Stakeholder meetings to focus on building energy performance standard

The Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) has scheduled a series of stakeholder meetings related to the development of regulations to implement a state-wide building energy performance standard. At this point, MDE interprets the directive in Senate Bill 528 to require that regulations apply to both energy use and direct emissions. Under that scenario, most buildings 35,000 square feet and larger would be subject to the regulations.

The department has scheduled 11 virtual meetings, each focused on a different building use type. Meetings will take place between November 14^th and December 8^th.  Meeting details and registration links are in the table below.

MDE and their contract consultants from the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) will brief attendees on the general requirements set out in state law and the process they will follow to develop regulations by the Spring of 2023. The meeting agenda includes asking attendees about their preferences on how regulations address key policy choices and an opportunity to discuss how regulations could be structured to address challenges or specific circumstances for different building use types.

MDE is partnering with three entities to develop Maryland’s Building Energy Performance Standard: The Energy Foundation, The Institute for Market Transformation and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Energy Foundation is a San Francisco-based non-profit with a staff of 100 that awards grants to support education and outreach to build a clean energy future. Between 2005 and 2019, the organization reported raising $616 million to develop innovative policies and communications campaigns to propel clean energy development in the power, transportation and building sectors.

From the Foundation’s website:

For nearly 30 years, Energy Foundation has supported grantees to help educate policymakers and the general public about the benefits of a clean energy economy. Our grantees include business, health, environmental, labor, equity, community, faith, and consumer groups, as well as policy experts, think tanks, universities, and more.

Our comprehensive approach advances energy efficiency and renewable energy in the power, transportation, and buildings sectors. Our programs focus on developing innovative policies and campaigns to help propel clean energy development in these sectors. The States and Regions program is a cross-disciplinary team of policy, communications, and campaign experts dedicated to advancing strong state and regional climate and clean energy policies. The National Policy team works to deliver strategy and network support services to our issue-focused grantees and funding partners. And the Strategic Communications team develops powerful narrative and communications strategies designed to build support for our work regionally and nationwide.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, commonly referred to as Berkeley Lab is a United States national laboratory that is owned by and conducts scientific research on behalf of the United States Department of Energy. Started in 1931 as the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California Berkeley, the laboratory covers six research subject areas, including Energy Sciences and Energy Technologies. The lab has been commissioned to evaluate the carbon emissions results of Maryland’s building performance standard.

Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) is a national non-profit that provides expertise and hands-on assistance in the design and implementation of building-focused legislation and codes that raise the baseline expectations for building efficiency and performance. IMT was a key advisor to Washington D.C. and created the Building Innovation Hub to support the local real estate community in meeting the District’s building performance standards. IMT also manages the Energy-Efficient Codes Coalition, which helps develop model code language and promote code adoption to drive building performance, decarbonization, and building-grid interaction.

For assistance with registration, please contact Mark Stewart, Climate Change Program Manager, Maryland Department of Environment – mark.stewart1@maryland.gov or 410-537-3291 (O).