Building a Greener Future, One Building at a Time
How Building Performance Standards Supports Earth Day Goals
Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22nd, is a global reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the planet. It's a day for reflection, action, and recommitment to environmental stewardship. While we often focus on individual actions like recycling or planting trees, larger systemic changes are crucial for meaningful impact. One powerful, yet often overlooked, tool in our environmental arsenal is the implementation of Building Performance Standards (BPS).
Fun fact: Buildings account for roughly 40% of global energy consumption and a similar percentage of greenhouse gas emissions. Multifamily Buildings represent about 43% of the total building stock in the United States. Addressing the environmental footprint of our built environment is therefore not just beneficial, it's essential. This is where BPS comes in.
What are Building Performance Standards?
Unlike traditional building codes that primarily focus on new construction and major renovations, Building Performance Standards target the energy use, water consumption, and/or carbon emissions of existing buildings. Key characteristics include:
Performance Targets: BPS sets specific, measurable performance targets (e.g., energy use intensity, greenhouse gas emissions per square foot) that buildings must meet by certain deadlines.
Focus on Existing Buildings: They tackle the massive stock of buildings already standing, which often operate less efficiently than newly constructed buildings.
Long-term Improvement: BPS typically requires buildings to improve their performance over time, driving continuous progress rather than a one-off fix.
Data-driven Focus: They rely on benchmarking – tracking and reporting a building's energy and water use – to measure progress and ensure compliance.
How BPS Directly Supports Earth Day's Mission:
The connection between BPS and the goals of Earth Day is direct and powerful:
Climate Action: By mandating reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, BPS directly tackles climate change. Less energy wasted means fewer fossil fuels burned (in many regions) and lower carbon emissions entering the atmosphere. This aligns perfectly with Earth Day's focus on mitigating the climate crisis.
Resource Conservation: Many BPS policies include targets for water efficiency alongside energy. This encourages building owners to implement water-saving measures, conserving a precious resource vital for ecosystems and human life. Reducing energy demand also conserves the resources (coal, natural gas, water for hydropower, land for renewables) needed to generate that energy in the first place.
Pollution Reduction: Burning fossil fuels for building heating, cooling, and power generates air pollutants that harm human health and ecosystems. By driving down energy demand, BPS contributes to cleaner air in our communities – another key environmental goal celebrated on Earth Day.
Promoting Sustainable Practices: BPS incentivizes building owners to invest in energy efficiency upgrades (like better insulation, modern HVAC systems, LED lighting, smart controls) and renewable energy sources. This pushes the market towards more sustainable technologies and practices.
Driving Systemic Change: While individual actions are important, BPS represents a systemic approach. It shifts the responsibility for environmental performance onto building owners and operators, creating large-scale change across cities and regions much faster than relying solely on voluntary efforts. What’s more, due to the standardized benchmarking process, owners and operators will see which of their BPS initiatives achieved the intended ROI; this consistent focus on efficiency measures will increase confidence in both the environmental and financial benefits of efficiency measures.
Beyond Compliance: A Foundation for a Sustainable Future
Implementing BPS isn't just about meeting regulations; it's about investing in a healthier, more resilient future. Efficient buildings offer numerous co-benefits:
Lower Utility Bills: Reduced energy and water consumption translates directly into cost savings for owners and tenants.
Improved Comfort and Health: Upgrades often lead to better indoor air quality and more stable indoor temperatures.
Increased Property Value: High-performing, sustainable buildings are increasingly attractive in the real estate market.
Job Creation: Retrofitting buildings creates local jobs in construction, engineering, and technology sectors.
Earth Day 2025 and Beyond
As we celebrate Earth Day 2025, let's recognize the critical role our buildings play in environmental health. Building Performance Standards are a vital policy tool to assist in translating climate commitments into tangible action. They ensure that our built environment becomes part of the solution, not just the problem.
From all of us at GreenT, Happy Earth Day! Need help?
GreenT Climate Software is here to assist! We can evaluate your current property performance to see your risk with respect to existing and emerging BPS and provide recommendations to the compliance pathway that works best for your building. Contact us for all your needs and questions. We can support you in deciding your pathway to compliance, model your whole building data, and more!
