1001 Smart Cities
🇺🇸 Washington D.C.

Building Energy Performance Standards and the benchmarking behind them

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 8 sourced claims · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

8 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

✎ Corrected 27 Aug 2026 Publication date recorded for 10 sources. What changed →

The standard is a percentile rather than a cap, so roughly half of every building type starts below the line. Payments run to $10 per square foot, but seven years after enactment none has been assessed.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence🏛️ Officialgrades the sourcing — this entry states no impact figure
what does this mean?The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byDepartment of Energy and Environment (DOEE)
Scale🏙️ City-wide
FundingDistrict of Columbia government; DOEE regulates and compliance costs fall on building owners

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 9 more in Washington D.C. · 🔌 Smart grid & energy guide · ⚡ Energy projects

The CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018, effective 22 March 2019, ordered DOEE to set a minimum energy performance standard for large buildings — the first such standard in the United States according to DOEE itself and the Institute for Market Transformation. Rather than an absolute emissions cap, the standard is a percentile: for each property type it sits at the local median ENERGY STAR score, or Source EUI where no score exists, so roughly half of every category starts below the line and gets one compliance cycle to improve, typically by cutting site energy use 20%. It runs on benchmarking data the District has required and disclosed publicly since a 2008 law, now republished on the city's open data portal. Buildings that miss their pathway target owe an alternative compliance payment of up to $10 per square foot, capped at $7.5m — but the first cycle only ends on 31 December 2026, reports are due in spring 2027, and nothing has been assessed yet.

Live 📅 since 2019

🎓 Lesson

A standard pegged to the median grades buildings against their peers instead of an absolute cap, so it never runs out of laggards — and because DOEE re-sets it from fresh data every six years, the target moves as the stock improves. The trade-off is that the money is entirely theoretical until a cycle closes: seven years after enactment, no payment has been assessed.

⚡ EnergySmart grid & energyOpen dataDigital government

Sources

↗ DOEE — Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS)Operator service page, read 2026-08-27. The standing DOEE page for BEPS; it carries no publication or update date, hence date: null.
↗ D.C. Law 22-257, CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018Published 22 March 2019Read 2026-08-27. The law library page gives 'Effective Mar. 22, 2019' (D.C. Act 22-583; 66 DCR 1344). This is the statute that created the Building Energy Performance Standards.
↗ DOEE press release — rules for the nation's first energy performance standards (Nov 2021)Published 8 November 2021Read in full 2026-08-27. The release's own dateline reads 'WASHINGTON, DC – November 8, 2021'; DOEE's page is headed 'Wednesday, November 10, 2021', which is when it was posted. It announces the two final rulemakings — BEPS compliance (DC Register, 5 November 2021) and benchmarking (22 October 2021).
↗ Institute for Market Transformation — District of Columbia building hubPublished 4 December 2019Independent second claimant for the superlative: DC 'became the first U.S. city to pass legislation that requires owners of a broad swath of existing buildings to improve their energy performance… The law includes a first-in-the-nation policy mechanism, the building energy performance standard (BEPS).'
↗ DOEE BEPS Guidebook, Chapter 6 — EnforcementOperator guidance in a knowledge-base article, read 2026-08-27. It carries no publication or update date, hence date: null; the compliance cycle it describes begins 1 January 2021.
Show 5 more sourcesShow fewer
↗ Building Innovation Hub — BEPS rules releasedPublished 5 November 2021IMT-run DC hub, on how the standard is expressed and what below-standard buildings must do: 'The Standards include performance targets based on ENERGY STAR score (for buildings that can receive a score) and Source EUI (for buildings that cannot receive an ENERGY STAR score)', with 'the performance pathway (requiring 20% site EUI reduction)' among five pathways; initial compliance period 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2026.
↗ D.C. Law 25-307, Building Energy Performance Standards Amendment Act of 2024Published 21 March 2025Read 2026-08-27. The law library page gives 'Effective Mar. 21, 2025' (D.C. Act 25-701; 72 DCR 810). It extends the first compliance cycle to six years from the date the standards are set and requires a DOEE report to the Council on third-party verification.
↗ Building Innovation Hub — DC building performance regulations: no delays (2025)Published 30 May 2025Currency check: 'the proposed delays to the Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) and Net-Zero Energy (NZE) code were removed from the final FY26 Budget Support Act approved by DC Council on July 28, 2025.' Confirms the Cycle 1 deadline of 31 December 2026 and compliance reports due April and May 2027 — hence no assessment before 2027.
↗ DOEE — Energy benchmarkingOperator service page for the benchmarking duty that BEPS is calculated from, read 2026-08-27. No publication or update date on the page, hence date: null.
↗ Open Data DC — Building Energy Performance datasetThe published dataset itself, read 2026-08-27. The landing page shows no publication date of its own, hence date: null.

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: since 2019. 6 of 10 sources carry a publication date, from 22 March 2019 to 30 May 2025.

When the sources were published

  1. Council of the District of Columbia · city councilD.C. Law 22-257, CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018
  2. Institute for Market Transformation · ngoInstitute for Market Transformation — District of Columbia building hub
  3. Building Innovation Hub (Institute for Market Transformation) · ngoBuilding Innovation Hub — BEPS rules released
  4. District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) · city governmentDOEE press release — rules for the nation's first energy performance standards (Nov 2021)
  5. Council of the District of Columbia · city councilD.C. Law 25-307, Building Energy Performance Standards Amendment Act of 2024
  6. Building Innovation Hub (Institute for Market Transformation) · ngoBuilding Innovation Hub — DC building performance regulations: no delays (2025)

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Publication date recorded for 10 sources
  2. Entered the record
  3. Sources last read

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 8 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence Passport · public beta 8 addressable claims, 10 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 8

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-9a280a6b73c71b29 quantitative
The CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018, effective 22 March 2019, ordered DOEE to set a minimum energy performance standard for large buildings
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The statute page records that the act 'establishes a building energy performance standard program at the Department of Energy and Environment' and gives the effective date; the regulator's programme page describes the standard it then set.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. D.C. Law 22-257, CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018
  2. DOEE — Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS)
Claim 2 clm-a53c0493165d49b3 descriptive
the first such standard in the United States according to DOEE itself and the Institute for Market Transformation
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The DOEE release of November 2021 announces rules for 'the nation's first energy performance standards'; the Institute for Market Transformation's District hub describes the same first.
Caveat
A first claimed by the regulator and by an advocacy institute that runs the District's building hub, not by an outside register.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DOEE press release — rules for the nation's first energy performance standards (Nov 2021)
  2. Institute for Market Transformation — District of Columbia building hub
Claim 3 clm-c76168c407a45120 quantitative
for each property type it sits at the local median ENERGY STAR score, or Source EUI where no score exists, so roughly half of every category starts below the line and gets one compliance cycle to improve, typically by cutting site energy use 20%
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The Building Innovation Hub's explainer of the released rules sets out how the standard is expressed — the median for each property type, using Source EUI where no ENERGY STAR score exists — and what below-standard buildings must do in a compliance cycle.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Building Innovation Hub — BEPS rules released
  2. DOEE — Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS)
Claim 4 clm-6e36fa5f67c81227 quantitative
It runs on benchmarking data the District has required and disclosed publicly since a 2008 law, now republished on the city's open data portal
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
DOEE's benchmarking page describes the requirement for large buildings to track and report energy and water use annually; the open data portal republishes per-building benchmarking and performance data as a dataset rather than a PDF list.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DOEE — Energy benchmarking
  2. Open Data DC — Building Energy Performance dataset
Claim 5 clm-75011fc97e6d3310 quantitative
Buildings that miss their pathway target owe an alternative compliance payment of up to $10 per square foot, capped at $7.5m
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The BEPS Guidebook's enforcement chapter: 'maximum payment for buildings at ten dollars ($10) per each square foot of gross floor area', with the stated cap.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DOEE BEPS Guidebook, Chapter 6 — Enforcement
Claim 6 clm-b55e0690bdeab70b quantitative
the first cycle only ends on 31 December 2026, reports are due in spring 2027, and nothing has been assessed yet
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The 2024 amendment act, effective 21 March 2025, moved the benchmark reporting and verification deadline; the Building Innovation Hub's 2025 update confirms the proposed delays to the standards did not happen and the timetable stands.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. D.C. Law 25-307, Building Energy Performance Standards Amendment Act of 2024
  2. Building Innovation Hub — DC building performance regulations: no delays (2025)
  3. DOEE — Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS)
Claim 7 clm-d4b084ca66b2e89f descriptive
A standard pegged to the median grades buildings against their peers instead of an absolute cap, so it never runs out of laggards
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The standard is set at each property type's local median, which by construction leaves about half of every category below it at each re-setting.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Building Innovation Hub — BEPS rules released
  2. DOEE — Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS)
Claim 8 clm-1fedeefea4243355 descriptive
the money is entirely theoretical until a cycle closes: seven years after enactment, no payment has been assessed
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The enforcement chapter sets the payment rate and cap; the 2025 status update confirms the first cycle had not yet closed and the timetable was unchanged.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DOEE BEPS Guidebook, Chapter 6 — Enforcement
  2. Building Innovation Hub — DC building performance regulations: no delays (2025)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-27-correction-run effective 2026-08-27 · created 2026-08-27

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:9f0348c04a2b5bb7777486e1e188dd89ea48d85f882d2d9750204f1483eeab56
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
8
of 8 claims mapped
10
source dossiers
6
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE)
Actor types
city-government
Funding model
public
Funding description
District of Columbia government; DOEE regulates and compliance costs fall on building owners
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

10 source dossiers

DOEE — Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) doee.dc.gov · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-9b75c359e6151d6f
Publisher
Name not classified · doee.dc.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Operator service page, read 2026-08-27. The standing DOEE page for BEPS; it carries no publication or update date, hence date: null.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
D.C. Law 22-257, CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018 code.dccouncil.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-805bc74aacf90785
Publisher
Name not classified · code.dccouncil.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2019-03-22
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Read 2026-08-27. The law library page gives 'Effective Mar. 22, 2019' (D.C. Act 22-583; 66 DCR 1344). This is the statute that created the Building Energy Performance Standards.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
DOEE press release — rules for the nation's first energy performance standards (Nov 2021) doee.dc.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-2762e03d50cbaf2a
Publisher
Name not classified · doee.dc.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2021-11-08
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Read in full 2026-08-27. The release's own dateline reads 'WASHINGTON, DC – November 8, 2021'; DOEE's page is headed 'Wednesday, November 10, 2021', which is when it was posted. It announces the two final rulemakings — BEPS compliance (DC Register, 5 November 2021) and benchmarking (22 October 2021).

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Institute for Market Transformation — District of Columbia building hub imt.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-aeccac2c403eb1c9
Publisher
Name not classified · imt.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2019-12-04
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Independent second claimant for the superlative: DC 'became the first U.S. city to pass legislation that requires owners of a broad swath of existing buildings to improve their energy performance… The law includes a first-in-the-nation policy mechanism, the building energy performance standard (BEPS).'

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
DOEE BEPS Guidebook, Chapter 6 — Enforcement dc.beam-portal.org · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-52265d59821f687d
Publisher
Name not classified · dc.beam-portal.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Operator guidance in a knowledge-base article, read 2026-08-27. It carries no publication or update date, hence date: null; the compliance cycle it describes begins 1 January 2021.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Building Innovation Hub — BEPS rules released buildinginnovationhub.org · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-1c69c7554d3f38c3
Publisher
Name not classified · buildinginnovationhub.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2021-11-05
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

IMT-run DC hub, on how the standard is expressed and what below-standard buildings must do: 'The Standards include performance targets based on ENERGY STAR score (for buildings that can receive a score) and Source EUI (for buildings that cannot receive an ENERGY STAR score)', with 'the performance pathway (requiring 20% site EUI reduction)' among five pathways; initial compliance period 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2026.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
D.C. Law 25-307, Building Energy Performance Standards Amendment Act of 2024 code.dccouncil.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-1b2151f13ba07ef7
Publisher
Name not classified · code.dccouncil.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-03-21
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Read 2026-08-27. The law library page gives 'Effective Mar. 21, 2025' (D.C. Act 25-701; 72 DCR 810). It extends the first compliance cycle to six years from the date the standards are set and requires a DOEE report to the Council on third-party verification.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Building Innovation Hub — DC building performance regulations: no delays (2025) buildinginnovationhub.org · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-1cc1ec549472af36
Publisher
Name not classified · buildinginnovationhub.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-05-30
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Currency check: 'the proposed delays to the Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) and Net-Zero Energy (NZE) code were removed from the final FY26 Budget Support Act approved by DC Council on July 28, 2025.' Confirms the Cycle 1 deadline of 31 December 2026 and compliance reports due April and May 2027 — hence no assessment before 2027.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
DOEE — Energy benchmarking doee.dc.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-5194cd901f50895e
Publisher
Name not classified · doee.dc.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Operator service page for the benchmarking duty that BEPS is calculated from, read 2026-08-27. No publication or update date on the page, hence date: null.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Open Data DC — Building Energy Performance dataset opendata.dc.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-fd39a7376a225670
Publisher
Name not classified · opendata.dc.gov
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-27
Dossier created
2026-08-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The published dataset itself, read 2026-08-27. The landing page shows no publication date of its own, hence date: null.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this passport
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇺🇸 BERDO: Boston's Building Emissions Caps · Boston One of the two absolute-cap peers this standard set itself apart from: Boston caps emissions outright, DC grades against the median. 🇺🇸 Local Law 97 and New York's Building Emissions Caps · New York City The other absolute-cap peer DC's percentile standard was built to differ from: NYC fixes a ceiling, DC resets it every six years.

Explore the wider context

💸 The Price Nobody Publishes📖 Building performance standard (BPS)📖 Open data📖 Urban data platform (UDP)
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Building Energy Performance Standards and the benchmarking behind them” — Washington D.C., United States. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/washington-dc-beps/ (last verified 2026-08-27). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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