The City of Reno’s “2023 Annual Energy & Water Benchmarking Report,” released late last year, shows the city’s efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions face hurdles in part because of a lack of information. The report highlights data tracked in 2023 and notes that only half of the properties required to submit energy-use information actually did so. The report also does not include any water usage information, which city officials said was due to problems getting data.
“In an effort to reduce emissions in our community, the Reno City Council passed [an ordinance] in 2019 requiring large commercial buildings to report their energy and water data. Benchmarking energy and water data helps the City to deepen our understanding of how we perform and where we can create economic opportunities for a healthier and more sustainable community,” the report notes.
Based on the data provided by about half the properties required to submit information, greenhouse gas emissions are up. “Emissions have increased since 2022, and this is likely due to an increase in compliance and total number of buildings reporting energy data,” the report notes. “Once compliance rates stabilize, more accurate comparisons can be made between emissions year over year.”
Despite the report being focused on water usage data, no water information was included. The city granted a water exemption for all properties, citing a lack of access to the data.
“TMWA can provide this for single properties,” said Diego Zarazúa with the City of Reno. “However, for properties with multiple meters, where tenants are responsible for their own bill, it is difficult for the owner to obtain that data from TMWA. They unfortunately do not provide it to the owner and only to the tenant. This is an issue with these programs nationwide. Reno is one of the only that has water in their ordinance.”
The report stems from an ordinance that requires all commercial buildings over 30,000 square feet to report energy and water usage. More than 250 properties reported energy-use data, slightly above half of those required. The properties have more than 46 million square feet of building space, an increase of 12 million square feet compared to the prior year. The increase is because more properties submitted their data, according to the city.
Greenhouse gas emissions from reported buildings were 229,910 metric tons of carbon dioxide, a 106,995-ton increase also attributed to a higher number of properties reporting their energy use to the city.
Supermarkets, office buildings and hotels are the city’s high-energy users, the report notes. But the city’s data compared better to national benchmarks in other areas—retail and multifamily housing properties have lower median energy use intensities than national counterparts.
Properties that do not provide required information about energy and water use can be fined up to $500 for repeated instances of noncompliance. “The current ordinance has fines for noncompliance and we continue to work with properties on becoming compliant,” Zarazúa said. “In 2023, a total of 289 properties were not compliant, and the first round of noncompliance letters were sent out at the beginning of September 2024.”
The report comes as Reno continues to be the fastest warming city in the U.S., according to Climate Central, and in the wake of the city’s new “administrative interpretation” allowing energy-intensive data centers to be built without a specific ordinance allowing such uses. The city planning commission approved one such facility in December, and it was appealed Friday by the Sierra Club, which cited a lack of transparency in the process.