City of Calgary - Commercial and Institutional Building Energy Benchmarking Program
The City of Calgary’s Commercial and Institutional Building Energy Benchmarking Program helps building owners and operators measure and track the energy performance of their buildings.
Tracking your building energy use can help inform decisions to improve your energy efficiency, in turn contributing to energy savings and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Learn more about how the program works, the benefits of participating and the support you can access through the program.
How the program works
Any commercial, institutional or non-profit organization with a building of any size that is located within the city boundary can participate in the program.
After registering online, building owners and operators submit their building’s energy performance data online for benchmarking using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
Participants will receive an Energy Performance Scorecard for each building submitted, and be able to compare their building performance to other buildings in the program using the Energy Performance Map.
The participant must have authorization to access property information and building energy usage data including the buildings gross floor area and monthly energy bills. Please note that whole building data is required.
While full disclosure is encouraged, participants can decide how much information to share with The City of Calgary and other participants. You can opt to share all of your data with the public, or aggregate your data into the dataset. For more details, review the disclosure options.
Benefits of benchmarking
The benefits of participating in the Energy Benchmarking Program include:
- Obtaining standardized information on building energy consumption, energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Establishing baseline reference points for building systems optimization
- Highlighting opportunities for prioritizing underperforming buildings for energy efficiency improvement measures
- Measuring and verifying the results of energy efficiency projects
- Increasing transparency of the social and environmental impact of your business operations
- Becoming eligible for ENERGY Star® Certification.
Energy performance scorecard
The Energy Performance Scorecard provides an at-a-glance summary of building energy performance.
Energy Performance Map
The Energy Performance Map is a tool that highlights the locations, property characteristics, energy performance metrics and greenhouse gas emissions of participating buildings in the City of Calgary.
Eligibility and disclosure
Any commercial, institutional or non-profit organization with a building of any size that is located within the city boundary can participate in the program.
While full disclosure is encouraged, participants decide how much information to share with The City of Calgary and other participants. For more details, review our Terms and Condisitons (2022) and disclosure options.
Registration and data submission
Interested in learning more about how benchmarking can help you? Click the link below to register for the program.
Testimonials
Calgary Board of Education
Watch the video to learn more about how the Calgary Board of Education has benefited from participating in the energy benchmarking program.
City of Calgary Water Centre Energy Star Certification
Located on a former brownfield site, the City of Calgary Manchester Water Centre is a five-storey office building completed in 2007 and home to the City’s Water Resources and Water Services staff. Upon opening, it was the Alberta’s first LEED Gold-certified building. This building is one of the 75 participating buildings owned by The City of Calgary in the Commercial Building Energy Benchmarking Program.
In 2020, the Water Centre achieved the ENERGY STAR certification with an ENERGY STAR score of 79, meaning that it is more energy efficient than 79 percent of similar properties nationwide. After 13 years of reliable operation, this LEED Gold building is performing well compared to its peers with proven energy efficiency. The ENERGY STAR certification is a recognized symbol for commercial and institutional buildings certifying a building as energy efficient via energy benchmarking and site verification. You can find the Water Centre and other ENERGY STAR certified buildings on the NRCan’s ENERGY STAR website.
Other opportunities for participants
Meet with an Energy Advisor
To schedule a one-on-one session with an Energy Advisor, contact energybenchmarking@calgary.ca.
Attend a working session
There are currently no upcoming sessions. Join the mailing list to be updated about future working sessions.
Apply for energy efficiency rebates and incentives
Additional resources
- The City of Calgary’s Climate Strategy
- A Benchmarking Primer (NRCan)
- Energy Benchmarking Basics (NRCan)
- National Energy Benchmarking Framework (CaGBC)
- Energy Efficient Contractors
- A Guide to Reading Your Energy Bill (ENMAX)
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions Technical Reference (ESPM)