Washington, D.C. (Oct. 8, 2015) – California Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 802 into law, meaning the state’s commercial building benchmarking program will be implemented, and it will be expanded to cover large multifamily housing, making California the first state in the country with such a program. Benchmarking is the process of measuring and tracking energy use over time so that building owners who spend more than $400 billion annually on energy use nationally can create more prosperous buildings and cities and help clean the air. The law also provides that owners of many residential and commercial buildings will have access to their total energy usage information, enabling them to make smart energy efficiency and renewable investments to improve building performance. The legislation was jointly led by the California Energy Commission and National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), which has two blogs on the law—one from Maria Stamas, energy and climate attorney in San Francisco, and another from senior financial policy specialist Philip Henderson in Washington, D.C.
Thu, 10/08/2015 - 00:00