Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS)

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Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) are policies that establish performance levels for buildings and drive all buildings that BEPS covers to achieve these levels in the long-term with required progress at regular intervals in the interim. A BEPS sets a minimum threshold for energy performance for existing buildings, which are based on and measured against a building’s demonstrated energy performance, as shown in their benchmarking data.

See IMT’s primer on BEPS.

Policy Elements of BEPS in Montgomery County

The County’s BEPS Law incorporates the following components:

Policy Overview

The County has developed BEPS that aligns with goals for climate and racial/social equity, balances flexibility with immediate action, provides certainty and transparency for building owners and tenants, and spurs jobs and economic growth.
Covered buildings are grouped by building type and a long-term performance standard is created for each building type.
After 5 years, buildings are evaluated as to whether they are meeting the interim target: calculated as straight line from baseline to final standard.

Building Performance Improvement Plan

If a building cannot reasonably meet the Interim or Final Performance Standards due to economic infeasibility or other circumstances beyond the owner’s control, the County can accept a Building Performance Improvement Plan
The owner must meet the actions and timelines in an approved Building Performance Improvement Plan to be considered “in compliance”
Plans are reviewed by the Building Performance Improvement Board

Metric

The stakeholder work group recommended that the metric buildings are measured against is Normalized Site Energy Use Intensity (EUI), a measure of how efficiently a building is using energy relative to its size. The benefits of using this metric include:

Measuring energy use directly controlled by the building owner
Easy to understand
Can be normalized for weather and operations
Readily available in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager for reporting, which is consistent with Benchmarking Law requirements
Favors electrification—a key strategy for reducing community-wide GHG emissions

The County also plans to provide a renewable energy allowance as “credit” towards the performance target. Learn more in the BEPS Solar and Renewable Energy Allowance information section below.

Covered Buildings

As the benchmarking program phases in various buildings by their square footage over time, buildings will be added to the BEPS program in following groups:

County buildings and Groups 1 & 2: County and privately-owned nonresidential buildings 50,000 gross square feet and larger;
Group 3: County and privately-owned nonresidential buildings 25,000 to 50,000 gross square feet, and buildings previously exempted by the Benchmarking Law;
Group 4: Multifamily residential buildings 250,000 gross square feet and greater;
Group 5: Multifamily residential buildings 25,000 to 250,000 gross square feet.

Timing in Bill

2022: Legislation passes; establish Building Performance Improvement Board
2023: Issue regulations; establish BEPS baselines for County, Groups 1 & 2 buildings through regulation; Group 3 & 4 submits first benchmarking reports
2024: Group 5 submits first benchmarking reports
2028: Interim BEPS standard for County, Groups 1 & 2 buildings
2030: Interim BEPS standard for Group 3 & 4 buildings
2031: Interim BEPS standard for Group 5 buildings
2033: Final BEPS standard for County, Groups 1 & 2 buildings
2035: Final BEPS standard for Group 3 & 4 buildings
2036: Final BEPS standard for Group 5 buildings

Legislative History

2021

The BEPS legislation ( Bill 16-21) was introduced during the May 4, 2021 County Council session. The Council held a public hearing on the bill on July 20, 2021. View the written testimony submitted on Bill 16-21.
The first Council Transportation & Environment Committee work session on BEPS occurred on October 28, 2021 ( staff packet (PDF) / slides (PDF) / recording). The second work session occurred on December 9, 2021 ( staff packet / slides (PDF, 648KB) / recording).
On April 1, 2021, the County Executive transmitted the Building Energy Performance Standard legislation to the Council. Download the full transmittal memorandum and legislative package (PDF). See the Office of Legislative Oversight's Racial Equity and Social Justice Impact Statement (PDF) on Bill 16-21. See the Office of Legislative Oversight’s Economic Impact Statement on Bill 16-21.

2022

On January 21, 2022, Montgomery County joined forces with state and local governments across the country in the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s National Building Performance Standard (BPS) Coalition. Through the coalition, Montgomery County commits to increase community and local stakeholder engagement to co-design BPS and complementary policies and programs with the goal of adopting BPS programs by Earth Day 2024. See the County’s announcement.
On March 14, 2022, the T&E Committee received a briefing on the BEPS Technical Report ( staff packet (PDF) / slides (PDF)) and held a third work session on BEPS ( staff packet (PDF) / recording of briefing and work session).
On March 28, 2022, the T&E Committee reviewed amendments to bill 16-21 ( staff packet (PDF)) and held a final work session on BEPS ( recording of work session). The T&E Committee unanimously voted Bill 16-21 out of committee and Bill 16-21 will go before the full Council for review and final votes.
On April 19, 2022, County Council voted unanimously to pass bill 16-21, Environmental Sustainability - Building Energy Use Benchmarking and Performance Standards - Amendments ( staff packet (PDF)). Regulations will be issued by December 31, 2023.
On May 2, 2022 County Executive Elrich signed Bill 16-21 into law ( recording of the bill signing event). The Bill took effect on July 31, 2022, 90 days after signing.

2023

On November 1, 2023, draft executive regulations related to BEPS implementation appeared in the November, 2023 County Register, for a public, 30-day comment period that ended November 30, 2023.

2024

In January a transmittal packet of proposed BEPS regulations (PDF) (including Building Performance Improvement Board recommendations, public comments received, and proposed regulations) was issued to County Council. The regulations will be considered by County Council in 2024. View a clean version of the proposed regulations (PDF).
The Transportation & Environment Commitee held a series of work sessions on proposed BEPS regulations:
- Jan 24 - discussion with hospital stakeholders ( staff packet / slides (PDF) / recording)
- Feb 26 - discussion with affordable housing stakeholders ( staff packet / recording)
- Mar 18 - discussion with life sciences and biotech stakeholders ( staff packet / recording)
On February 27 the Council approved a resolution to extend the deadline for consideration of Executive Regulation 17-23, Building Energy Performance Standards to September 30, 2024.

Regulations

While the proposed legislation outlines the parameters of BEPS and creates a framework, some facets will be set via regulation. These include:

The final energy performance standards by building type that each building must meet by their final performance
Required elements of Building Performance Improvement Plans (BPIPs), an alternative compliance pathway for buildings,
Details on the Renewable Energy Allowance to expand renewable energy installations in the County, and
Eligibility for extensions for certain buildings.

Draft Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) Executive Regulations appeared in the November 2023 County Register. Pursuant to the BEPS legislation, the County Executive has issued Method (2) regulations that further dictate BEPS implementation which will be considered by County Council in 2024.

The full transmittal packet of proposed BEPS regulations (PDF) contains:

Page 1 – 6: Memos outlining basics about the regulations, including summary of changes to the regulations in response to public comments
Page 7 – 36: The Building Performance Improvement Board's summary recommendation report on BEPS regulations
Page 37 – 210: All comments received during the 30-day public comment period
Page 211 – 225: Clean version of the proposed regulations (PDF)
Page 226 – 240: Blackline version of the proposed reg

The Council approved a resolution to extend the deadline for consideration of Executive Regulation 17-23, Building Energy Performance Standards to September 30, 2024.