Board Advising On Energy Standards For MOCO Buildings Seeks Members

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Commercial and multi-family buildings will be required to meet a minimum set of energy standards in Montgomery County, and a board that will advise on those standards needs members, the county said.

"Building Energy Performance Standards" will set long-term standards for buildings and set checks on energy usage in an effort to reduce energy use in Montgomery County. There are 15 vacancies on the newly created Building Performance Improvement Board, which will advise the county on how to implement these standards, the county said in a news release.

“Passing BEPS was critical toward meeting our Climate Action Plan goals of reducing 100 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions by 2035,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “Our new Building Performance Improvement Board is important toward the implementation of this process. I encourage all residents who are eligible to please apply for this board.”

Elrich will appoint the board members from the applicants and the County Council will need to confirm those members, the news release said.

Applications to become a member are due by Friday. Applicants should be either a resident of Montgomery County or one of the following, the county said in the news release:

• Representatives of local electricity or natural gas utilities
• Providers of energy efficiency, building resilience and/or renewable energy services or consulting
• Owners or managers of affordable housing
• Owners or managers of multifamily residential buildings containing market-rate units
• Nonresidential building owners or managers
• Nonprofit building owners or managers
• Technical building design or operations professionals
• Providers of facilities, mechanical or similar engineering services
• Commercial or multifamily residential construction finance or investment professionals
• Representatives of nonprofit organizations dedicated to climate action, resiliency, public health, green building, economic development or building decarbonization
• Representatives of nonprofit organizations dedicated to racial equity or environmental justice

Building owners who do not reach energy goals will need to produce an improvement plan and could be fined for repeated failures to meet the standards, the county said when the BEPS proposal was introduced last year.