilson-Martin, the city’s sustainability coordinator.

Natick would welcome nationwide regulations, she said.

“That would make it a lot easier for us to achieve that priority,” she said. “We think it would be easier for property owners too – it would be great to have a single set of rules and the support they would get.”

The Better Buildings Act has been rejected by the commercial real estate industry, proponents note. And concerns about the cost the bill could charge property owners are real and justified, Stern said.

To address these concerns, the bill includes a provision requiring the energy department to work with utility companies to create and encourage incentives to help building owners comply with the standards. Discounts on energy efficiency measures or subsidies for renewable energy could help make the changes financially meaningful for property owners, proponents said.

“Some of these cost concerns should be taken really seriously,” Stern said. “The aim is to lower the costs of operating these buildings, which will pay off in the long term.”

The bill has been referred to the committee, but a hearing has not yet been set. Rausch tabled a similar bill last year, which was supported by the committee but didn’t get to the final bill. However, she is encouraged by the positive reception of last year’s draft law and the momentum in the legislature following the passage of the climate law earlier this year.

With the bill passed, “Massachusetts would and should become a leader in the nation to address this issue,” she said. “I remain optimistic about the success of the bill this time.”