Monthly Newsletter of Hong Hong Consulting, LLC.

Covered Buildings List. The Covered Buildings List for the third wave of filers under the Better Buildings Benchmarking Ordinance has yet to be published. It includes buildings that are over 25,000 square feet but less than 50,000 square feet. I am aware that many of you are anxious to get your hands on the list to confirm whether you have other buildings that also need to file a benchmarking report with the City & County of Honolulu (C&C). I have communicated to C&C that buildings need this information soon as the filing deadline for this year’s benchmarking reports is June 30th. The moment the list is published, I will send it out to everyone on the newsletter mailing list.

The list contains 908 buildings the last time I checked with the C&C, which is by far the biggest wave of filers under the Better Buildings Benchmarking Ordinance (Ordinance 22-17). That makes it all the more important to start the process early as the utilities will be inundated with requests for usage data. Plan ahead by allocating enough time and resources to file. If you are short on time and resources, Hong Consulting would be happy to help prepare and submit your benchmarking report.

Webinars. For those property and site managers that wish to file on their own, Hong Consulting has been putting on webinars that go over the following:

· Why building benchmarking is required,

· Who must comply with the Better Buildings Benchmarking Ordinance,

· How a building owner prepares a benchmarking report, and

· When the benchmarking report is due.

Hawaii Energy follows up Hong Consulting’s presentation with a short presentation on how to use the benchmarking reports to save your building money by taking advantage of Hawaii Energy’s services and rebates to reduce your energy usage. The next webinar is April 24th from 2 PM – 3 PM. To register for the event, please email Hong Consulting at adrianhong@hongconsultingllc.com.

Submission Link. The submission link for the benchmarking reports due June 30th, 2025 is now live. You can find it at https://www.resilientoahu.org/benchmarking. The C&C removed the reporting links for the prior reporting periods because too many buildings were filing their benchmarking reports in the wrong year. This does not mean your past due reports no longer need to be filed. You are still marked as non-compliant if you failed to submit a required benchmarking report. To submit a past due benchmarking report, you must contact C&C for the reporting links for previous filings periods.

Transparency Map. C&C’s Transparency Map has been updated for buildings’ site energy use intensity and water use intensity for the 1/1/23 – 12/31/23 period (2024 reporting year). C&C defines site energy use Intensity as kBtu/square foot and water use intensity as gallons/square foot. If you hadn’t had a chance to look at the data inside of the Transparency Map, it is a good time to do so. You can view your building’s compliance status over the years and see how your energy and water usage stack up against other buildings in your industry. The following link will take you to the Transparency Map: https://maps.touchstoneiq.com/honolulu/. Below are some screenshots of the map in action.

HONG EXAMINER – APRIL 2025

Understanding Ordinance 22-17: Honolulu's Better Buildings Benchmarking Program

Deceptive Notices of Non-Compliance with Ordinance 22-17

Hong Consulting, LLC.