LA EBEWE is now in effect for buildings in the Los Angeles metro area. Each EBEWE benchmark requires building owners to report a full year of energy data (electric, gas, etc.) as well as a full year of water use data for the previous calendar year.

Buildings of 50,000 to 100,000 SF are required submit annual gas, electric and water benchmark sby June 1st, 2018. Buildings of 20,000 to 50,000 SF will need to submit annual gas, electric and water benchmarks beginning in 2019.

Buildings must be registered with the Los Angeles Department of Building Safety “LADBS” prior to submitting EBEWE benchmarks. This can be done by visiting www.ladbs.org/ebeweregistration and entering the building ID# specified in the letter received from LADBS or from BIO (Building Information Online). There is an annual disclosure compliance fee of $64.66.

Compliant buildings will have their annual utility consumption data posted to an LADBS database, which will be made public.

The EBEWE benchmarking process is easy if buildings have already received an ENERGY STAR certification in the past year. This is because the ordinance uses EPA Portfolio Manager to benchmark subject buildings. The only thing that will need to be added is water data. However, if a building does not have a Portfolio Manager profile it will take a few more steps to comply, but either way we can assist!

Further out are the compliance dates for ENERGY STAR award certification and water audit completion and submittal. These are scheduled to begin as early as 2019 and these reports will be required to be completed and submitted every 5 years. Every 5 years thereafter buildings must achieve either an ENERGY STAR certification or have a CA licensed engineer certify they have reduced their Energy Use Intensity by 15%. If this standard is not achieved the building must perform an Energy Audit. For water use intensity the reduction standard is 20%. Subject buildings must either complete a water audit every 5 years starting in 2019 or have a CA licensed engineer confirm that their building has reduced Water Use Intensity by 20% compared to 5 years preceding.