…the developments of 2012 are indicative of longer trends affecting how we will occupy and operate commercial buildings in 2013.

Policy and Disclosure

2012 saw a number of industry “firsts.” Perhaps none is more significant than the adoption of energy disclosure laws, which require residential and commercial buildings to reveal — sometimes publicly — the energy performance of the buildings. To date, six cities have passed such laws, which require the use of EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager for buildings…

Utilities and the Green Button

Another major trend of 2012 has been the adoption by 35 electric and gas utilities of the “Green Button,” a voluntary, standardized data format for energy data. Green Button, a data standard developed by industry along with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and ratified by the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB), is meant to provide customer data in a computer-readable format so that software applications can uniformly tackle energy problems and identify opportunities for savings.

Civic Government

2012 was also a major year for civic and federal governments, as energy efficiency was a focus for large portfolios of public buildings. While some cities have already made strides in improving their own building performance, there has been a faster adoption of new technologies and operations strategies, and more vocal public acknowledgement of their goals to reduce energy and save taxpayer money.