Resources
This page provides background information on the Building Emissions Performance Standard (BEPS) from its early development stage in 2022 on through to the present rulemaking proccess.
- Introduction to Seattle BEPS Policy
- Seattle BEPS: Guide to the New Policy
- Seattle BEPS: GHGI Targets & Emissions Factors
- Adopted Legislation
- BEPS Director's Report
- Seattle Benchmarking Map — Check out this map to find your building's most recent energy use and emissions report
Webinar recording and handouts: "Seattle's New Building Emissions Performance Standard for Property Managers." Presented by OSE and hosted by Seattle BOMA on Oct. 2, 2024.
Webinar recording and handouts: "Seattle’s Brand-New Building Emissions Performance Standard: What You Need to Know Now." Presented by OSE and hosted by the Lighting Design Lab on Feb. 1, 2024.
- HEAR Program — Appliance rebates for low-income multifamily buildings
- Financing Energy Efficiency Projects (PDF)
- Find Financing for Your Energy Project
- Green Revolving Funds
- Seattle City Light Incentives for Business and Multifamily
- WA State Dept. of Commerce Building Electrification Grant Program
- PSE Commercial Retrofit Incentives — Puget Sound Energy (PSE) customers are eligible for a variety of commercial gas incentives, including strategic energy management.
- Washington State Housing Finance Commission Sustainable Energy Trust — WSHFC offers loans for water and energy efficiency upgrades for nonprofit commercial and multifamily properties, as well as clean energy projects.
- Building Seattle Better — A path to cleaner, carbon neutral buildings
- Seattle Midsize Office Building — An energy and electrification path to carbon neutral (conceptual plan)
- Seattle Large Office Building — Planning for Compliance with Performance Standards
- Stewart Manor Affordable Housing — An energy and electrification path to carbon neutral (conceptual plan)
- Washington State Department of Services for the Blind — An energy efficiency and electrification path to carbon neutral (case study)
- King County Airport Terminal (deep energy retrofit case study)
- HDC Exemplary Buildings Program — Affordable Housing Tools and Case Studies
- How Seattle's Municipal Buildings Support a Carbon-Neutral Future (project highlights and lessons learned)
- State of Washington Clean Buildings Website — Official compliance information, fact sheets, FAQs, application forms for the early adopter incentives, and reporting.
- Clean Buildings Performance Standard Integrated Document — This document, which integrates ASHRAE Standard 100-2018 with WAC194-50 is a must-read for energy service providers, Tune-Up Specialists and facility engineers that need to know the details of the requirements.
- Early Adopter Incentives — Incentives for building owners who demonstrate early compliance with the Washington Clean Buildings Performance Standard.
- City Light Lighting Design Lab — Webinars and recordings on a host of energy-efficient and code-compliant electric technologies like heat pumps for commercial and large multifamily buildings.
- Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) Building Performance Standards — A 2-minute video introduction to BPS with additional policy concepts and overviews of other U.S. city performance standard policies.
- National BPS Coalition — Learn about this coalition of U.S. cities.
- U.S. DOE Better Buildings Low Carbon Technology Strategies Toolkit — Tips and tools to reduce emissions in your building.
- Seattle City Light's Planning for an Electrified Future — A blog post on how electrification will impact City Light’s load over time how its distribution grid and resources can best serve the increased load.
- ASHRAE — Center for Excellence for Building Decarbonization
- U.S. DOE Better Climate Challenge for Businesses and Organizations
- U.S. DOE Better Buildings Challenge for Businesses and Organizations
**Important: the links below contain proposed policy details that may now be out-of-date. Please see the updated policy guides for final targets & timeline.**
Webinar: Estimating Your Building’s Emissions and Draft Targets for the Proposed Seattle Building Emissions Performance Standard (BEPS) — March 23, 2023
This webinar provided a brief overview of the proposed policy. It then provided basic instructions, suitable for beginners, to learn how to quickly estimate and track a building’s current greenhouse gas emissions and estimate BEPS proposed targets. It also showed how to retrieve energy data from Portfolio Manager.
Webinar: Draft Emissions Targets for Seattle Building Performance Standard — Oct. 25, 2022
At this technical webinar, OSE and SBW Consulting shared the draft greenhouse gas intensity targets and the analysis conducted to inform the targets. A brief overview of the proposed policy and the updated policy timeline was also shared.
- View the slide deck (Includes an appendix that outlines the proposed individual targets pathway and other alternative compliance and exemptions that were briefly covered during the webinar.)
- View the recording (PDF)
2nd Online Open House — June 16, 2022
This 2nd open house, attended by 200 people, provided a brief policy background and update on work to date and shared highlights of stakeholder feedback received on developing a BPS policy. OSE also shared the Draft Seattle BPS policy framework for the regulations, the updated policy timeline, and took comments and questions on the draft policy framework.
1st Online Open House — April 5, 2022
This open house, attended by 350 people, gave an overview of how buildings contribute to climate pollution and the ways this pollution affects people’s health and our community, especially impacting communities of color. Staff presented on existing City policies to reduce climate pollution and discussed building performance standards (BPS) — what they are, how they work, how they might complement current state and city policies, and their benefits. Following the presentation, staff responded to audience questions and comments, which are summarized in the Q&A below.
This section archives the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) process documentation, which took place in June 2023.
June 8, 2023 — State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Determination Issued — The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) has issued a Determination of Non-Significance under SEPA (no Environmental Impact Statement required) for the proposed Building Emissions Performance Standard. More information:
- Notice of Determination of Non-Significance
- Analysis & Decision for SEPA Threshold Determination
- SEPA Checklist
- SEPA Checklist Attachments:
- The Proposed Draft Ordinance (attachment 1) *Important: this is a prior legislation version than what was transmitted to Council in November 2023. It is posted here for archival purposes.
- Draft Office of Sustainability and Environment’s Director’s Report (attachment 2) *Important: this is a prior report version than what was transmitted to Council in November 2023. It is posted here for archival purposes.
- Attachments 3, 4 and 5
- Seattle City Light Letter (attachment 6)
- June 8, 2023 News Release - Mayor Harrell Introduces New Building Emissions Performance Standard (BEPS) to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions 27% from Existing Buildings