Boulder Building Performance
Boulder Building Performance Program
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BUILDING PERFORMANCE ORDINANCE (BPO) UPDATE as of June 10, 2020: The City of Boulder is committed to its core value of community safety and is proactively taking steps to limit the community spread of COVID-19. Given the current pandemic situation, the city has extended the deadline for compliance with BPO’s Rating and Reporting requirement for buildings sized 20,000 square feet and up. September 1, 2020 is the new deadline for compliance with BPO’s Rating and Reporting requirement for the January 1 to December 31, 2019 time period. Official Notices of Affected Properties have been mailed. |
Program Updates
- Submit Reports Online for Compliance:
- Submit the 2019 Energy Report to the city through Portfolio Manager.
- Submit the Level II Energy Assessment Report to the city through the Online Submission Form .
- For ordinance overviews by building type, see:
About
In support of community energy and climate goals, the Boulder City Council adopted the Boulder Building Performance Ordinance (Ordinance No. 8071) on Oct. 20, 2015. These rating and reporting and energy efficiency requirements move beyond current voluntary programs to require actions that reduce energy use and improve the quality of Boulder’s commercial and industrial building stock.
Read the City Manager Rule, which interprets and further defines provisions of this ordinance.
View the Boulder Building Performance infographic for a quick overview of the requirements and compliance timeline.
View the Building Performance Map for compliance results.
Questions? Contact the Help Desk 8am-5pm MDT at [email protected] or (844) 811-8785.
Ordinance Requirements
This ordinance requires privately-owned commercial and industrial buildings and city-owned buildings to do the following:
- Annually Rate & Report (R&R) building energy use; and
- Implement Efficiency Requirements, including:
- Perform energy assessments (EA) every ten years;
- Perform retrocommissioning (RCx) every ten years and implement cost effective RCx measures within two years of the study; and
- Implement one-time lighting upgrades.
Deadlines
Deadlines for each requirement are listed by affected building type and square footage (SF) below.
| Requirement | Existing Buildings ≥ 50,000 SF 1 , New Buildings 2 ≥ 10,000 SF, City Buildings ≥ 5,000 SF | Existing Buildings ≥ 30,000 SF | Existing Buildings ≥ 20,000 SF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Rating and Reporting Begins | 2016 | 2018 | 2020 |
| First Energy Assessments Due and Public Disclosure Begins | 2019 | 2021 | 2023 |
| Lighting Upgrades Due and First RCx Due | 2021 | 2023 | 2025 |
| Implementation of RCx Measures Due | 2023 | 2025 | 2027 |
1 Large Industrial Campuses have custom requirements and timelines.
2 This refers to any commercial or industrial building for which an initial building permit was issued on or after Jan. 31, 2014.
Additional Information
Enforcement
If you are the owner of an affected building, you are required to rate and report building energy data and complete efficiency actions by the deadlines posted (see above). Failure to do so can result in fines of $0.0025 per square foot up to $1,000 per day of non-compliance.
Any tenant of an owner subject to the provisions of this chapter shall, within 30 days of a request, provide to the owner any information that cannot otherwise be acquired by the owner and that is needed to comply with the provisions of this chapter.
How to Comply
View the following pages for detailed information, resources, forms and guidance for complying with the ordinance requirements:
Exemptions may be available. Review the Exemption Reference Guide 
and Exemption Request Form for more information.
For overviews by building size see the following:
- Requirement Overview: Buildings 50,000 sf and larger
- Requirement Overview: Buildings 30,000 sf to 49,999 sf
- Requirement Overview: Buildings 20,000 sf to 29,999 sf
Note: Large Industrial Campuses have custom requirements and timelines.
Program Reports
2015/2016 Building Performance Program Report
2017/2018 Building Performance Program Report Update *NEW*
Individual reporting from Large Industrial Campuses is available under Public Narratives.
For information on training, rebates and incentives, please see Resources.
For information on finding or becoming a Qualified Service Provider, please see Service Providers.
For information on the history of the Building Performance Ordinance and other similar programs around the country, please see Background.
Read the case study with Conscience Bay to learn how energy improvements can benefit property owners and businesses.
See Frequently Asked Questions for more information.