The City and County of Honolulu has selected Touchstone IQ as the energy and water benchmarking solutions provider for Ordinance 22-17, a key component of Oʻahu’s Climate Action Plan (CAP).
The CAP is a science-based, community-driven strategy to combat climate change and eliminate fossil fuel emissions – the root cause of global warming. The CAP’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 45% from 2020-2025 and put Oʻahu on the path to carbon neutrality by 2045. Currently, the building sector accounts for nearly one-third of Oʻahu’s total GHG. Tracking and reporting energy consumption through benchmarking programs is one of the first steps to understanding reduction opportunities.
“Energy benchmarking and transparency allows building owners, governments, and the public to better understand how their buildings use energy,” said Jon Dierking, Touchstone IQ founder and CEO. “Through our work with many other state and local municipalities around the country, we’ve seen how this knowledge can help communities make smarter and more cost-effective improvements. We are proud of Honolulu’s commitment to greenhouse gas reduction and are honored to be working together to help meet their goals.”
Ordinance 22-17 was signed into law in July of 2022 by Mayor Rick Blangiardi to establish a Better Buildings Benchmarking Program. The program is administered by the City and County of Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency (Resilience Office), and requires all large commercial and multifamily family buildings to benchmark and report their energy and water usage annually. Buildings 100,000 square feet or larger were the first covered properties to report by June 30, 2023. Buildings 50,000 square feet or larger must report by June 30, 2024, and buildings 25,000 square feet or larger by June 30, 2025.
Touchstone IQ is supporting Honolulu with industry-leading software that streamlines the process of communicating with and educating building owners, tracking reporting and compliance data, and distributing scorecards that will help building owners compare their energy performance to similar buildings and provide them with energy-efficiency program resources and cost-saving opportunities. Touchstone IQ is also providing the program’s help desk support, enabling building owners and managers to receive support throughout the benchmarking process.
“Our high cost of living and lack of affordable housing are some of the top resilience challenges on Oʻahu,” said Matt Gonser, Executive Director of the Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency. “It is our priority to help buildings improve efficiency and reduce costs for their tenants. Benchmarking is the first step to managing ongoing utility expenses, and we are excited to be working with experts at Touchstone IQ who will make it easier for Oʻahu buildings to measure their usage and ultimately to find energy and water savings opportunities in their buildings.”
