How to Comply

Looking for your Atlanta Building ID? Look it up here.

The Commercial Building Energy Efficiency Ordinance was developed over the course of eight months and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability held over 165 meetings with stakeholders in crafting the policy. Atlanta’s City Council unanimously voted to approve the ordinance on April 20^th, 2015.

The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability anticipates that this particular policy will lead to the following benefits:

Take Atlanta more than halfway to meeting the goals of Power to Change, which includes the goal of reducing commercial energy consumption 20% by 2020.
Save Atlanta businesses over $100 million in 2020
Create over 1,000 full-time jobs in 2020.
Improve Atlanta’s air quality, which is particularly important when the city was recently ranking in the top 20 in asthma and allergy rates.

Commercial buildings are the single largest consumer of energy within the city, and as a result, the largest source of polluting emissions in the city. This ordinance reduces emissions while saving the commercial sector money.

What is benchmarking?

Benchmarking is the process of determining the levels of energy and water consumed at a property over the course of a year. The City of Atlanta’s initiative will require all covered non-city properties that exceed 50,000 gross square feet in total combined floor areas to be benchmarked by November 15th, 2016. Covered non-city-owned properties that exceed 25,000 gross square feet in total combined floor area must be benchmarked beginning June 1, 2017.

All covered municipal properties buildings that exceed 10,000 gross square feet in total combined floor areas will be benchmarked no later than November 15th, 2016.

The building owner or condominium association is responsible for reporting. Non-residential tenants must, if asked, supply the necessary information to the owner or association. Square footage is determined per the gross floor area listed in Office of Sustainability records.

So what’s required?

	Bench-marking	Transparency	Energy Assessment	Retrocommissioning
Who/What	Building owner inputs consumption	Building owner submits 12 months of data to municipality	If the ABID* ends in the same digit as the year, contract professional services	Contract professional services if desired
Frequency	Annually	Annually	1/10-years	Optional

*ABID: Atlanta Building ID number. ABIDs are randomly assigned so that only 10% of buildings will require assessments in any given year.

When?

Due dates for benchmarking and assessments follow the 2016 calendar in subsequent years. Commercial buildings 25,000 – 49,999 square feet in gross floor area will begin benchmarking and assessments in 2017.

Guidance on How to Comply

The drop-down pages in this section of the website will outline how to comply in a step-by-step process. You can also download a quick compliance guide and guide to energy audits:

Questions?

For questions on Atlanta’s ordinance, email buildingefficiency@atlantaga.gov
Portfolio Manager help, training webinars, and office hours are also available, at portfoliomanager.energystar.gov/pm/help.

Additional resources and supplementary forms are available at www.atlantabuildingefficiency.com

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