Building performance requirements are expanding across major U.S. cities. New York, Seattle, Boston, Denver, and other jurisdictions have enacted ordinances that require large commercial buildings to benchmark emissions, meet performance targets, and document compliance on defined timelines. For building owners, property managers, and facilities teams, understanding what those requirements involve, and how sustainable building practices relate to them, is increasingly part of routine planning rather than an emergency response.
The building sector’s share of total emissions is a primary reason those requirements have expanded so quickly. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), buildings account for 31% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. That figure has pushed commercial real estate onto the radar of regulators, lenders, and tenants, and has led more cities and states to turn sustainability expectations into formal legal requirements.
This article explains what sustainable building practices are, why they matter for commercial properties, and what a proactive approach to sustainability planning typically involves.
Key Takeaways: How sustainable building practices affect commercial properties
Sustainable building practices may help reduce emissions, lower operating costs, and support commercial properties in meeting evolving regulatory requirements.
What matters most
- Buildings account for nearly a third of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions
- Some cities impose fines reaching $10 per square foot when buildings miss emissions targets
- ENERGY STAR certified buildings use 35% less energy than typical buildings on average
How to approach sustainability
- Measuring how much energy a building uses is typically the first step, and many cities now require it
- Starting with low-cost fixes before replacing major equipment often means faster savings
- The materials used in construction and renovation contribute to a building’s overall environmental impact, not just its energy use
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Carbon footprint in commercial buildings
A building generates greenhouse gas emissions in two main ways. The first is through the energy it uses every day: electricity for lighting and cooling, natural gas for heat, fuel for equipment. This is often called operational carbon. The second comes from the materials used to construct or renovate the building. Manufacturing concrete, steel, glass, and other materials all require significant energy, and those emissions stay on record long after construction ends. This is called embodied carbon, and it tends to matter most during major renovation projects or new construction.
Some regulations and reporting systems organize these emissions into categories based on their source – commonly referred to as Scope 1 (direct fuel use on site), Scope 2 (purchased electricity from the utility), and Scope 3 (supply chain, tenant activity, and other indirect emissions). Not every ordinance uses this structure, but understanding that a building’s emissions extend beyond its monthly utility bills helps explain why sustainability plans often address multiple areas at once.
Knowing what those emissions are is the starting point. Understanding what happens when they go unaddressed is what shapes the urgency of the planning conversation.
Why reducing building emissions matters
Waiting to address building emissions can carry real costs. Depending on the jurisdiction, those costs may include government-imposed fines, continued high utility bills, and properties that become harder to finance, insure, or sell. Several major U.S. cities have already put specific rules in place, and more are on the way.
Regulatory exposure is growing
Building performance standards (BPS) – regulations that set mandatory energy or emissions targets for large commercial buildings, with financial penalties for noncompliance – represent a newer and expanding category of compliance obligation for property owners. Unlike façade ordinance programs, which focus on structural safety, these regulations target energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, setting mandatory performance targets that buildings must meet within defined timelines. Noncompliance can trigger financial penalties that compound over time, and the number of cities adopting these frameworks has grown considerably in recent years. Property owners and portfolio managers operating in major metropolitan areas should confirm which programs apply to their assets, as requirements vary significantly by jurisdiction, building size, and use type.
How sustainability can influence financial returns
Staying compliant is one reason to invest in sustainability, but it is not the only one. According to ENERGY STAR data, certified buildings use 35% less energy than typical buildings on average and have collectively delivered billions of dollars in utility cost savings across the program. Buildings with strong sustainability credentials may also be better positioned in the market, with lower operating costs, tenants who tend to stay longer, and performance records that lenders and prospective buyers can review with confidence.
In many markets, buildings with recognized certifications have attracted higher rents and stronger sale prices than comparable properties without them. Results vary depending on the local market, how the building’s leases are structured, and the type of tenants it serves, but performance documentation is increasingly something lenders and investors expect to see.
Sustainable practices for commercial properties
With the regulatory and financial case established, the next question is where to act and in what order. Sustainable building practices are the specific steps a property takes to reduce its energy use, water use, and overall environmental impact, generally falling into four areas: operational efficiency, systems upgrades, renewable energy integration, and water conservation.
Operational efficiency
The lowest-cost place to start is usually finding out how much energy a building is actually using. Energy benchmarking measures a building’s energy consumption and compares it to similar properties, revealing whether high costs stem from main systems or from tenant equipment, after-hours operations, or other patterns. Retro-commissioning then takes those findings further, reviewing heating, cooling, and controls to find problems like equipment running at the wrong times or systems working against each other. These fixes often cost relatively little and are commonly associated with meaningful reductions in energy use.
Systems upgrades
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems are among the biggest energy consumers in most commercial buildings, and upgrading aging equipment may meaningfully reduce operating costs. LED lighting with motion sensors and dimming controls is one of the most widely adopted upgrades, reducing both lighting energy and the cooling load those lights generate. Smarter building controls add visibility across systems, revealing problems like simultaneous heating and cooling, and can reduce utility costs by shifting energy use away from peak-rate periods. Envelope improvements such as insulation, better windows, and air sealing are often planned alongside HVAC work, since a well-sealed building may require a smaller system than one with significant air leakage.
Renewable energy integration
Rooftop solar is the most common on-site renewable option for commercial properties, as panels can sit on an existing roof or parking canopy without requiring additional land, and buildings that generate surplus electricity may receive utility bill credits through net metering programs (arrangements through which utilities credit building owners for excess electricity returned to the grid). Some owners instead arrange to purchase renewable electricity directly through agreements with energy providers, avoiding on-site installation entirely. Whether on-site solar or a purchasing arrangement makes more sense depends on building size, roof condition, local electricity rates, available incentives, and utility interconnection rules.
Water conservation
Low-flow faucets, sensor-activated fixtures, and more efficient restroom equipment can reduce water use noticeably without affecting occupant experience, and water-cooled mechanical systems can be optimized through maintenance and monitoring. Stormwater is a related consideration: many cities require properties to manage rainwater on site, and approaches such as porous paving, green roofs, and rainwater collection can satisfy those requirements while also reducing reliance on municipal water for irrigation.
Certification frameworks
Several widely used programs help building owners document and communicate building performance. ASHRAE publishes Standard 90.1, the technical energy efficiency guideline that most U.S. energy codes are built on; Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) scores buildings across energy, water, materials, and indoor air quality; and ENERGY STAR certification recognizes buildings that rank in the top 25% for energy efficiency among comparable properties nationwide. For existing buildings, these programs often serve as planning and documentation tools even when formal certification is not pursued, providing a consistent framework for tracking improvements and sharing results with lenders, tenants, and other stakeholders.
Sustainable materials in construction and renovation
Improving how a building runs addresses one part of its environmental impact. The other comes from the materials used to build or renovate it.
Manufacturing concrete, steel, glass, and insulation all generate emissions that are locked into a structure before it opens and remain there for the life of the property. When renovation is being planned, lower-impact alternatives are increasingly available across most major material categories, and selecting them is becoming a more common part of the conversation.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are standardized documents that describe the environmental impact of a specific building product, similar to a nutrition label for materials. Some building performance programs are beginning to require this documentation, and that trend is expected to continue.
How a property tracks and documents its materials choices is also becoming relevant to investors and lenders who review environmental, social, and governance (ESG) records, where embodied carbon is an increasingly common metric.
With energy use, systems condition, materials, water, and compliance obligations all in view, the practical question becomes where to start. That is what a structured sustainability assessment is designed to answer.
What a proactive sustainability assessment typically covers
Before committing to specific upgrades or programs, building owners and property managers generally benefit from a structured review of current conditions. Rather than acting on individual systems in isolation, this kind of review looks across the whole property to identify where the most significant opportunities and obligations exist. The scope varies by property type, size, and local requirements, but several evaluation areas tend to appear consistently.
Energy baseline and benchmarking
The first step in most sustainability assessments is figuring out how much energy the building currently uses and whether that amount is high or low compared to similar buildings. This process, called energy benchmarking, gives a baseline to work from. It also helps identify whether the building’s energy use is coming from its main systems or from other factors like after-hours activity or tenant equipment. Many cities already require this kind of measurement as part of their compliance programs.
Building systems condition
A review of the building’s heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, and controls can reveal where energy is being wasted and where equipment may be overdue for maintenance or replacement. The retro-commissioning process is a professional review that looks at how those systems are actually running day to day. It often surfaces low-cost fixes, like equipment running on the wrong schedule or systems working against each other, before any major spending is considered. A building condition assessment takes a broader view of the property’s physical state across all major systems and can help prioritize where to invest.’
Building envelope
The building envelope is everything that separates the inside from the outside: walls, roof, windows, and the seals around them. When those components are in poor condition, heated or cooled air escapes and the HVAC system has to work harder to compensate. Building envelope evaluations can identify where air is leaking in or out, where insulation is missing or deteriorating, and where moisture may be getting in. Envelope improvements are often planned at the same time as heating and cooling upgrades, since fixing one can change what is needed from the other.
Renewable energy options
For buildings interested in solar panels or other renewable energy sources, an assessment typically looks at roof conditions, local utility programs, available incentives, and whether the building’s electricity use patterns are a good match for the generation technology being considered. Some property owners use financing arrangements that allow them to pay for renewable energy installations over time through their property taxes or through agreements with energy providers. The U.S. Department of Energy provides a financing overview that explains how these approaches generally work.
Capital planning and compliance timelines
A sustainability assessment often concludes with a recommended list of improvements in order of priority, with rough costs, expected savings, and deadlines tied to local compliance requirements. That kind of plan makes it easier to fit sustainability work into an annual budget rather than scrambling when a deadline appears or something breaks down unexpectedly.
These areas tend to connect in practice. How the building envelope performs affects how hard the HVAC works. Whether solar makes sense depends partly on how much electricity the building uses after efficiency improvements are made. The value of a structured assessment is that it looks at those connections together, before individual projects are scoped or funded.
Building sustainability into long-term property planning
Sustainability is not a one-time project. It is a part of how a commercial property is managed over time, and the decisions made about energy, materials, and systems affect a building’s costs and compliance standing for years after they are made. Regulations are tightening, lenders and tenants are paying closer attention, and operating costs tend to rise when efficiency problems go unaddressed.
For building owners and property managers, the most useful starting point is a clear picture of where the property stands today: how much energy it uses, what condition its major systems are in, whether the building envelope is performing well, and what compliance obligations apply. Every building is different, and the right plan depends on the specific combination of age, location, size, and local requirements.
Rimkus provides sustainability consulting, energy auditing, and net-zero planning services for commercial building portfolios. Building owners and property managers with specific compliance deadlines or planning questions can contact Rimkus to discuss what a review would involve for their property.
Frequently asked questions
How can sustainable building practices improve indoor air quality?
Choosing paints, flooring, and finishes with lower chemical off-gassing can help keep indoor air cleaner. Ventilation systems that bring in fresh outside air while recovering heating or cooling energy can also help prevent stale or polluted air from building up inside the building.
How does sustainable construction affect how long a building lasts?
Buildings constructed with durable, high-quality materials tend to need less frequent repairs and hold up better over time. Designs that allow spaces to be repurposed as needs change may also extend the useful life of the building without requiring full demolition and reconstruction.
What is the difference between a building condition assessment and an energy audit?
A building condition assessment is a broad review of a property’s physical state, covering structural, mechanical, electrical, and other major systems to identify what is working, what needs attention, and what will need replacement in the coming years. An energy audit focuses specifically on how the building uses energy and where it could use less. Both are common starting points for sustainability planning, and some cities require an energy audit as part of their compliance process.
This article is intended to provide general information and insights into prevailing industry practices. It is not intended to constitute, and should not be relied upon as, legal, technical, or professional advice. The content does not replace consultation with a qualified expert or professional regarding the specific facts and circumstances of any particular matter.