The City of Seattle recently published 2019 building energy performance data for Seattle’s largest commercial and multifamily properties. The data is available to view in Seattle’s Open Data Portal along with 2015 – 2018 building performance data. All five years of data can be downloaded and include energy performance metrics such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy use per square foot (EUI), ENERGY STAR score, building type, size, and more. Explore the building data here or summary statistics by building type here. Customized building reports for 2019 data will be available in early 2021 through our online mapping tool www.seattle.gov/energybenchmarkingmap.
Large Buildings Achieve High Compliance with Building Tune-Ups Requirement
After more than two years of the new Building Tune-Ups policy, the largest buildings have achieved over 97% compliance. Congratulations! The first two ‘cohorts’ of buildings – Cohort 1 (200,000+ SF) and Cohort 2 (100,000-199,999 SF) – have completed 330 tune-ups to date, reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the city and saving money on their energy bills.
Building Tune-Ups optimize energy and water performance by identifying low- or no-cost actions related to building operations and maintenance. When done properly, tune-ups can generate 10-15% in energy savings and contribute to our climate goals. Tune-ups are required every five years for non-residential buildings 50,000 square feet or larger in the City of Seattle.
HVAC Operations Dominate Commonly Found Deficiencies
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) measures dominate the most commonly found deficiencies, for both required and voluntary actions (see below). HVAC set point fixes were identified and made in nearly half of all buildings above 100,000 SF to date. Tune-Up Specialists identified HVAC control issues or sensors that were uncalibrated, not functioning, or located inappropriately in 43% of the buildings tuned-up.
Voluntary Actions Uncover Additional Opportunities to Save
Of the most commonly identified voluntary actions, inefficient lighting equipment was identified in 47% of buildings assessed, with approximately 13% of all buildings voluntarily taking action to improve the efficiency of lighting during or after the tune-up. The second most common voluntary correction identified was the presence of equipment reaching the end of its service life, found in 44% of the approved tune-ups and acted upon in 7% of buildings. These voluntary actions represent opportunities for buildings to achieve deeper energy, carbon, and cost savings.
Smaller Building Deadlines Approaching
Owners of smaller buildings must meet the new Tune-Up mandate, April 1, 2021 for Cohort 3 buildings (70,000 to 99,999 GSF) and October 1, 2021 for Cohort 4 buildings (50,000 to 69,999 GSF). In addition to saving energy and water, conducting a Tune-Up can also help with preparing your building for operation during and/or after the COVID-19 pandemic.
All work associated with a Building Tune-Up must be done by a qualified Tune-Up Specialist, the experienced professionals responsible for conducting the building assessment, identifying required Tune-Up actions, performing those actions, verifying the work is done correctly, and submitting a report to the City. The Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC) has a directory of qualified Tune-Ups Specialists. This is a great resource for obtaining tune-up bids.
Compliance takes time, often between 6 and 12 months. Owners are encouraged to get started now to ensure there is adequate time to complete the on-site building assessment and follow through on required corrective actions.
Benchmarking Enforcement Action Delayed for Non-Compliant Buildings
In response to the ongoing pandemic, owners will have until 1/1/2021 before enforcement action is pursued. At that time, owners that remain non-compliant with SMC 22.920 will be subject to 2nd quarter fines based on building size. See the Energy Benchmarking enforcement page for more information.
If you need help complying or have questions about benchmarking, contact he help desk at energybenchmarking@seattle.gov or 206-727-8484.
Check Your Compliance Status for 2019 Reporting
The online compliance portal for Energy Benchmarking is now available to check compliance for 2019 benchmarking reports. Once you have completed the Annual Update Checklist, you can check your building’s compliance status at the Seattle Energy Benchmarking Compliance Portal. To check your status, you will need your Seattle OSE Building ID or Portfolio Manager User Name. Reports with possible errors will require additional verification to be considered compliant.
More information on data accuracy requirements here.
If you need help complying or have questions about benchmarking, contact he help desk at energybenchmarking@seattle.gov or 206-727-8484.
2019 Energy Benchmark Reports Due July 1
The City of Seattle has extended the annual deadline for
benchmarking and reporting of 2019 data to July 1st, 2020.
Building owners of nonresidential and multifamily buildings 20,000
SF or larger are encouraged to use the additional time to review
their Portfolio Manager accounts, update space use details to
accurately reflect recent building uses, and confirm all tenant and
house utility meters are included.
Starting in mid-March, you can check your building’s compliance
status online via the Seattle Benchmarking Compliance Portal.
2018 Building Energy Performance Data Available
Seattle’s Energy Benchmarking Ordinance directs the City to annually share building-specific data with the public beginning with 2015 data. Building data is now available online for 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Seattle Public Schools is a stellar student when it comes to energy efficiency
Building Tune-Ups in 35 school buildings earned $185,646 in rebates for Seattle Public Schools
While they may not realize anything is different, many students at Seattle Public Schools are now attending classes in buildings that are more energy-efficient and will save the school district money on its energy bills going forward. Seattle Public Schools (SPS) recently completed building “tune-ups” in twenty-two elementary schools, three middle and K-8 schools, nine high schools, and the John Stanford Center. A building tune-up involves helping building owners identify smart, responsible ways to reduce energy and water costs and then implement the improvements.
“Our new schools are being designed and built to be energy efficient, but the Building Tune-Up Program ensures that we keep all of our buildings, not just the new ones, running as efficiently as possible,” said Rina Fa’amoe-Cross, Resource Conservation Specialist for SPS. “Receiving incentive money to tune up buildings ahead of schedule has been a wonderful bonus!”
The City of Seattle requires commercial buildings 50,000 square feet and larger to conduct periodic tune-ups with the largest buildings, 100,000 square feet or greater, required to comply in 2019. Building Tune-Ups optimize energy and water performance by identifying low- or no-cost actions related to building operations and maintenance, that generate 10-15% in energy savings, on average. Building energy use is the second largest source of climate pollution in Seattle and accelerating our transition to an energy efficient building sector is critical to meeting our climate goals.
Seattle Public Schools participated in the Tune-Up Accelerator program, a voluntary program for owners of buildings up to 100,000 square feet that gave them access to technical assistance and incentives for compliance with the Seattle Building Tune-Up requirement ahead of the deadline. As a result of the successful tune-ups in the twenty-two buildings enrolled in the Accelerator program, SPS was eligible for $185,646 in rebates from Seattle City Light. The rebate money was reinvested in building operations improvements. The building improvements are expected to pay for themselves within 3 to 4 years through substantial savings on utility bills.
“I applaud Seattle Public Schools for their extensive work on improving performance in so many of their buildings,” said Jessica Finn Coven, Director of the Seattle Office of Sustainability & Environment. “Our institutional leaders in Seattle are key partners in our climate action efforts and their leadership in being an “early adopter” of Seattle’s Building Tune-Up policy has provided an excellent example for others to follow.”
“Helping our customers be more efficient with the energy they use maximizes our existing clean, renewable energy resources and furthers Seattle’s effort to reduce our collective carbon footprint,” said Debra Smith, Seattle City Light General Manager and CEO. “This great partnership with Seattle Public Schools demonstrates what is possible and we look forward to working with many others in the days ahead.”
The Tune-Up Accelerator program was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office. Seattle’s award was geared towards solutions to improve the energy efficiency of small and medium commercial buildings.
Seattle’s efforts in driving building energy efficiency continue to show results in national rankings. Recently, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked Seattle 3rd overall out of 75 cities nationwide in their 2019 Clean Energy Scorecard. Seattle scored high marks for the Seattle Energy Code, its enforcement of the code, and its efforts to make its existing building stock more energy efficient.
Helping Residents Ditch Dirty Oil
Mayor Durkan recently introduced legislation aimed at accelerating Seattle’s conversion of Seattle’s homes that burn oil for heat to cleaner electric heating. This legislation is a key tool to help us reduce our climate impacts. Oil is one of the most expensive and polluting forms of home heating the urgency of the climate crisis requires us to act swiftly and to take these bold steps in order to preserve our quality of life.
Converting Seattle’s oil heated homes to clean electricity is expected to reduce Seattle’s climate emissions by 433,000 metric tons over 10 years. That is the equivalent of taking nearly 90,000 passenger cars off the road for a year!
The legislation supports the phase out of home heating oil to more energy-efficient and clean heating and cooling systems by 2028 through the following:
- an excise tax on heating oil starting July 1, 2020 on heating oil providers
- a requirement for heating oil tank owners to decommission or upgrade all existing underground oil tanks by 2028.
Revenue from the tax will provide grants to low-income households to fully fund upgrades to heat pumps, expand Seattle’s existing rebate program to non-low-income households, and support oil service providers with workforce training needed to help them transition to heat pump installation services.
More info:
Frequently Asked Questions
Briefing of the Sustainability & Transportation Committee – 8/16. Presentation starts at 1:21 mark.
Nearly 70% of Seattle’s Largest Buildings on Track To Be Compliant with New Building Tune-Ups Requirement
Congratulations to the first cohort of buildings (200,000K+ SF) that have complied with the new Building Tune-Ups regulation by the March 1st deadline.
Seattle’s Building Tune-Up program 
requires buildings to optimize energy and water performance by identifying low- or no-cost actions related to building operations and maintenance, that generate 10-15% in energy savings, on average. The Tune-Ups legislation is a key piece of Seattle’s Climate Action Plan, our roadmap to achieving carbon neutrality, by helping ensure buildings don’t waste energy and water.
Feedback from Tune-Up Specialists has been positive, noting energy savings from implementing required corrective actions. Specialists have also noted that additional voluntary corrective actions have been identified through the assessment process, offering even greater energy savings opportunities for building owners. Tune-Ups on municipal buildings have shown similar results.
The Seattle Justice Center tune-up was an opportunity to optimize the building’s performance. Following an in-depth tune-up assessment, all required corrective 
actions were implemented and are projected to yield $35,000 in annual savings. By identifying additional voluntary corrective actions with a high return on investment, the City invested another $71,500 on energy efficiency measures that will result in $57,000 in annual savings. Combined, this Tune-Up offers a simple payback of 1.8 years. Read the Seattle Justice Center Tune-Up Case Study to learn more.
As of the March 1st deadline, nearly half of the first cohort of buildings (48%) were fully compliant through alternative compliance or by completing a tune-up, 8% of buildings were granted a one-year extension, and an additional 14% submitted incomplete tune-ups to indicate they are in the process of implementing corrective actions within the six-month grace period.
2017 Building Performance Profiles Published
The City of Seattle has published customized building performance profiles based on reported 2017 annual benchmarking data. Reports are available via our online mapping tool, and include details on energy use per square foot, ENERGY STAR scores, total consumption, greenhouse emissions, and more.
With three years of comprehensive energy consumption data, buildings can use their customized profiles to track their energy use over time and see how they stack up to their peers. The updated performance profiles now highlight each building’s climate impact and how it compares to buildings of the same primary use.
Building Profile for Seattle’s Justice Center
Check out your performance profile here!
