Fiscal Note
No Fiscal Expenditure Required.
Title
SUBSTITUTE - Directing the City Engineer to establish a Public/Private Voluntary Benchmarking Program.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Madison approved “The Madison Sustainability Plan: Fostering, Environmental, Economic and Social Resilience” June 12, 2012 RES-12-00434, and,
WHEREAS, goal #2 of The Madison Sustainability Plan calls for systematically upgrading existing buildings, equipment and infrastructure, and;
WHEREAS, the action items under Goal #2 call for the city to work with the private sector to promote and incentivize upgrading existing commercial and residential building stock to improve energy efficiency, indoor air and building environment quality; including creating policies with incentives and energy performance targets to foster upgrades of existing buildings ultimately reducing energy consumption of 50% by 2030, and;
WHEREAS, on September 10, 2014 an order for the formation of a Benchmarking Ad Hoc Committee file #35501 was issued under Section 33.01(4)(a) of the Madison General Ordinances appointing 10 members recommended by (then) Council President, Alder Chris Schmidt, and;
WHEREAS, the Ad Hoc committee began meeting on September 22, 2014 and had three consecutive monthly meetings (that included a meeting where property owners were invited to participate) before agreeing to form a small working group of the Ad Hoc Committee that would include two outside experts on facility management from large property owners, and;
WHEREAS, the working group was charged with coming back to the Ad Hoc Committee with direction/suggestions based on their detailed discussion, research, and;
WHEREAS, the working group met three times with open discussion and listening/learning from each other and the experts at the table, and;
WHEREAS, the working group produced a report that reflected their findings identifying important features of both a mandatory and a voluntary program and sent those to the full Ad Hoc committee on June 1, 2015, and;
WHEREAS, there was open robust discussion at the full Ad Hoc committee with a 7-3 vote to move forward with a voluntary process for benchmarking that would include education, incentives for energy efficiency upgrades and support from the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, and;
WHEREAS, no comprehensive public assessment is readily available that provides building square footage of all commercial property within the City of Madison,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Ad Hoc Sustainable Benchmarking Committee recommends a City of Madison Voluntary Energy Use Benchmarking Program that when combined with other efforts will work to reduce overall building energy consumption of 50% by 2030 in public and private sector buildings. The Program will include an outreach/education plan, incentives for compliance and upgrades, and a third party private entity that will collect and store the data,
BE IT ALSO RESOLVED, that the Assessor’s Office shall produce a report ranking all commercial buildings by total square footage,
BE IT ALSO RESOLVED, the City Engineer shall develop a voluntary public/private energy benchmarking program by Jan. 1, 2016 that would include an annual report on benchmarking goals to be reviewed by Sustainable Madison Committee and present to the Common Council,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the energy benchmarking program shall have a goal of 90 percent compliance, by Dec. 31, 2020, of commercial buildings in the city larger than a minimum target that falls between the range of 25,000 sq. ft. to 50,000 sq. ft. with an exact minimum to be determined using the Assessor’s Office report,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce will support the program through targeted promotion and education to the business community to meet the program’s objectives of reducing energy consumption and related business costs. The city will agree to assist with and develop incentives/resources where necessary.