Understanding the Clean Buildings Performance Standard with Chelan County Energy Fellow, Ava Burk

marlene0303
Oct 28
2 min read

by Ava Burk

Wenatchee Valley College is serving as a host site for the Department of Commerce’s Building Efficiency and Clean Operations Network (BEACON) Fellowship Project, with Ava Burk serving as the WVC Chelan County (and neighboring counties) BEACON Fellow. The project will help WVC and communities around Chelan County achieve energy savings and comply with the Clean Buildings Performance Standard (CBPS).

The Washington State CBPS is the first statewide building performance standard in the U.S. Buildings are the second largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in Washington state, transportation being the first. The Washington State Department of Commerce was tasked with implementing this standard. Along with handling compliance, exemptions, and incentives, Commerce is also supporting fellows across Washington state to directly work with building owners in their area with compliance support.

The BEACON fellows launched in June 2025, placing 10 fellows across the state to provide free, technical assistance to building owners working to meet the CBPS. The goal of the fellowship is to assist 2,000 building owners and create 60 fellowship jobs over the next 3 years.

All CBPS defined covered buildings meet the size threshold of tier 1 or tier 2. The tier 1 building compliance requirements are slightly more rigorous than tier 2. Tier 1 buildings must meet an energy use intensity target (EUIt) or satisfy an alternative compliance method. Tier 2 buildings, as of right now, do not need to meet an EUIt. Descriptions of compliance requirements for tier 1 and tier 2 are below.

Tier 1 Compliance Requirements and Reporting Schedule:

Tier 1 covered buildings must benchmark by measuring and tracking energy use in a building for at least 12 consecutive months, implement an operations and maintenance (O&M) program in accordance with the standard, and create an energy management plan (EMP), as well as, meet an energy performance metric.

There are three sizes defined as tier 1, each with different compliance dates. Depending on the size of the building, it must meet the CBPS compliance requirements by these given dates:

June 1, 2026 – More than 220,000 sq. ft.
June 1, 2027 – More than 90,000 sq. ft. but less than 220,001 sq. ft.
June 1, 2028 – More than 50,000 sq. ft. but less than 90,001 sq. ft.

Tier 2 Compliance Requirements and Reporting Schedule:

Tier 2 covered buildings must Benchmark by measuring and tracking energy use in a building for at least 12 consecutive months, implement an operations and maintenance (O&M)

program in accordance with the standard, and create an energy management plan (EMP).