The District is going green! The city has introduced several new initiatives to help prepare for 21st-century climate challenges. Last year, the Mayor unveiled the Resilient DC Plan, a strategy for the city to thrive in the face of climate change. Other plans include the Sustainable 2.0 Plan and the Climate Ready DC Plan; both are aimed to create a city ready to adapt to the effects of climate change while lessening our existing impact on the environment.
Part of the city’s work includes new legislation to improve the energy efficiency of office buildings in the District by creating the Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS). BEPS sets minimum levels of energy performance. The legislation will require buildings to meet these standards and continually benchmark to improve their energy performance. BEPS is expected to impact more than 2,700 buildings and cut energy usage by 20 percent in just the first five years.
The DowntownDC BID is proud to be able to play a role in the city’s sustainability efforts. The BID partnered with the Urban Land Institute when they studied the impact of the new legislation on building owners in DowntownDC. More on the full findings of the report is available here. The BID also worked with the District Department of Energy and the Environment (DDOE) and the High-Performance Building Hub to host a learning session for property managers to help their energy efficiency benchmarking.
The DowntownDC BID would encourage all buildings to start thinking green and improving their energy performance. Resources such as the High-Performance Building HUB, the DC Sustainable Energy Utility and the DC Green Bank can provide consulting and funding to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. More information can be found on DDOE’s website or by emailing info.beps@dc.gov or info.benchmark@dc.gov.