New Passed Building Performance Standard!
Newton, Massachusetts is known for its excellent public schools, safe and attractive neighborhoods, proximity to Boston, and its role as a "Garden City" with many open spaces and thirteen distinct villages. It is also known as the most recent City to pass a building performance standard focused on reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.
On December 16, 2024 Newton passed Ordinance No C-55, the Building Energy Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (“BERDO”) which requires that all buildings within the City with Square footages of greater than 20,000 sf comply with the largest buildings, non-residential buildings greater than 100,000 gross square feet need to submit their first reports in Energy Star Portfolio Manager on or by September 15, 2025.
When does Multifamily need to submit?
According to Newton’s BERDO, a property is defined as multifamily as long as more than 50% of the gross floor area (GFA) is designated to residential living units. If your property is mixed use and the residential component does not exceed 50% of GFA, then it is a good idea to check the ordinance for clarification as to which rules and reporting schedules apply to your building.
Should your building reach the definition of Multifamily/Residential the first reporting period is September 15, 2026. A building owner may apply to the BERDO administrator for a one-month extension, only 6-month extension on this reporting deadline if there is an approved hardship for the owner.
Are there any requirements in addition to reporting through Energy Start Portfolio Manager?
In the second year of reporting, in addition to submitting the annual reporting through Energy Star Portfolio, building owners are required to submit verification that their prior year’s data has been audited by a third-party auditor. From that Verification year (which in Multifamily’s case is 2027). All data must be verified by a third party and submitted on a five-year basis.
Newton’s BERDO requires that buildings Green House Gas (GHG) targets must be met by the first target period which starts in 2028. There are five target periods and ultimately the last target period, which starts 2050. buildings to achieve zero emissions.
Are there costs associated with not achieving the GHG targets?
If a building cannot be exempted from BERDO or reach compliance through a different approved method, then compliance can be obtained an Alternative Compliance Payment of $234 per metric ton of GHG above the target in each set target period. The cost of an Alternative Compliance Payment shall be reviewed every five years by the BERDO Administrator, who shall make recommended adjustments, if any, to the city council.
Additional challenges currently not included in the ordinance: How to get whole building data?
There is no prevision currently in the ordinance to compel the utility providers to provide Multifamily buildings with anonymous, aggregated whole building data. Rather it is expressed in the ordinance that
“Where a unit or other space in a Building is occupied by a Tenant and the unit or space is separately metered, the Tenant of such space shall, within 30 days of request by the Owner and in a form to be determined by the BER DO Administrator…. Failure of any Tenant to report the information required in this ordinance does not relieve the Owner of the obligation to report…Where an Owner of a Building is unable to obtain complete Energy use data due to the failure of any Tenant to report the information required, the Owner shall use values or formulas established by the BERDO Administrator to estimate whole Building Energy use.”
This makes Newton the first BPS to use formula estimates for whole building energy use.
How to prepare for Newton’s BERDO?
Given that whole building energy data will not be compelled from the energy providers, it is a best practice to start building green lease addendums into your current lease documents to compel the sharing of in use energy data when the time comes. It is also valuable to start working with your invoice processing providers to ensure that vacant utility expenses are also imported into Energy Star Portfolio Manager in addition to the House Accounts. It would also be wise to contemplate IoT solutions to capture whole building data to comply with BERDO.
Need help?
GreenT Climate Software is here to assist! We can evaluate your current property performance to see your risk with respect to this new BPS in Newton Massachusetts. Contact us for all your needs and questions. We can support you in decisioning your pathway to compliance, model your whole building data, and more!
