This bill amends the Green Buildings Act by adding new definitions and a new section. It requires the office of energy resources to undertake energy use benchmarking for large buildings to determine their energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. Building owners are required to report their energy use annually to the office, and the office will make this information available to the public on its website. The office will also prepare an annual comprehensive report on the energy performance of large buildings and make recommendations for further energy reductions based on this report. The bill also requires building owners to request energy use information from tenants and report this information to the office. The bill establishes energy performance standards for large buildings in Rhode Island. The bill requires the Office of Energy Resources to establish these standards on a schedule based on the size of the buildings. The standards must be established by December 31, 2024, and every five years thereafter for buildings owned or leased by a municipality, state agency, or other government entity consisting of at least 10,000 square feet of gross floor area. For residential or commercial buildings consisting of at least 25,000 square feet of gross floor area, the standards must be established by December 31, 2024, and every five years thereafter. The bill also provides compliance pathways for owners of large buildings with energy performance ratings lower than the established standards. The office will require large buildings subject to the requirements to reduce normalized site energy use or greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% over the initial five-year compliance cycle. The bill also allows municipalities to establish and enforce their own energy use benchmarking programs or energy performance standards for buildings, as long as certain conditions are met.

This bill would amend the Green Buildings Act to establish building energy performance standards based on the size of buildings. The bill would require the Office of Energy Resources to review requests from municipalities to establish their own energy programs and may deny requests if certain conditions are not met. The office would also be required to evaluate municipal programs at least once every five years and may withdraw its approval if the programs do not comply with the established conditions. The bill would also require the office to include data from all municipalities, including those with their own energy benchmarking programs or energy performance standards, in designated websites, reports, and reviews. Additionally, the bill would allow owners of large buildings to pay an alternative compliance payment if their buildings fail to meet the compliance pathways established in the bill. The amount of the payment would be set by the office and would be assessed per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. The bill would also establish fines for building owners who fail to comply with reporting and benchmarking requirements or provide false information. The fines would be determined by the office and would be assessed per day of noncompliance. Alternative compliance payments and fines collected would be deposited into a separate account and used to administer the bill and further its objectives. In municipalities that establish their own energy programs, the municipality would assess alternative compliance payments and fines, and the funds collected would be retained by the municipality.

Statutes affected:
5425: 37-24-3