As anticipated, new sustainable building regulations continue to develop. Recently the City and County of Denver launched Energize Denver, a regulatory effort to address climate change by decreasing commercial and multi-family building energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Now the State of Colorado has published Regulation 28, “Building Benchmarking and Performance Standards.” The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) will administer these State Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC)-approved rules. The new regulations satisfy the requirements of State House Bill 21-1286, which directs the AQCC to adopt rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in buildings 7% by 2026, and 20% by 2030 (based on a 2021 baseline). Consequently, this reduction in building GHGs will enable the State Health Department’s Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) to meet its goal of reducing Colorado’s GHGs by 50% statewide by 2030.

For a long time, U.S. Engineering has been collaborating with clients and partners to address sustainability in the built environment. When Energize Denver and Regulation 28 were on the horizon, we recognized that we needed to step up our game and internally prepare to help our customers navigate these significant regulatory changes.

USEC will take the lessons learned from previous sustainable projects with energy efficiency and electrification features to assist owners in achieving the new energy use and GHG intensity reduction targets for new construction and renovation projects. Together, we will apply advanced technologies and innovative approaches to meet building performance milestones.

Follow this link for the full article, we look closely at the new state building performance standards and explore what they may mean for your organization.