Boulder is reviewing its climate plan and energy strategy, and in May the Boulder City Council had a study session on the topic.
Passing laws that would require buildings to be more efficient is one of the options the council is considering.
Making commercial buildings more energy efficient is an obvious place to start as the city moves toward achieving its climate goals, said Elizabeth Vasatka, the city's business sustainability coordinator.
Prior studies have shown energy use accounts for up to 76 percent of Boulder's greenhouse gas emissions, and nearly 83 percent of those emissions come from the industrial and commercial sectors.
The greening of aging and inefficient buildings would make an impact.
"We know that the commercial building stock is where the most energy is used," Vasatka said. "We understand there's a lot of wasted energy and money out there."
Boulder is considering a three-phased approach that would encourage and then require commercial property owners to make their properties more energy efficient.
The first is to extend and build on existing incentive programs, such as EnergySmart and energy-efficiency counseling.
The second phase would require building owners to rate and disclose their buildings' energy performance.
The third ? and potentially most controversial ? phase is to create new ordinances that would require building owners to make energy-efficiency upgrades.
Offering carrots while still having a stick is a tactic Boulder has used before.
"The city has historically paired incentives with requirements," Vasatka said.
Many Boulder businesses agree that buildings should be improved, but there is not much enthusiasm for requirements, Boulder Chamber public affairs manager Angelique Espinoza said.
"The overwhelming preference is for incentives rather than mandates," Espinoza said.
The major concern is that new efficiency regulations could hurt businesses.
"I don't think anybody's going to be against greening buildings, but I think mandating it would be a disaster," said James Dixon, who manages leasing and special projects for Tebo Development Co.
Mandates would be bad for landlords, tenants and consumers, Dixon said. Landlords would have to pay for costly upgrades, but the costs would be passed on in higher rents and then on to the customer through higher prices.
The increase in cost and possible decline in revenue could be enough to push struggling tenants out of business or force them to relocate, Dixon said.
Businesses also worry that energy efficiency standards would be unfair and tough to comprehend, said Sean Maher, executive director of Downtown Boulder Inc.
Companies that share the same building, such as a restaurant and a small retail boutique, have drastically different energy needs, he said, and there isn't really a way a one-size-fits-all policy could work.
"Nobody wants to waste energy, but they are nervous about arbitrary standards," Maher said. "There are hundreds, even thousands, of different uses for commercial space. How do you come up with performance standards that are going to cover everyone?"
As of now, the details of the regulations, including an enforcement mechanism, have yet to be determined. A timeline prepared by staff says it plans on developing ordinances and code changes this summer, with the changes going before City Council this fall or early next year.
The city recognizes there is a lot to learn about the energy profiles of different buildings, Vasatka said. There also is a lot to learn about how the policy would be developed and implemented, which is why the city is paying close attention to what other cities are doing.
However, not many case studies exist yet, according to the report the staff prepared for the city council's study session in May.
New York City started implementing commercial efficiency standards in 2009. Berkeley, California has had ordinances in place since 1994, but the city is considering updating them because they are not strictly enforced and only affect 7 percent of businesses, the memo said.
Mandating commercial property owners to get their buildings energy rated and report their energy usage to the city ? phase 2 of the strategy ? would provide the city with better information before it sets a policy, Vasatka said, and thus the city would like to do that first.
Getting energy usage data has its own challenges, however. Xcel Energy collects that data, and the company is not required to share it. The city would like to work out an agreement for getting the data, but it might take an act of the state Legislature to compel Xcel Energy to hand it over.
Working that out could delay action on a benchmarking and disclosure ordinance until 2014, according to city staff's report to the city council.
In the meantime, Vasatka said, the city will continue to reach out to stakeholders to keep them informed and solicit their opinions.
So far, those outreach efforts have focused on companies with large portfolios. One of the next steps in the outreach process, Vasatka said, is to focus on the opinions of small businesses and the owners of smaller portfolios.
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