Building Benchmarking
The Village's Energy and Water Benchmarking Ordinance requires buildings 10,000 square feet and larger to report their annual energy and water consumption using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
The reporting deadline is December 31, 2025. Please submit your 2024 benchmarking data prior to that date.
Compliance process
The compliance process for the Village's Energy and Water Benchmarking ordinance is simple:
- Register your property in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager
- Enter your utility data for the calendar years of 2022, 2023 and 2024
- Share your data with the Village of Oak Park
- That's it!
For more detailed instructions and tutorials on Portfolio Manager, visit the Building Performance Helpdesk.
Technical assistance
The Village hosts a series of workshops to assist property owners and managers in reporting their annual energy and water consumption. Information will be added to this page as workshops are scheduled.
Need technical assistance?
Click here for the Benchmarking Help Desk
- Benchmarking Data Collection - Commercial Properties
- Benchmarking Data Collection - Residential Properties
Why should I benchmark my building?
- Buildings that benchmark save an average 2.4% on utility costs annually.
- High performing buildings are more attractive to tenants! ENERGY STAR rated buildings earn a 2.5% rental premium, have 9.5% higher occupancy rates and have a 16% higher resale value than lower performing buildings.
- Help the Village meet the goals of the Climate Ready Oak Park plan.
- Get recognition from the Village!
Benchmarking background
Oak Park is following a best practice to improve commercial and multifamily energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower utility costs through the process of annual benchmarking. The Village’s Energy and Water Benchmarking ordinance requires that all buildings over 10,000 square feet report their annual energy and water usage through the EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Benchmarking compares each building with similar buildings and ranks performance against a national median. Benchmarking alerts a building manager if their building is underperforming, allowing them to make upgrades or repairs and offers the ability to track progress resulting from efficiency actions and investments. When benchmarking data is made public, as it is in Oak Park, it allows renters and tenants to choose locations which are higher performing and will have lower utility costs.
Benchmarking success stories
Have you invested in efficiency improvements in your building? Did benchmarking help you identify any issues you were able to fix? Have you made any operational changes to save water or energy?
The Village would love to recognize your leadership and highlight the great work you've done. By sharing your success, you can help inspire other building owners and managers in Oak Park to follow your lead.
If you're interested in being recognized, please fill out this short form:
Submit a success story
By participating, you’ll have the opportunity to:
- Promote your building and organization
- Showcase your commitment to energy and water efficiency
- Support broader community efforts to improve building performance
- Serve as a peer example in Oak Park
For more information, contact sustainability@oak-park.us.