Energy efficiency makes so much sense that it rarely finds champions in political circles. But outside the Beltway, in cities and states across the U.S., energy benchmarking and disclosure laws for commercial buildings are driving efficiency gains that produce savings that are substantial enough that they should make people sit up and notice. In the most recent.

Katherine Tweed, September 14, 2013 Chicago has become the latest city to require energy benchmarking of large buildings. The city has a goal of cutting the energy use in half of Chicago’s buildings by 30 percent by 2020. To help move toward that goal, the Chicago City Council voted 32-17 on Wednesday to adopt the Chicago Energy.

On September 25, 2013, New York City released the 2012 energy and water use data for all properties required to annually benchmark under Local Law 84. New York City is the first in the nation to publicly disclose data for large multifamily buildings. Approximately a million New Yorkers can now see how much energy and.