Benchmarking Energy Use Data

Current information (11/05/2024): The statewide Large Building Energy Benchmarking program has not yet launched. The Department of Commerce is providing this information now and will update as new information becomes available.

Check back here for updates and stay current by signing up for our energy funding newsletter. Additional information about this program can be found in Minn. Stat. 216C.331.

The Department has selected Touchstone IQ as its vendor for the Large Building Energy Benchmarking program. We anticipate launching the program for data collection in late February 2025.

The Large Building Energy Benchmarking program will collect energy use data from commercial and multi-family buildings. The purpose of the program is to:

make a building's owners, tenants and potential tenants aware of (i) the building's energy consumption levels and patterns, and (ii) how the building's energy use compares with that of similar buildings and/or a reference performance level (such as a building energy code); and
enhance the likelihood that an owner adopts energy conservation measures in the owner's building as a way to reduce energy use, operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

More detailed information about benchmarking, including statutory definitions, can be found here. The building energy benchmarking program will apply to buildings in the following locations:

Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington Counties; and
 Duluth, Rochester and St. Cloud.

For purposes of the program, properties are classified as follows:

Class 1 properties (100,000 sq ft and above) in the above locations which must start reporting energy use data by June 1, 2025.
Class 2 properties (50,000 sq ft – 99,999 sq ft) in the above locations which must start reporting energy use data by June 1, 2026.

The statute provides some exemptions from the benchmarking requirements for specific building types, including multifamily buildings with fewer than 5 units, manufacturing and agricultural buildings, and other limited situations.

The state has collected energy use data for publicly-owned buildings in Minnesota since 2004. Learn more about the B3 Program here. In addition, some local government units have also enacted building energy benchmarking requirements. Buildings subject to existing benchmarking requirements by the state, a city or other political subdivision may continue to follow those requirements if they are equivalent to or more stringent than the Large Building Energy Benchmarking program.

Beginning in late 2025, the Department will post on its website:

Annual summary statistics on energy use for all covered properties;
Annual summary statistics on energy use for all covered properties, aggregated by covered property class, city, and county;
The percentage of covered properties in each building class that are in compliance with benchmarking requirements; and
For each covered property, the address, total energy use, energy use intensity, annual greenhouse gas emissions, and an energy performance score, if available.

Please submit any questions to: benchmarking@state.mn.us