ABSTRACT
Commercial buildings accounted for nearly one-fifth of the energy consumed in the US in 2010, and their portion of the nation’s energy budget is expected to increase to 21% by 2035 (EIA 2011a). Commercial buildings dominate the urban landscape, and their energy requirements contribute to urban air quality and heat island effects. As a result, innovative policies that promote energy-efficient commercial buildings are critical to sustainable development. We focus here on the use of energy benchmarking to inform building owners and tenants about poor-performing buildings and subsystems and to enable high-performing buildings to achieve greater occupancy rates, rents, and property values. We estimate the possible impacts
of a national policy mandating the energy benchmarking of US commercial buildings, emphasizing the benefits to sustainable urban development.
