Purpose of this article
Lists the Building Performance Standards Scaler supports, explains what each one measures, and describes how compliance and penalty estimates are produced per jurisdiction.
What this covers
- The jurisdictions Scaler evaluates today
- Whether each one measures emissions intensity or energy intensity
- How emission factors and penalties differ by city
Supported jurisdictions
Scaler evaluates Building Performance Standards for the following jurisdictions. Applicable assets appear automatically in the Building Performance Standards section of the Local Regulations page once location and size data are populated.
Jurisdiction | Standard | What it limits |
New York City | LL97 | GHG intensity (kgCO2e/sqm) |
Boston, MA | Boston BERDO | GHG intensity (kgCO2e/sqm) |
Newton, MA | Newton BERDO | GHG intensity (kgCO2e/sqm) |
Seattle, WA | Seattle BEPS | GHG intensity (kgCO2e/sqm) |
Washington, DC | DC BEPS | Source Energy Use Intensity (EUI) |
Denver, CO | Energize Denver | Site Energy Use Intensity (EUI) |
St. Louis, MO | St. Louis BEPS | Site Energy Use Intensity (EUI) |
Montgomery County, MD | Montgomery County BEPS | Site Energy Use Intensity (EUI) |
Applicability detection is also in place for Chula Vista, Vancouver, Cambridge, Evanston, and West Hollywood.
If your portfolio includes a city not listed here, contact your Scaler representative. Coverage continues to expand.
Emissions intensity vs. energy intensity
Not every Building Performance Standard measures carbon. Two different metrics are in use:
- Emissions intensity limits greenhouse gas emissions per unit of floor area. Used by LL97, Boston BERDO, Newton BERDO, and Seattle BEPS.
- Energy Use Intensity (EUI) limits energy consumed per unit of floor area, regardless of how clean that energy is. Used by DC BEPS, Energize Denver, St. Louis BEPS, and Montgomery County.
Scaler routes each asset to the correct metric for its jurisdiction, so an asset is always evaluated against the basis its city actually uses.
Emission factors by jurisdiction
For emissions-intensity standards, the emission factors decide how consumption converts to carbon:
- Jurisdiction-published factors: LL97, Boston BERDO, and Seattle BEPS use the factor sets published by their own regulators.
- EPA national factors: jurisdictions that do not publish their own factor set use EPA national factors.
Where a fuel type has no published factor in the active set, Scaler applies a defined fallback factor for that meter.
Penalty estimates by jurisdiction
Penalty rates follow each city's published methodology. Examples:
- LL97:
$268per metric ton CO2e over the limit
- Boston BERDO:
$234per metric ton CO2e (Alternative Compliance Payment)
- DC BEPS: up to
$10/sqft, capped per building
- Energize Denver:
$0.15 to $0.35/kBtuover the target
Scaler applies the rate published by each regulation. Rates are set by the relevant city or county and may be revised over time.
What you need for each asset
The setup is the same as for LL97 and Boston BERDO:
- Asset
Country,Postal code, andGross floor area
- Building Units with an ESPM-aligned
Property typeandUnit floor area
- At least one year of energy data
For mixed-use buildings, Scaler applies a weighted target across the property types in the building's Building Units.
Per-property-type applicability thresholds are being refined. Today Scaler uses a single size threshold per ordinance, so an asset near a threshold boundary may occasionally be included or excluded at the margin. Confirm borderline assets with your Scaler representative.
Where to go next
- Using the Local Regulations page — track compliance and penalty exposure across your portfolio
- NYC Local Law 97 (LL97) in Scaler — detailed methodology for LL97
- Boston BERDO in Scaler — detailed methodology for Boston BERDO
- DC BEPS in Scaler — detailed methodology for DC BEPS, an energy-intensity standard
- Energize Denver in Scaler — detailed methodology for Energize Denver, an energy-intensity standard
- Ontario EWRB and benchmarking ordinances in Scaler — the benchmarking layer, including Ontario EWRB
- Property type mapping (GRESB, CRREM, ULI, ESPM) — how property types determine thresholds