Building Energy Savings Program
The City of Madison adopted the Building Energy Savings program (BESP) in March 2023 (see Section 29.40 of the Madison General Ordinances) to improve energy efficiency in large commercial buildings community-wide through energy benchmarking and tune-ups.
The program has two requirements:
- All non-residential commercial buildings 25,000 square feet (sq. ft.) or more must benchmark energy use annually.
- All non-residential commercial buildings 50,000 sq. ft. or more must complete a building tune-up every four years.
The program is being phased in over time according to building size as shown below.
The 2025 Covered Buildings List includes all buildings that much benchmark this year.
| Building Size (gross floor area) | First Benchmarking Year |
|---|---|
| Large buildings: >100,000 sq. ft. | 2024 |
| Medium buildings: 50,000 - 99,999 sq. ft. | 2025 |
| Small buildings: 25,000 - 49,999 sq. ft. | 2026 |
Energy benchmarking is simply measuring and tracking annual energy use. Commercial buildings 25,000 sq. ft. and larger are required to benchmark their energy use annually.
Tune-ups detect and correct operation or maintenance issues to make sure building systems are performing at their best. Commercial buildings 50,000 sq. ft. and larger are required to tune-up every four years.
