Four British Columbia Lower Mainland cities have kicked off a pilot project designed to help building owners and managers easily “benchmark” and disclose the energy and emissions of their properties.

Building owners and managers who opt in to the voluntary Building Benchmark BC pilot project will receive detailed energy and carbon performance data and a clear picture of how their building’s performance stacks up on carbon emissions relative to similar buildings. This information will help them make more informed decisions on capital investments and upgrades.

The following cities are actively engaged in the pilot: Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, and Vancouver, along with the University of British Columbia and Metro Vancouver. The pilot aims to help all of the above parties identify areas and building types that will need extra support from energy efficiency rebates.

“Within the past year we’ve seen unprecedented support for climate action; dozens of cities have declared climate emergencies,” said David Ramslie, vice president of sustainability for Concert Properties, one of the project participants. “As a result, building owners and managers are paying attention to energy and emissions.”

The companies that choose to benchmark and disclose their energy and emissions at BuildingBenchmarkBC.ca will not only understand where they rank relative to others, they’ll be contributing to a community of practice and research that could help to transform the whole building industry.

OPEN Green Building Society convened a range of stakeholders to develop the pilot, which was made possible with funding from Natural Resources Canada and BC Hydro.

Interested building owners and property managers can participate in the Building Benchmark BC pilot project via BuildingBenchmarkBC.ca.