Pittsburgh Building Benchmarking Ordinance

• Any non-residential building with indoor floor space of fifty thousand (50,000) square feet or more.
• All non-residential portions of any mixed-use building where a total of at least fifty thousand (50,000) square feet of indoor floor space is devoted to any non-residential use.

Your building may qualify for an exemption from reporting if:

• The covered building does not have a certificate of occupancy or temporary certificate of occupancy for all twelve (12) months of the calendar year being benchmarked.
• A demolition permit has been issued for the covered building during the calendar year being benchmarked, provided that demolition work has commenced, energy-related systems have been compromised and legal occupancy is no longer possible prior to June 1 for the applicable year.
• The covered building had average physical occupancy of less than fifty (50) percent throughout the calendar year for which benchmarking is required.
• The Department determines that, due to special circumstances unique to the covered building and not based on a condition caused by actions of the owner, applicant, or operator, that strict compliance with provisions of this Chapter would cause undue hardship or would not be in the public interest.
• The covered building is primarily used for manufacturing or other industrial purposes for which benchmarking results would not meaningfully reflect the covered building’s energy use characteristics due to the intensive use of process energy.
• The owner is unable to benchmark due to the failure of either a utility or a tenant (or both) to provide the information necessary for the owner to complete any benchmarking submittal requirement.