Better Buildings Benchmarking

Notice

Some businesses offering benchmarking services may send promotional mailers that appear to be official notices, such as a "Notice of Non-Compliance." These independent providers are NOT affiliated nor contracted with the City and County of Honolulu's Better Buildings Benchmarking Program. The City offers free Help Desk service offered directly through the City's benchmarking program. All official communications from the City’s benchmarking program will be clearly marked with the City seal and a “honolulu.gov” email address. For questions on this matter, please send us an email or call 808-768-2292.

 

What is Benchmarking and Ordinance 22-17?

Building benchmarking is the process of measuring a building’s consumption of energy and water over time. Regularly benchmarking allows building owners and managers to track one of their largest ongoing expenses (i.e., utility bills), understand their building’s performance relative to similar buildings, and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and eliminate waste. Benchmarking is the first step to managing and optimizing building performance and lowering costs.

The City’s Climate Action Plan identified the establishment of a community-wide benchmarking program as an important step in reaching net negative emissions by 2045. Currently, the building sector accounts for roughly one-third of Oʻahu’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This benchmarking program is expected to reduce the electricity consumption of large buildings by nearly 7% by 2030 and help curb greenhouse emissions on the island.

Ordinance 22-17 was signed into law by Mayor Blangiardi on July 20, 2022, to establish a Better Buildings Benchmarking Program. The program will require all large commercial and multi-family buildings to benchmark and report their whole-building electricity, gas, and water usage annually.

Commercial and multi-family buildings 25,000 square feet or larger must report by June 30, 2025.

 
 

Complying with Ordinance 22-17

Click through the drop-down instructions below for an overview on how to report your building’s utility data to the City.

  • All commercial and multi-family buildings must comply if they exceed 25,000 square feet in gross floor area.

    • Check the Covered Buildings List to see if your building is listed, and to obtain your unique Oʻahu Building ID for reporting. If you do not see your building on the list, please contact us. The list currently displays buildings 50,000 sq feet and larger; buildings 25,000 sq feet and larger are expected to be published mid-March.

    The following are exempt from compliance with Ordinance 22-17:

    • Single-family, duplex, triplex, and fourplex residential homes

    • Buildings less than 25,000 square feet in gross floor area

    • Properties classified as industrial under SIC codes 20 through 39

    • Government bodies not subject to the authority of this article

    • Check the Covered Buildings List* to obtain your unique Oʻahu Building ID for reporting. If you do not see your building on the list, please contact us.

    • View your building in the interactive Building ID Map* below to distinguish your building’s name and perimeter.

    • *Both the list and the map currently display buildings 50,000 sq feet and larger; buildings 25,000 sq feet and larger are expected to be published mid-March.

    • Portfolio Manager is a free online tool to track and manage your energy and water data. It will be used to report your data to the City.

    • The Resilience Office created the How-To Guides and FAQs (in the buttons below) to help you set up your Portfolio Manager account, add utility data, and comply.

    • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR website carries a collection of training webinars and how-to guides to assist building owners and managers in benchmarking their buildings.

    • Add your building’s detailed property information and previous calendar year’s data for electric, gas, and water usage.

    • Obtain your Hawaiian Electric data via our new auto utility upload here: bbb.utility.touchstoneiq.com.

  • Submit your report to the City through your Portfolio Manager account by clicking on this link: Reporting Year 2025 Data Request Link for Benchmarking Compliance. If you need to submit a 2023 or 2024 report, please contact us at: BBB@energy.honolulu.gov

 

Need additional guidance?

The Resilience Office created the below How-To Guides and FAQs to help you set up your ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager account, add utility data, and comply.

 
 
 

Oʻahu Building ID Map

Find your Oʻahu Building ID on the interactive map below to distinguish your building’s name and perimeter. Click here to open the map in a new browser window. Note: this map currently displays buildings 50,000 sq feet and larger; buildings 25,000 sq feet and larger are expected to be published mid-March.

Help Desk

Apply for a Time Extension

 
 
 

Email our Help Desk

 
 

ENERGY STAR
Portfolio Manager

Recorded Trainings

Map of Oahu with colored dots.

Buildings Transparency Map

Calendar year 2023 Benchmarking Data submitted by buildings 50,000 square feet is now available! The interactive map will update as commercial and multi-family buildings move into compliance, as well as with each calendar year of data submitted annually. View unique building data including Energy Use Intensity (EUI), Water use Intensity (WUI), and some building characteristics from building age to building size. Locate a building on the map by searching for an Oʻahu Building ID or a building address.

Go Beyond Benchmarking to Save Today!

Building owners can also take advantage of a number of efficiency rebates, which can be applied toward energy audits, lighting upgrades, HVAC retrofits, water-efficient appliances and fixtures, and much more. Rebates are subject to the availability of funds. Want to learn more? Opt-in to receiving efficiency resources from Hawaiʻi Energy and Board of Water supply at the form link below!

Municipal Benchmarking

Under Ordinance 20-47, the City and County of Honolulu is required to benchmark the energy and water use of municipal buildings larger than 10,000 square feet in total floor area. In the spring of 2022, the City completed benchmarking 70 of its covered facilities, representing more than 3.8 million square feet of floor area. The benchmarked data is informing plans to retrofit and implement cost-effective, energy-saving upgrades in several municipal buildings. Energy usage from these buildings is tracked in the City’s Annual Sustainability Report in the Sustainable City Operations section.