Energy and Water Benchmarking and Disclosure Ordinance Background

​Background information on the ordinance and the stakeholder engagement process that was completed.

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​​Background

In November 2019, Ann Arbor's City Council unanimously adopted a Climate Emergency Declaration committing to charting a path for how the entire Ann Arbor community could achieve carbon neutrality b​y the year 2030. In June 2020, City Council unanimously adopted the A2ZERO Carbon Neutrality Plan, a docum​ent created with input from thousands of Ann Arborites to lay out seven strategies for our community to achieve carbon neutrality. The A2ZERO Plan ensures that buildings in Ann Arbor - which account for 68% of community-wide greenhouse gas emissions - are as energy and water efficient as possible with one of its seven core strategies. 

Benchmarking is an easy way for buildings to measure and manage their energy and water use.  The ordinance will help improve the energy efficiency of large buildings across Ann Arbor. Building owners will be able to look across their portfolio to identify opportunities for energy and financial savings, and understand how their buildings are performing relative to buildings of similar characteristics.

The ordinance ​​creates information that will enable better decision-making around building energy use.  By providing reliable data to building owners and tenants and consistent information to the market, benchmarking and transparency leads to average energy savings of 2 - 3 percent each year.

Learn more about how benchmarking benefits our community and what the process entails in this overview:​

Commercial and Multifamily Benchmarking Process


Ordinance D​evel​opment Process

The Office of Sustainability and Innovations worked with multiple City units and community stakeholders to develop policy recommendations during 2020 - 2021. Part of this process will include a public comment period. Meeting agendas and slides decks are included below.

Meeting 1: Setting the Context and Framing the Opportunity

November 19, 2020

Slide Deck: Commercial Benchmarking Meeting 1 Slide Deck.pdf

Meeting 2: Benchmarking 101 and Policy Direction

December 4, 2020

Slide Deck: Commercial Benchmarking Meeting 2 Slide Deck.pdf

Meeting 3: Policy Direction

December 17, 2020

Slide Deck: Commercial Benchmarking Meeting 3 Slide Deck.pdf

Meeting 4: Policy Direction

​January 8, 2021

Slide Deck: Commercial Benchmarking Meeting 4 Slide Deck.pdf

Deliverable: Commercial and Multifamily Benchmarking Summary Policy Recommendations (PDF, 5 pages)


Commercial and Multifamily Benchmarking Open House

​​​February 4, 2021 from 6 - 8 PM

The Office of Sustainability and Innovations hosted an Open House to introduce and review policy recommendations, hear from guest speakers, and facilit​ate feedback. A recording of the Open House is available below.