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Emissions from buildings make up about two-thirds of the greenhouse gas footprint of Indianapolis. So when the city committed to slash emissions, in its 2019 climate action plan and then as part of the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge in 2020, leaders knew where they had to start.
A 2021 ordinance requires all buildings over 50,000 square feet and publicly-owned buildings over 25,000 square feet to do energy benchmarking and report results to the city, to be made publicly available by 2026.
The deadline to comply was July 1, 2024. But at year’s end, only about 20% of the 1,500 buildings covered had complied — even though the process can be done in a matter of hours using EPA’s ENERGYSTAR Portfolio manager software. The city also hosted workshops to help walk building managers through the process.
Now the city’s challenge is to boost benchmarking compliance. The penalties for failing to comply are low: fines of $100 the first year and $250 yearly after that. Chicago’s 2013 benchmarking ordinance, by comparison, includes fines of $100 for the first day of a violation and up to $25 each day thereafter, with a maximum fine of $9,200 per year — and the city has a much higher compliance rate.
Lindsay Trameri, community engagement manager for the Indianapolis Office of Sustainability, said the office is continuing outreach, including sending postcards to all relevant building managers and owners.
“We’re not assessing fines yet, but we’re making sure they’re aware this isn’t a city program that’s going away, it is indeed local law,” Trameri said. “And there are benefits to be gleaned from participating. It might cost hundreds of dollars not to participate, but you could save thousands if you participate and take it seriously.”
Trameri said 27 publicly-owned buildings in the consolidated city and county government must be benchmarked, and the city is planning to use about $800,000 worth of federal Department of Energy funding to hire an energy manager “who will be solely focused on looking at city-owned buildings and how to make them more energy efficient.”
In Indiana, reducing buildings’ electricity use is particularly urgent since the state got about 45% of its power from coal in 2023. The benchmarking mandate doesn’t require buildings to take any action based on their energy results, but benchmarking often motivates building owners and municipalities to invest in savings, experts say.
Cities participating in the Bloomberg program saw 3% to 8% energy reductions and millions in savings, with nearly 400 million square feet now covered by benchmarking policies and over 37,000 energy audits completed, according to Kelly Shultz, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies” sustainable cities initiative.
Though overall compliance is low, some major public and private entities have completed benchmarking in Indianapolis, including the airport, convention center, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Target and JC Penney.
Phil Day, facilities director for the museum, noted that it’s crucial for museums to keep consistent levels of humidity and temperature. That means high energy use, and also vulnerability to blackouts or energy price spikes. Benchmarking has helped him develop plans for reducing natural gas and electricity use with smaller boilers and heat pumps distributed throughout the facilities, a possible geothermal chilling system, and better insulation. These innovations should save money and make the museum more resilient to energy disruptions.
“Museums aren’t typically known as an energy efficient facility, but it is always high on my priority list in everything we program or replace,” Day said.
The firm Cenergistic has done benchmarking since 2017 for Indianapolis Public Schools, and identified more than $1 million in wasteful energy costs that could be cut across 71 schools. Under Cenergistic’s contract, it is paid half of the energy savings it secures. Seventeen school buildings have obtained EPA Energy Star status based on their energy efficiency improvements, Cenergistic CEO Dennis Harris said.
“Benchmarking provided a clear starting point by identifying high-energy-consuming facilities and systems,” Harris said. “Cenergistic energy specialists track energy consumption at all campuses with the company’s software platform, identifying waste and driving conservation. By consistently reviewing this data, Cenergistic continues to work with IPS to make data-driven decisions, set measurable goals, and continually refine its strategy for maximum impact.”
Trameri said the schools’ success is “a great message to point to. If they can do it, we can do it. Of course, we want those millions to go back into classrooms and teachers and students versus out the door for utility costs.”
Trameri said in developing its benchmarking program and ordinance, Indianapolis has relied on guidance and lessons from other cities including Columbus, Ohio and Chicago, both fellow participants in the Bloomberg challenge.
In Chicago, about 85% of the 3,700 buildings covered by the ordinance are in compliance, said Amy Jewel, vice president of programs at Elevate, the organization that oversees Chicago’s program. She said nine out of 10 buildings complied even right after the ordinance took effect, thanks to years of organizing by city leaders and NGOs like the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“A large number of building owners recognized this was coming. They engaged in the process, and saw their fingerprints within the ordinance,” said Lindy Wordlaw, director of climate and environmental justice initiatives for the city of Chicago.
Chicago passed an additional ordinance creating an energy rating program, where buildings receive a score of 0 to 4 based on their energy benchmarking results. An 11-by-17-inch placard with the score and explanation must be publicly posted, “similar to a food safety rating for a restaurant,” Wordlaw said.
In 2021, Chicago reported that median energy use per square foot had dropped by 7% over the past three years, and greenhouse gas emissions had dropped 37% since 2016 in buildings subject to the ordinance. City public housing and buildings owned by the Archdiocese were among those to do early benchmarking and investments.
Along with Philadelphia, New York and Washington D.C., Chicago was among the nation’s first major cities to institute benchmarking. Jewel said they hope to keep sharing lessons learned.
For example, “it’s actually pretty hard to come up with the covered buildings list,” Jewel noted, since there is no central list of all buildings in a city but rather various records “all used for slightly different purposes — the property tax database, different sources tracking violations. It took a bit of time to get that list together, and it takes time to maintain it as buildings are constructed or demolished.”
In Indianapolis, Trameri said they are hopeful more buildings will get with the program as awareness grows about the requirement.
“There has always been evidence that you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” said Trameri. “It’s a market-based strategy. Truly once a facilities owner or manager is able to look at their energy usage over a month, 12 months, or multiple years and make evidence-based decisions based on that data, it will affect your bottom line, and those savings you can reinvest into whatever your organization’s mission is.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misattributed performance information about Bloomberg Philanthropies’ sustainable cities initiative.
GRID: A $4.9 billion federal loan guarantee for a major Midwest transmission project faces uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will follow through with the commitment. (Canary Media)
ALSO: Four business groups call on Iowa regulators to enact ratemaking reforms that ensure utilities make necessary grid investments over the coming decades with limited effects on customers. (Radio Iowa)
CLEAN ENERGY: Congressional Republicans consider scaling back or eliminating a U.S. Department of Energy loan program that has backed a variety of U.S. clean energy projects with billions of dollars in financing. (E&E News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CARBON CAPTURE: Wolf Carbon Solutions withdraws its permit application in Iowa for a 95-mile carbon pipeline project that would sequester emissions in Illinois. (Des Moines Register)
SOLAR:
OVERSIGHT: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who’s been tapped to lead the Interior Department as well as serve as the Trump administration’s energy czar, could play an outsized role in federal energy policy. (E&E News)
OIL & GAS: North Dakota’s Senate Majority Leader says cost barriers remain to building a $250 million pipeline under a public-private partnership that would deliver Bakken-area gas to other parts of the state. (Prairie Public)
EFFICIENCY: A Minneapolis nonprofit is leading the construction of passive homes on the city’s north side that aim to save homeowners with minimal electric and heating bills. (Sahan Journal)
SOLAR: Developers hope to finish construction next year on a solar-powered microgrid on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota that aims to reduce energy costs and provide backup power to the small community. (Energy News Network)
ALSO:
PIPELINES: The Iowa Supreme Court affirms a lower court ruling that Summit Carbon Solutions has temporary access to private property owners’ land for surveying despite claims that the practice is “invasive.” (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
COAL:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: President-elect Trump’s potential to withdraw $7,500 federal tax credits on electric vehicles could result in a 27% drop in sales for electric cars and trucks, experts say. (New York Times)
NUCLEAR: Data center developers’ interest in both large and small-scale nuclear reactors to meet their power needs is creating opportunities for contractors with specialized experience in the field. (Construction Dive)
GRID: A clean energy analyst says federal regulators’ decision to give states more of a say in transmission cost planning was a “Kumbaya moment” that will hopefully prevent court challenges to the federal rule. (Utility Dive)
BATTERIES: Federal energy officials finalize a $1.3 billion loan for a company to finance an Indiana plant that will make lithium-ion battery separators used mostly in electric vehicles. (Reuters)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Nebraska village receives $100,000 in federal clean energy funding to install a solar project at a wastewater treatment facility. (High Plains Journal)
GRID: The Biden administration announces a $4.9 billion loan guarantee to help finance the first phase of the 578-mile Grain Belt Express transmission line, which aims to move solar and wind energy from Kansas to Missouri and beyond. (E&E News)
ALSO: An Indiana utility, regulators, and other stakeholders reach a settlement that would require large new load customers like data centers to make long-term commitments to pay for the costs to serve them to avoid costs shifting to consumers, a “landmark” deal supported by ratepayer advocates. (Utility Dive; Indiana Capital Chronicle)
SOLAR:
STORAGE: A new 100 MW battery storage project brings Michigan utility Consumers Energy’s total storage portfolio to 400 MW, or about 5% of peak electricity demand. (Michigan Public)
NUCLEAR: The timeline for reopening a shuttered nuclear plant in Michigan next year could be delayed after inspectors found more defects than anticipated in the plant’s steam generator system. (Detroit News, subscription)
PIPELINES: While President-elect Trump reportedly wants to revive the Keystone XL pipeline, the former project developer no longer owns the pipeline system that it was intended to complement, and portions of the line previously installed have been dug up and would require new local permits. (Politico)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
FOSSIL FUELS: The Biden administration proposes tighter nitrogen oxide emission limits for new natural gas plants, though the regulation’s fate is unclear with the incoming Trump administration. (Utility Dive)
TRANSPORTATION: Climate group Sunrise Movement organizes members in Kansas City to make demands for more reliable and cleaner public transportation. (The Pitch)
LAW: A Missouri attorney pleads guilty to tax evasion after his involvement in local planning decisions to convert a former golf course to a solar project and to demolish a local power plant. (Missouri Independent)
GRID: The Tennessee Valley Authority approves a power agreement for Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer facility in Memphis, Tennessee, which is expected to use up to 150 MW at its peak. (Commercial Appeal)
ALSO:
SOLAR: As insurance premiums spike as much as 400% for solar projects in Texas due to the risk of damage of hail, one company reduced its insurance costs 72% by installing 3.2mm tempered glass solar panels and other hardened components on a 140 MW solar farm. (PV Magazine)
COAL:
STORAGE: Georgia Power begins building more battery facilities to supplement its recent investments in solar and nuclear. (WRBL)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A new report finds that Georgia is leading the country in electric vehicle-related job creation, but is ranked just 22nd for EV sales. (WABE/Grist)
OIL & GAS:
OVERSIGHT: Louisiana voters elect a Republican who pledged to be a “true conservative watch dog” to the state regulatory board, but he seems more moderate than another Republican in the race who promised to “oppose liberal-thinking Green New Deal initiatives.” (Canary Media)
UTILITIES:
CLIMATE: A massive Louisiana coastal restoration project sits in limbo as federal officials press the state to commit to completing the multi-billion-dollar endeavor amid two separate legal challenges. (Floodlight)
GRID: The Tennessee Valley Authority’s board considers a 150 MW power arrangement for Elon Musk’s supercomputer project in Memphis, Tennessee, which is currently using gas turbines and has prompted opposition from its neighbors. (Commercial Appeal, New York Times)
CARBON CAPTURE: Occidental Petroleum nears completion of a direct-air carbon capture facility in Texas that would be the first large-scale facility to remove carbon dioxide directly from the air; the company plans to build dozens more. (Houston Chronicle)
SOLAR:
STORAGE: Georgia Power asks state regulators to approve its plan to build 500 MW of battery storage at four sites. (Capitol Beat News Service)
PIPELINES: A federal court agrees to hear arguments over a 32-mile pipeline in Tennessee to supply a gas-fired power plant that’s part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plan to replace its coal plants with gas. (Tennessee Lookout)
OIL & GAS:
WIND:
NUCLEAR: A growing number of South Carolina environmentalists embrace the prospect of nuclear power as a source of carbon-free energy. (Charleston City Paper)
OVERSIGHT: A flood of companies disclosing their use of toxic chemicals in the fallout from Hurricane Helene exposes a tangled web of federal disclosure laws and regulatory holes that let them hide those details. (The Lever)
POLITICS:
UTILITIES:
COMMENTARY: The presidential election is causing uncertainty in North Carolina’s clean energy economy as companies move to “de-risk” by slowing projects and waiting to see who wins, write the president and vice president of a climate-focused startup. (Raleigh News & Observer)
TRANSMISSION: Energy company PSEG unveils the proposed route for a controversial 70-mile transmission line in Maryland that has drawn opposition from landowners, farmers, and environmental advocates. (Maryland Matters)
ALSO: New England states plan to seek proposals to increase north-to-south transmission capacity to avoid an overload from offshore wind coming online by 2035. (RTO Insider, subscription)
NATURAL GAS:
CONSUMER PROTECTION: Lawmakers and advocates are confident a Maryland consumer protection law regulating energy retailers will survive legal challenges by power supply companies. (Inside Climate News)
OFFSHORE WIND: A joint venture between National Grid and a German utility proposes a 2.8-GW wind farm off Long Island, the largest offshore wind project ever proposed to New York regulators. (Maritime Executive)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
POLITICS:
GRID:
STORAGE: The U.S. added 5 GW of utility-scale battery storage in the first seven months of this year, bringing total installations to 21.4 GW and continuing an exponential deployment trend. (The Guardian)
ALSO:
COAL:
GRID: Power plant owners support PJM’s proposal to delay an upcoming capacity auction by six months to craft new capacity market rules, but warn that longer delays could erode investor confidence. (Utility Dive)
POLITICS:
WORKFORCE: A report finds some small states are punching above their weight in clean job creation, while some top fossil fuel-producing states are missing an opportunity to shift their economies. (Yale Climate Connections)
EMISSIONS:
MATERIALS: The U.S. Treasury Department unveils tax incentives for material extraction and producing clean energy components. (Axios)
NUCLEAR: Amazon and utilities propose advanced nuclear reactors in Washington state to power the firm’s data centers in Oregon, which has a ban on new nuclear plants. (OPB)
UTILITIES: A report finds agencies have downgraded more than 100 utilities’ credit ratings due to wildfire hazard as insurance and mitigation costs have increased, leading to higher electricity rates. (Utility Dive)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
EFFICIENCY: Harvard University researchers retrofitted a 1940s home with a ground-source heat pump, solar panels and other efficient technologies to show how older homes can achieve carbon neutrality. (Utility Dive)
GRID: The U.S. Energy Department announces $2 billion in grants to shore up and expand the power grid, including a previously announced $612 million for areas wracked by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. (Canary Media)
ALSO:
POLITICS:
NUCLEAR: After years of declining interest, many state lawmakers have opened the door to nuclear energy development as tech companies push for carbon-free energy to power data centers. (Associated Press)
GEOTHERMAL: The federal Bureau of Land Management approves a 2,000 MW enhanced geothermal energy project in southwest Utah, and proposes streamlining permitting for geothermal projects on federal land. (E&E News)
HYDROGEN: A report finds a third of the projects planned as part of an Appalachian hydrogen hub in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania already have been scrapped, raising questions about the federally funded project’s viability. (Inside Climate News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: General Motors’ CEO affirms the company is still committed to phasing out combustion car sales by 2035, and says GM will start making a profit on electric vehicles this year. (New York Times)
CARBON CAPTURE: Meta says it will match the U.S. Energy Department’s $35 million investment to kickstart a carbon market. (Utility Dive)
WIND: Offshore wind saw advancements in federal permitting and construction on ports and projects in the third quarter this year, but private investment has slowed in advance of the election, an industry group finds. (Utility Dive)
SOLAR: After Hurricane Helene disabled more than 350 electrical substations in western North Carolina, advocates call for widespread installation of solar-plus-storage microgrids as a more effective climate resiliency investment than storm-hardening traditional grid infrastructure. (Canary Media)
ALSO:
HYDROGEN:
NUCLEAR: Kentucky and West Virginia are among the states where lawmakers have opened the door to nuclear energy development as tech companies push for carbon-free energy to power data centers. (Associated Press)
OIL & GAS:
PIPELINES: The launch of operations at the 580-mile Matterhorn Express pipeline has opened up distribution bottlenecks from the Permian Basin, reversing price trends and incentivizing operators to increase production. (Reuters)
HYDROPOWER: Public opposition helped defeat a proposal to build new dams around Asheville in the ‘60s and ‘70s, which contributed to the flooding of the city by the French Broad River during Hurricane Helene. (The Dispatch)
GRID: Regional grid operator PJM asks federal regulators for a six-month delay in its next auction after environmental groups file a complaint alleging it could unnecessarily cost ratepayers an extra $14.5 billion. (Dominion Post)
UTILITIES:
OVERSIGHT: Louisiana voters consider three candidates for a seat on the state’s powerful energy regulatory board. (Louisiana Illuminator)
ADVOCACY: A former NFL player discusses his involvement in the Sierra Club’s campaign against coal-fired power in western North Carolina led him to become a lobbyist with the organization. (Sierra)
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