Commercial and residential properties in Austin will have to conduct independent audits of their energy output beginning June 1, 2009.
The Austin City Council passed an ordinance and resolution implementing the recommendations of the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Task Force on Thursday requiring the audits. When residence owners decide to sell or lease a property they must have an audit on its energy performance and disclose the results to the potential buyer.
The task force formed to develop strategies for meeting key objectives in the Austin Climate Protection Plan, created a year ago by Mayor Will Wynn. It finalized its recommendations and presented them to the Austin City Council on Sept. 11.
“About a year ago, the city adopted a plan that would help establish Austin as a leading city in the nation against global warming,” said John Sutton, a member of the task force. “Part of that strategy was to reduce the city’s energy consumption enough so they would not have to build another natural gas plant.”
The task force estimates that sufficient energy savings can be achieved to avoid the construction of a proposed 225-megawatt natural gas plant in Austin.
According to the report, commercial properties will be responsible for 42 percent of the energy savings achieved through the program.
BOMA Austin, a local affiliate of the international Building Owners and Managers Association, supports the energy conservation goals.
“BOMA International and BOMA Austin recognize there are substantial business-driven benefits for building owners and managers to enhance energy efficiency in buildings, including lowering operating costs and increasing the value of the building,” said Kyle Gillman, president-elect of the organization.
The task force met every other week for eight months and broke into three groups to make energy-saving recommendations for residential, commercial and multi-family properties.
The commercial task force group focused on benchmarking the energy efficiency of public buildings.
The task force chose to grade commercial buildings through the EnergySTAR rating system established by the EPA, Sutton said. The rating system ranks buildings on a scale of 1 to 100. Every building will need to meet a score of 50 within the first five years of the program. Buildings that already meet 50 percent must raise their scores by 20 points during the same time.
“Overall, the task force was trying to make Austin a model for energy conservation and the reduction of greenhouse gases,” Sutton said.
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