Building Codes Assistance Project

Washington, D.C., was among the early cities to require privately owned buildings to meet LEED standards. Now, it is requiring the city government as well as private building owners to benchmark their buildings using the Energy Star® Portfolio Manager tool, and the results will made available to the public on the Internet through the District of Columbia Department of the Environment (DDOE) website.

On September 25, 2008, the D.C. City Council passed the Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2008 (B17-0919). Title V requires that all buildings owned or operated by the District or any of its instrumentalities be benchmarked annually starting in fall 2009. Annual benchmarking for private buildings will be phased in over four years, starting on January 1, 2010 (for buildings over 200,000 ft², or 18,000 m²) and ending on January 1, 2013 (for buildings over 50,000 ft², or 4,600 m²).

For more details, view the Environmental Building News update at BuildingGreen.com. You may also download the D.C. Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2008 (B17-0919) and view the status of the bill.

For more DC code status information, please consult the BCAP DC Code Status page.