Tracking Region's Energy Use Made Easy - MORPC

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Energy

January 21, 2020

A new online dashboard is making it easier than ever to review how efficiently buildings in Central Ohio are using energy. The tool allows communities participating in the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s (MORPC’s) Benchmarking Program to collect, analyze, and visualize utility data to identify energy saving opportunities across all publicly owned buildings and fleets.

Last year, MORPC started the Local Government Energy Partnership to offer its local government and associate members a variety of programs and services to advance energy saving opportunities. The energy benchmarking program is one of the ways the Local Government Energy Partnership is helping to reach its goals.

“MORPC is empowering local governments to be their community’s trusted energy advocate. The partnership serves as the nexus among MORPC’s local government members, the utilities serving these areas, residents, and businesses.”

Jon-Paul d’Aversa, MORPC Senior Energy Planner

Great progress has already been made. As of the end of 2019, 77 percent of buildings enrolled in the benchmarking program showed an improvement in energy consumption. For buildings that qualify for an ENERGY STAR® score, participants saw an average increase of 5 points with a typical improvement of about 5 percent per building.

Energy use intensity (EUI), a building performance metric that measures energy consumption per square foot, also improved. In fact, EUI improved by an average of roughly 4 percent for each building. As with most benchmarking programs, savings are likely attributable to a raising of consciousness surrounding energy consumption.

Participants in the benchmarking program are, as a whole, moving toward more efficient energy consumption in their operations.

Everyone can now follow MORPC members’ progress with the new Regional Energy Dashboard, an aggregated look at sustainability statistics for all local governments participating in the program. Current monthly data are provided for ENERGY STAR scores, carbon emissions, renewable energy capacity and alternative fuel vehicles being used in local government fleets.

For more information regarding the MORPC Benchmarking Program or the Local Government Energy Partnership, contact Jon-Paul d’Aversa via email at jpdaversa@morpc.org.