What is the Building Energy Performance Standard?
The Building Energy Performance Standard (BEPS) was unanimously passed by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and signed into law by Mayor Krewson in May 2020. With its passage, St. Louis became the 4th jurisdiction in the country and the 1st in the Midwest to mandate significant reductions in building energy use with this ambitious law.
The ordinance covers municipal, commercial, institutional and residential Buildings 50,000 square feet and larger. The standards will be set to impact the highest energy users of each building type. Building owners will have the flexibility to decide what combination of physical or operational improvements can best achieve the standard and will have until May 2025 to reduce their energy use to comply.
Buildings Compliance
Buildings will comply by meeting the standard set for their building type as measured in site energy use intensity (EUI) normalized for weather-and operating characteristics. Depending on each building’s baseline EUI, a range of steps may need to be taken from simply reporting performance data that shows the building is already in compliance, to investing in energy conservation measures to improve performance or systems changes. Buildings will also be required to audit their 2024 EUI (evaluation).
The standards will be set and publicized by May 4, 2021. Most buildings will have four years to meet the standard (May 4, 2025).
