| R 373 |
| 2025 -- S 1161 Enacted 06/20/2025 |
| S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N |
| RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF ENERGY RESOURCES TO UNDERTAKE A REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF BENCHMARKING PROGRAMS FOR MUNICIPAL AND PRIVATE BUILDINGS GREATER THAN 25,000 SQUARE FEET |
Introduced By: Senator Meghan E. Kallman |
| Date Introduced: June 20, 2025 |
| WHEREAS, The 2021 Act on Climate established Rhode Island as a national leader in |
| reducing harmful emissions and achieving net-zero economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions; and |
| WHEREAS, Rhode Island lacks sufficient up-to-date emissions and energy-use sample |
| data for large buildings; and |
| WHEREAS, Large buildings greater than 25,000 square feet could account for 10 percent |
| of emissions statewide, or roughly one-fifth of the estimated emissions from the whole building |
| sector; and |
| WHEREAS, To properly measure the emissions and energy-use intensity of large |
| buildings the State would need to develop a building energy benchmarking program for these |
| buildings; now, therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby respectfully requests |
| the Office of Energy Resources (OER) to undertake a building benchmarking review and analysis |
| on the following: |
| Status on the implementation of current benchmarking efforts on state properties; |
| Recommendations for proper implementation of a benchmarking program that |
| expands current benchmarking to municipal and private buildings greater than |
| 25,000 square feet. Recommendations shall include and not limited to timeline |
| for implementation, staffing requirements, resources, and programmatic changes; |
| Feedback from the League of Cities and Towns and Chambers of Commerce on |
| benchmarking program implementation and data collection; and |
| Coordinate with Rhode Island Energy on modeling data, implementation, and |
| cost of a benchmarking program; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby requests OER to develop recommendations as to |
| how to implement a State benchmarking program for municipal and privates buildings greater |
| than 25,000 square feet; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby further requests the OER to report its findings and |
| recommendations to the Senate on or before February 27, 2026; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
| transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Commissioner of the Office of Energy |
| Resources. |
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| LC003079 |
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