Building Energy Disclosure Project
Building owners representing more than 160 buildings participated in the first year of the Building Energy Disclosure Project. View the 2020 annual report here.
As part of its commitment to Winnipeg’s Climate Action Plan, the City of Winnipeg (City) has created the Building Energy Disclosure Project (BEDP). This initiative is aimed at helping Winnipeg commercial and institutional building owners better understand the energy performance of their buildings while supporting overall reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy consumption. In addition, the project aims to:
- Showcase leadership efforts taken by building owners to support low carbon and energy efficient buildings in our community
- Demonstrate industry and institutional support for data transparency in Winnipeg, and for the development of a centralized and accessible database
- Support the further development of industry disclosure and benchmarking knowledge and capacity to help prepare organizations and building owners for possible future federal and/or provincial disclosure requirements as identified in the Pan Canadian Framework on Climate Change
Greenhouse gas emissions targets: 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 relative to 2011 levels. 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 relative to 2011 levels. Long description ends.
The City is calling on Winnipeg commercial and institutional building owners to participate in the BEDP. By registering, building owners agree to disclose key building energy metrics for inclusion on the public Disclosure Map.
In addition to supporting community-wide energy data transparency and benchmarking efforts, participants will also receive the following:
- Recognition as a leader in supporting climate action and data transparency in the building sector
- A personalized scorecard that highlights their building’s key energy and GHG metrics as well as a comparison to similar buildings in Winnipeg
- Access to free educational workshops offered by the City of Winnipeg and its project partner, the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC)
- Assistance with creation of an ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® account and review of application for ENERGY STAR certification
Requirements
Participation is voluntary and is open to multiple types of commercial and institutional buildings that meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Located within the City of Winnipeg limits
- A minimum of 20,000 square feet (smaller sizes will be considered for Public Sector Organizations (PSO) or other interested building types)
- Come under the definition of any commercial or institutional building categorization as defined by the project guide
- Willing to share the full energy profile of participating buildings through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®
Registration
You must register your building to participate in the Building Energy Disclosure Project.
Once your registration has been processed and you’ve shared your ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® building information, you’ll gain access to free workshops and educational events.
Don’t have an ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® account? No problem! The City of Winnipeg’s Office of Sustainability can create one for you.
Register your buildingDisclosure map
The Building Energy Disclosure Project Map is a publicly displayed map that discloses key building features and energy and emissions performance metrics. This map will be continuously updated throughout the project as more buildings are added.
Program FAQs
Project participation is free. In addition, the City has partnered with Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) to provide participants with free educational workshops. If you’re already registered to participate and would like to learn more about our educational workshops or to host one for your building, please contact us.
If you would like to participate in BEDP and you don’t yet have a Portfolio Manager account, there are two options.
- You can create your own account. Start by visiting the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® website and by downloading the Province of Manitoba’s Guide to Using Portfolio Manager in Manitoba. This will walk you through setting up your account, adding buildings, reviewing your information, and sharing your profiles with others.
- Complete the BEDP registration form and select the option to have someone from the City of Winnipeg’s Office of Sustainability assist you in creating your account.
Download our project guide for a full list of qualifying building types and other eligibility criteria.
Yes. You can register as many qualifying buildings as you’d like as long as they have associated Portfolio Manager accounts and meet eligibility criteria.
Contact us if you are registered to participate in BEDP and you would like to host an educational session for your staff or building occupants.
Key metrics that will be disclosed include building gross floor area, year of construction, primary use type, energy star score and/or energy use intensity and greenhouse gas intensity. Additional details can be found in the project guide.
An energy performance scorecard is a personalized, two-page document that highlights key building energy and GHG metrics. It provides a comparison of your building to similar ones in Winnipeg. It also highlights additional resources and available incentives through various organizations to assist participants in improving their building’s performance.
Scorecards will be made available to participants once per year, and will be emailed directly to registrants. Scorecards are provided to advance understanding of building energy performance and support internal decision making and will not be publicly disclosed on the website.
Participating in BEDP will help organizations identify, develop, and implement energy efficiency improvement opportunities in their buildings and reduce their GHG emissions. These types of programs enable the review of building energy usage to better understand performance, allow for comparisons to be made between building types and to available national averages, and help building owners make more informed energy improvement investment decisions.
Benchmarking is the first step in increasing your building’s energy efficiency. Energy efficient buildings are environmentally friendly, provide better user comfort, and are less expensive to operate!
For more details, download the BEDP project guide.
You can also contact the City’s Office of Sustainability.
Additional resources
If you would like more information about energy efficiency for buildings and energy benchmarking, here are some helpful resources:
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®:
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® is an online tool developed by the Environmental Protection Agency that allows you to measure and track energy, water, and waste consumption, as well as GHG emissions.
As part of the Building Energy Disclosure Project, the City of Winnipeg hosted this free webinar for participants to learn more about using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® to track their buildings’ energy performance.
ASHRAE Manitoba
ASHRAE is a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment, and has a Manitoba Chapter. Through its world-wide network of members and its vast technical and discussion groups, it offers opportunity for professional development for members of all ages and experiences.
Efficiency Manitoba
Efficiency Manitoba is Manitoba’s newest crown corporation with a mandate to develop and support energy efficiency initiatives to reduce provincial consumption of electricity and natural gas.
CaGBC – Manitoba Chapter
The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization supporting sustainable buildings in Canada, with extensive experience with energy benchmarking and disclosure. CaGBC’s local chapter represents industry leaders in Manitoba and supports green building programming through educational and networking opportunities.
BOMA Manitoba
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Manitoba actively assists real estate developers and operators of commercial office space to become more expert, professional, and accomplished in their fields, as well as to create better tenant environments and more stable investments for the owners.
Contact the project administrator
You can contact the project administrator by email.
