Big buildings use a lot of energy! That's why Town Meeting passed a Building Energy Use Disclosure bylaw that requires all buildings over 25,000 square feet to annually report their energy and water use. Energy use transparency is an essential first step towards finding solutions to reduce energy consumption in order to meet our local and state climate goals. Lexington is the first town in Massachusetts to implement such a policy, following the lead set by Boston and Cambridge and other major cities around the country.
The first reporting cycle covered energy and water use in 2022. In its first year, the program saw a 85% compliance rate of property owners reporting their data. Together, the 95 buildings that reported their data accounted for 73,727 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That's equivalent to over 9,000 homes' energy use for a year!
A summary of the reported data is coming soon, but in the meantime, take a minute to explore the data available through the new interactive map. Experiment with filters or access the raw data if you want to learn more.
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