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525 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
T 415.551.4720
TTY 415.554.3488
[email protected]
DATE: January 16, 2024
TO: Tim Paulson, President
Anthony Rivera, Vice President
Newsha K. Ajami, Commissioner
Sophie Maxwell, Commissioner
Kate H. Stacy, Commissioner
THROUGH: Dennis J. Herrera, General Manager
Barbara Hale, Assistant General Manager, Power
Catherine Spaulding, Deputy Manager, Power
FROM: Jamie Seidel
Manager, Distributed Energy Resources Projects, Power
SUBJECT: 2022 Municipal Energy Benchmarking Report
The Power Enterprise is pleased to present the 2022 Municipal Energy Benchmarking Report.
In 2011, the San Francisco Existing Commercial Buildings Energy Performance Ordinance was passed by the Board of Supervisors and signed by Mayor Edwin M. Lee requiring owners of non- residential buildings over 10,000 square feet to annually benchm ark and disclose buildin g energy performance. Leading by example, the City and County of San Francisco soon began to benchmark its municipal building energy use, becoming the first city on the W est Coast to annually measure and publish building performance data.
The 2022 reporting year continues to util ize the web- based interactive dashboard that has been used since the 2019 report to pr esent the annual municipal energy use data. The dashboard provides high level trends and portfolio level summa ries of ener gy use by fuel type , building type, and floor area, as well as emissions by fuel type. Additionally, building usage data is available at the individual building level, building type, or by City and County of San Francisco department.
San Francis co’s municipal portfolio shows varying rates of energy use across buildings and facilities for calendar year 2022, most likely due to the extensive changes in building operations and occupancy initially brought about by th e COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. From 2021 to 2022, year -over-year, Energy Use
Intensity (EUI) increased by 6.6% and carbon intensity rose by 6.2%. Although energy use and carbon intensity has increased since the COVID- 19 pandemic, 2022 levels remain below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
For more analy sis and detailed in formation regarding the 2022 Municipal Energy Benchmarking Report , please visit this link: Municipal Bui ldings Energy Benchmarking | SFPUC.
San Francisco Municipal Buildings
2022 Energy Benchmarking Report
December 2023
Power BI Desktop
Overview
In 2011, the San Francisco Existing Commercial Buildings Energy Performance Ordinance was passed by the Board of Supervisors and signed by Mayor Edwin M. Lee, which requires owners of non-residential buildings over 10,000 square feet to annually benchmark and disclose building energy performance. Leading by example, the City and County of San Francisco soon began to benchmark its municipal building energy use, becoming the first city on the West Coast to annually measure and publish building performance data.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) publishes building performance data in an interactive dashboard.
This document is a static copy. By hovering over and clicking any of the icons, visitors navigate the dashboard to explore data and interact with visualizations. For the best experience, visit sfpuc.org to interact with charts and tables
in this report.
Portfolio
Summary
Trends
Building-Level
Data
Data Sources
and Assumptions
Energy Programs
and Projects
On behalf of City agencies, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) continues to benchmark approximately 500 municipal buildings annually. In collaboration with the San Francisco Environment Department, the SFPUC releases this dashboard to provide San Francisco’s agencies and the general public a better understanding of how municipal facilities perform and to identify buildings that would benefit from cost-effective energy efficiency investments.
This dashboard does not include energy usage information for non-municipal buildings, nor does it include data on the nearly 400,000 customers enrolled with the SFPUC’s
CleanPowerSF program. Port of San Francisco and Housing Authority properties are also omitted from this report but benchmark their energy use independently in accordance with the Existing Building Energy Performance Ordinance.
For information about how municipal buildings’ greenhouse gas emissions compare to emissions from other sectors in San Francisco, check out San Francisco’s Climate Storyboard.
Starting in reporting year 2019, the SFPUC began publishing building performance data in this interactive dashboard.
Data from 2011 to 2022 can be found in static reports: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.
Abbreviations and acronyms encountered in this report can be found in the Glossary. 12/27/2023Last Updated:
Glossary &
Acknowledgements
Power BI Desktop
Carbon and Energy Use Intensity Over Time
For each municipal facility, the SFPUC measures and compares on-site annual energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (expressed as energy use intensity (EUI) and carbon intensity, respectively) over time. For 2022, San Francisco provides complete results for 477 City facilities and partial information for an additional 12. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
79.5 64.2
82.1 57.2
64.5 68.468.1
67.3 73.1
75.2 67.0
60.2 66.3
78.8 5.7
4.3 6.0
3.2 3.8
4.4 4.9
4.3 5.3
4.04.1 4.2
4.4 5.6
Trends
Carbon Intensity
(lb CO2e/sq ft)
EUI
(kBtu/sq ft)
The graph above depicts the EUI and carbon intensity for municipal buildings where complete benchmarking data is available but excludes buildings for which we only have partial data. It also does not include San Francisco International Airport (SFO), as SFO is such a proportionally large gas and electricity user that its inclusion would obscure the change in EUI and carbon intensity across all other municipal facilities. Water and wastewater treatment facilities are similarly excluded because their respective EUIs are disproportionate to square footage (the more appropriate measurement of EUI for this particular subset of facilities should be based on energy per volume of water processed, which is not readily available to SFPUC Power).
San Francisco's portfolio continues to show varying rates of energy use recovery across buildings and facilities for calendar year 2022, most likely due to the extensive changes in building operations and occupancy initially brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. From 2021 to 2022, year-over-year EUI increased by 6.6% as carbon intensity likewise rose by 6.2%, although both measures remain below (pre-pandemic) 2019 levels. Overall, electric consumption remained relatively constant and although there was a notable drop in steam use, it was not nearly enough to offset the increase in gas use primarily among K-12 schools. (Note that steam users account for only a tiny fraction of the building portfolio.) While the airport’s EUI increased by 0.6%, its carbon intensity dropped by 1.4% as the Airport Commission and its tenants exhibited a small uptick in electric usage but a decrease in gas compared to 2021.
Although energy use is anticipated to continue to rise as San Francisco recovers from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and with electrification and EV trends becoming more significant for the City’s portfolio, the City remains committed to reducing the energy intensity and carbon impact of its buildings. For more information on efforts to reduce the energy and carbon intensity of municipal facilities, visit the Energy Programs and Projects page online.
Power BI Desktop
Energy Use by Fuel Type
Three sources of energy are used to power municipal buildings: Electricity, Natural Gas, and District Steam. Every year there are certain buildings not fully benchmarked due to insufficient information. Energy usage from these buildings is not included in the overall figures, trends, and summary charts below but is visible on the Building-Level
Data page online.
4.17bn
kBtu
Emissions by Fuel Type
All facilities receive 100% greenhouse gas (GHG)-free electricity from SFPUC through Hetch Hetchy Power. As a result, electricity is entirely emissions-free while natural gas use continues to drive and represent the largest share of municipal building GHG emissions.
95%
5%
Natural Gas
Steam
51%47%
2%
ElectricityNatural Gas
Steam
Portfolio Summary
2022
2022
110,067
metric tons CO2e
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Power BI Desktop
40%
19%Parking Garages 10%
Offices 5%
5%
Hospitals 4%
4%
Public Safety 4%
Museums and Art 3%
Water and Wastewater … 1%
Airport
Education
Service, Repair, and Storage
Convention Center
Energy Use by Building
A building’s size does not always dictate its energy use, and some buildings consume energy out of proportion to their size due to their operating hours or energy use intensity. For example, hospitals represent a small percentage of benchmarked square footage but consume a significant percentage of energy due to their continuous operating hours and high energy use intensity.
Floor Area by Building
The following depicts a summary of floor area by building category. Every year there are certain buildings not fully benchmarked due to insufficient information. Energy usage from these buildings is not included in the overall figures, trends, and summary charts below, but is visible on the Building-Level Data page online. 43%
13%
Education 10%
6%
Offices 6%
4%
4%
Public Safety 4%
Convention Center 3%
Performance Halls 2%
Airport
Hospitals
Water and Wastewater Treatment
Service, Repair, and Storage
Museums and Art
55.1M
sq ft
4.17bn
kBtu
2022
2022
Portfolio Summary (Cont'd)
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Power BI Desktop
Building-Level Details are Presented in an Interactive Table The online report provides considerably more detail, allowing review of data about individual buildings or filtering by building type or department. For each building, key data points characterize energy performance in a given calendar year, and the dashboard provides summary statistics for groups of buildings.
A guide to using the interactive online table is provided below.
Using Building-Level Data
Use this search
box to type in
and filter by a
specific building
name. The
adjacent eraser
icon will clear
your selection.
Click on drop down
arrows to filter by
property type or
department. The below
measures and table will
react. The adjacent
eraser icon will clear
your selection and the
table below will reset.
Six key measures
that are dynamic
according to drop
down boxes above
or selection in table
below.
Click to download
comprehensive dataset
hosted on SF Open Data
Portal.
Hover over a row to reveal
a tooltip that displays more
building details.
Click anywhere to select a row highlighting
building information. The above six key
measures will react.
Hover over each field to
reveal a description for
each column. Click on the
down arrow available in
each column to sort the
data.
Power BI Desktop
Data Sources and Assumptions
Year Fuel Type Units Source
Emissions
Factor
2017 Steam lbs CO2e/lbs steam Clearway Community Energy; obtained annually by request 0.20 2018 Steam lbs CO2e/lbs steam Clearway Community Energy; obtained annually by request 0.20 2019 Steam lbs CO2e/lbs steam Clearway Community Energy; obtained annually by request 0.20 2020 Steam lbs CO2e/lbs steam Clearway Community Energy; obtained annually by request 0.22 2021 Steam lbs CO2e/lbs steam Cordia Energy; obtained annually by request 0.22 2022 Steam lbs CO2e/lbs steam Cordia Energy; obtained annually by request 0.21 Energy Star Score: EPA's Energy Star Portfolio Manager is the most widely utilized tool for building energy benchmarking. EPA's Energy Star score gauges a building’s energy performance as compared to similar buildings nationwide. Because the scale is geared to commercial buildings, only municipal facilities that fall in specific, eligible building categories can obtain a 1-100 score. A score of 50 represents the national median. T o put this in perspective, a building with a score of 76 would indicate that it is performing better than 75% of other buildings in the same category.
Energy Use Intensity: The City’s municipal buildings are benchmarked based on on-site Energy Use Intensity (EUI), a measure of annual energy use per square foot of building area. In this dashboard, water treatment and wastewater facilities EUI is calculated the same as for all other facilities (energy use per square foot) and not as energy use per volume of water processed. The area of exterior parking lots is not included in the EUI for the adjacent buildings, but buildings that function primarily as parking garages have their full square footages factored into their EUI calculation.
Uncertainties and Exceptions
While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this dashboard is complete, accurate, and up-to-date, irreconcilable meter data and/or changes in a building’s occupancy or primary use may skew their respective results.
Energy use data: Electricity, natural gas, and steam usage data is stored in the SFPUC’s energy accounting database, EnergyCAP , where billing is managed by the SFPUC. Where the site pays Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) or another vendor directly for natural gas, meter information is provided by the individual department to the SFPUC. Starting in 2019, data calendarization was used to extract annual data from monthly utility bills.
Building data: Square footage, year built, operating hours, and other facility data is used to reliably benchmark a building. As part of the initial report (2011), the SFPUC and other City departments engaged in a thorough verification process to review and confirm available building and operations data, as well as supply additional detail.
Additional verification occurs as new facilities are added to the portfolio, buildings change, or vacancies are reported. In some cases, a building comprises more than one space type. Where this would affect its Energy Star score, multiple space types were created for the facility within the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star Portfolio Manager to correctly generate an EUI and/or Energy Star score. (See below for additional information.)
Civic Center steam loop: Two historic Civic Center buildings, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, and the Department of Public Health Central Office, obtain steam through the Civic Center steam loop; however, individual steam usage data for these properties is unavailable. Consequently, the unmetered portion of Civic Center steam use, taking into account inefficiencies in the steam loop distribution system, is apportioned between these two buildings based on their square footage, and therefore actual energy consumption within these buildings is less than reported.
Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors: Below is a table of emission factor magnitude and data sources updated annually.
All municipal buildings included in this report receive 100% GHG-free electricity from Hetch Hetchy Power.
By contrast, each therm of natural gas has an annual emissions of 11.70 lbs CO2e/therm, and emissions intensity of steam varies from year-to-year, summarized below:
Power BI Desktop
Energy Efficiency
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has offered energy efficiency services to City departments for the past three decades. One program managed by Power Enterprise’s Distributed Energy Resources Projects (DERP) Group is the General Fund Energy Efficiency Program. This program offers energy efficiency services including lighting and HVAC retrofits, building retro-commissioning, and LEED certification services to SFPUC General Fund customers.
Renewable Energy
The City and County of San Francisco is strongly committed to expanding the local use of renewable energy, including solar photovoltaics (PV). The SFPUC DERP Group offers turnkey solar PV design and construction services to City Departments. In 2022, the SFPUC distributed power from 27 PV facilities with a total capacity of 8,452 kW of clean renewable energy.
Electrification Leads to Net Zero Emissions
The City and County of San Francisco recognizes that one of the best ways to reduce local air pollution is to prioritize sustainable modes of transportation. Electric vehicles (EVs) will play a critical role in reducing these emissions. EVs powered by renewable power such as solar PV and SFPUC Hetch Hetchy Power will provide a pathway to achieving these goals. Leading by example, many City and County of San Francisco municipal building parking facilities now have EV charging stations such as the new Southeast Family Health Center.
Notable projects in 2022 included:
Energy Programs and Projects
Southeast Family Health Center Solar PV and EV
Charging Station Project
In 2022, the new Southeast Family Health Center
opened serving residents of the Bayview-Hunters Point
neighborhood. The SFPUC funded environmental
sustainability features such as solar PV panels on the
roof and electric vehicle charging stations in the staff parking areas.
The parking lot has 23 Level II (240 V) EV chargers
available for staff use with a load management system,
and the building has a 72 kW rooftop solar PV system.
These environmental sustainability features will help the facility achieve a Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification - a
green building rating system that is a globally
recognized sustainability achievement symbol.
Press release
San Francisco Opera House Solar PV Project
In 2022, the SFPUC completed a 90-kW rooftop
solar PV system at the San Francisco Opera House.
The project scope included refurbishing the Opera
House roof followed by the solar system
installation. SFPUC Utility Field Services personnel
provided the construction services for the solar
installation. The system’s estimated annual
generation is 140,000 kWh.
Power BI Desktop
· Bn - billion
· Btu - British thermal unit
· CO2e - carbon dioxide equivalent
· COVID-19 - coronavirus disease 2019
· DERP -Distributed Energy Resources
Projects
· EnergyCAP - utility bill management
software
·
Energy Star Portfolio Manager -
energy consumption and greenhouse gas
emissions tracking tool
· EPA - Environmental Protection Agency
· EUI - Energy Use Intensity
· EV - electric vehicle
· GHG - greenhouse gas
· HVAC - heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning
Glossary
Gathering the information necessary to complete this benchmarking report involved the time and expertise of numerous people at a number of different departments and agencies. Many thanks to all those whose hard work and continued care went into ensuring that this report is as complete and accurate as possible.
SFPUC Project Team:
Charlotte Coquia-Elmore
Dan Heffernan
Theresa Ballesteros
Jamie Seidel
Matthew Greco
Additional SFPUC Staff:
Angie Lee
Benito Capuyan
Hina Dave
Jackie Randazzo
Sachiko T anikawa
SF Environment Project Team:
Barry Hooper
Joyce Oloresisimo-Arpon
Extra-Departmental Contacts:
Amy Chan (SFUSD)
Amy Nagengast (SFO)
Courtney Carroux (SFO)
Acknowledgements
· k - thousand
· kW - kilowatt
· kWh - kilowatt hours
· lb - pounds
· LEED - Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design - most widely
used green building rating system in the
world
· M - million
· PG&E - Pacific Gas & Electric Company
· PV - photovoltaic
· SFO - San Francisco International
Airport
· SFPUC - San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission
· sq ft - square feet
· V - volt