The Benchmarking program supports building owners and operators to identify opportunities to reduce their building’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Program participants benchmark their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions publicly, while earning recognition and program perks for doing so.
 
The program is open to all buildings in Ottawa, excluding small residential buildings like single detached homes, townhomes and other residential buildings under four storeys. The City of Ottawa is encouraging buildings over 10,000 square feet (925 square meters) in size to participate.

The Program

What's in it for participants?

Join the program

In exchange for signing up for the program, participants gain access to:
  • an annual Energy Performance Scorecard and Insights Report
  • discounted building envelope thermal inspections
  • training programs for building operators, strategic energy management and organizational net-zero planning
  • site tours, case studies and other educational materials
  • future retrofit financing programs

Check out the locations, property characteristics, and energy performance metrics and greenhouse gas emissions of the Benchmarking and Auditing Program participants.

How is the program performing?

How do I participate?

sign up today

Participation in the City of Ottawa’s program is voluntary and seeks to build off of the existing reporting processes with minimal additional inputs from building owners.
The City’s program aims to provide building owners and operators with valuable insights into their building’s performance and information on how it compares to other existing buildings.

  1. If your building is over 50,000 square feet, meet your regulatory requirements by enrolling in the Province of Ontario’s EWRB program and use free software to submit your property’s performance data. Buildings under 50,000 square feet are also welcome to participate directly in the City's Benchmarking program.
  2. Complete a short intake form for the City of Ottawa’s program.
  3. Share consumption data with the City of Ottawa through the Energy Star Portfolio Manager platform. Should you require support in using this platform, reach out to the City of Ottawa.
  4. Review your free Energy Scorecard and Insights Report for each building or property submitted, and gain access to the City of Ottawa’s Better Building Ottawa network benefits. These reports will provide high-level analysis on your property based on monthly utility consumption patterns.
  5. The City’s Better Buildings Ottawa team will be looking to offer ways to support property owners and managers to take learnings from the benchmarking program and to support new opportunities for connecting to district energy and reducing energy and emissions. Supports for this planning process will be made available to those who have benchmarked their properties first.

Energy benchmarking is the process of tracking and recording a building’s energy performance over time. It is based on the fundamental principle that building energy consumption must be measured before it can be managed. Performance data can help owners and managers to identify opportunities for operational efficiency improvements and retrofit projects.

Energy benchmarking and the public disclosure of building performance data is a foundational piece for undertaking energy efficiency retrofits. Experience shows that collecting and reporting on building performance is a foundational step that alone can lead to annualized savings of between 2.4 and 9 percent.

What is energy benchmarking?