Implementation of Longmont's Commercial Benchmarking Program is progressing, with the City continuing to support the state's benchmarking policy and building performance standards implementation. The adoption of new and emerging technologies presents exciting opportunities for growth for the City. Longmont's automated portal is now operational, providing aggregate, or "whole building," data to automatically or manually import into ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. Over 75 building owners took advantage of our automated data portal to report benchmarking results to the state in 2024. LPC is committed to advancing further in our benchmarking initiatives, and the program will continue to progress throughout 2025.
Building energy benchmarking compares energy use in similar building types in similar climates to see whether a building's energy use is above average, below average or on par. Building owners in Longmont input basic building data and 12 months of electric and natural gas use information into the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager to calculate a score or energy use intensity for their buildings.
In 2021, the State of Colorado passed a bill requiring commercial and multi-family properties greater than 50,000 sq. ft. to benchmark building energy use. The goal is to encourage building owners to increase energy efficiency, lower energy costs, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector.
Longmont Power & Communication currently supports building owners in reporting to the state and has its own voluntary benchmarking program for buildings 20,000 sq. ft. and larger and is evaluating the benefits and costs of implementing a compulsory program.
Longmont's vendor for its data portal that automatically uploads building data to ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is no longer supporting the portal. Longmont Power & Communications will develop (either internally or with another vendor) an alternative to continue to support building owners with convenient and accurate data for reporting to the state and to the City's voluntary program.
Longmont Power & Communications supports the State of Colorado's Building Performance program. We are gaining valuable insights both as a program participant and from the experiences shared by customers of LPC. Internally, we are addressing technical complexities to ensure accurate data and timely customer support in a streamlined fashion.
In collaboration with Efficiency Works, we support in navigating complex energy efficiency solutions and optimizing building performance. Our efforts aim to foster a regulatory environment that supports long-term sustainability investments.
Longmont Power & Communications was selected for grant funding by the Colorado Energy Office to provide an automated portal. The focus for the Longmont program in 2022 was to develop this automated portal, allowing building owners to more easily obtain utility-bill data and aid them in benchmarking.
