Seattle Buildings Must Disclose Energy Use

The Seattle city council in late January 2010 approved an ordinance requiring nonresidential and multi-family residential buildings within the city to benchmark (using Portfolio Manager or a similar tool) and report their energy use.

The ordinance will be implemented in phases, with nonresidential buildings over 50,000 ft2 (4,650 m2) required to benchmark and begin reporting by April 2011, while multi-family dwellings and nonresidential buildings over 10,000 ft2 (930 m2) must begin reporting by April 2012. Building owners must provide this energy use information upon request to prospective or current tenants, potential buyers, or prospective lenders.

“Energy disclosure is a key first step to tap into the gold mine of opportunities to save energy and money while improving the City's existing building stock,” said city council chair Richard Conlin.

Tenants also face obligations under the new ordinance: they must furnish building owners with whatever energy-use information cannot be monitored by the owner and is required for compliance with the reporting requirement.

– Andrea Ward