The goal of the state’s Building Performance Colorado (BPC) program is to help Colorado building owners understand and track energy use in large buildings and identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency and reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution. Efficient energy use in buildings leads to lower utility costs for building owners and tenants, while also reducing harmful air pollution that causes climate change and a variety of health issues.
This page includes information about the state’s benchmarking and building performance standards (BPS) requirements.
Contact Information
Crystal Egelkamp, crystal.egelkamp@state.co.us
The “Energy Performance for Buildings” statute (HB21-1286) requires owners of commercial, multifamily, and public buildings 50,000 square feet or larger to annually benchmark their whole-building energy use and meet set building performance targets. Together, these buildings must reduce sector-wide emissions from buildings 7% by 2026 and 20% by 2030 from 2021 levels. Building Performance Colorado (BPC) is Colorado’s statewide program aimed at increasing energy efficiency and decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector to meet these targets.
The BPC program will not only help building owners reduce their emissions and energy costs, but it will also support workforce training and job growth in Colorado, especially in the fast-growing energy efficiency sector.
What is benchmarking?
Benchmarking refers to measuring and tracking energy use in buildings. This helps building owners and tenants better understand their building’s energy performance compared to similar buildings and allows them to identify opportunities to cut energy waste and save money.
Building owners are required to submit an annual benchmarking report on June 1st every year. Please visit the Building Performance Colorado program website to learn about the State’s benchmarking program and how to submit your benchmarking report. To find out if a building you own is covered, please use the Building ID Search Tool.
What are Building Performance Standards?
To meet statutory, sector-wide greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets of 7% by 2026 and 20% by 2030 from 2021 levels, Building Performance Standards (BPS) create energy performance targets for covered buildings to meet over the coming years, such as specific reductions in energy use or GHG emissions. These standards help drive investments in energy efficiency and beneficial electrification, which will save energy and money while reducing GHG pollution from buildings over time.
Are the Building Performance Standards finalized?
The Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) adopted the rules for the State’s BPS on August 17, 2023. However, these rules will not be finalized until November 1, 2023. After November 1st, CEO will notify building owners about these new requirements and provide in-depth guidance on the rules.
Materials from the rulemaking proceeding are available through the Commission's website.
Does the State’s Building Performance Standard supersede requirements from local jurisdictions?
No, the State’s program does not supersede or replace local performance standard requirements. Building owners will need to comply with both State and local BPS requirements.
BPS Task Force and meeting materials
BPS Task Force members met monthly from September 2021 through September 2022.
This program includes training and a dedicated help center to assist building owners in understanding and complying with the benchmarking requirements. Please visit the Building Performance Colorado program website to learn more. If you have any questions about benchmarking, please contact benchmarking@buildingperformanceco.com.
If you are looking for financing opportunities, please visit the Clean Energy Financing webpage. Additional information about funding and financing resources will be available before the BPS rules are finalized in November.
In order to educate and prepare utilities to meet future data disclosure requirements under the statewide benchmarking and energy performance statute, CEO created the Utility Data Accelerator Coalition. The Coalition provided information and assistance to utility representatives, and also created the Colorado Utility Data Access Best Practices Guide to support utilities in their efforts to provide building owners with access to whole-building data.