Rules and Technical Guidance

In 2024 and 2025, the city engaged with more than 2,000 building owners, property managers, and service providers to hear the challenges for buildings and come to a clear, shared understanding that upgrading a building’s performance and reducing its energy use to meet Energize Denver targets takes time, planning, and funding. The city wants to support your efforts.  

The city made the following updates to Energize Denver on April 1, 2025 to support buildings with a more practical, achievable compliance process: 

  • Program Timeline Extension: Interim and final target deadlines extended to 2028 and 2032 for all buildings 25,000 sq. ft. and larger.  
  • Timeline Extensions: Options for buildings to extend deadlines beyond 2032 by developing a long-term plan for compliance.  
  • Compliance Holds: New option for buildings to place a two-year hold on compliance requirements due to short-term circumstances like vacancy or financial distress.  
  • Tailored Adjustments for Condos & HOAs: Homeowners associations (HOAs) can align compliance planning with fundraising and capital improvement schedules.
  • HVAC System Flexibility: If HVAC equipment has exceeded 50% of its useful life, owners receive flexibility in replacement timing while still meeting efficiency targets.
  • Electrification Feasibility Report Requirement Removed: Buildings are no longer required to submit an electrification feasibility report as part of a timeline extension request.
  • Penalty Rates Cut in Half: Possible financial penalties for energy efficiency target non-compliance cut in half by reducing rates and reducing the number of compliance deadlines. No performance penalties will be levied until late 2029.
  • Practical Energy Target Reduction: No building is required to reduce its energy usage by more than 42%.
  • Custom Target: Creating ability to adjust a building’s energy efficiency target beyond standard target adjustments.
  • Incentivizing Reuse: For adaptive reuse projects, adjusting energy efficiency targets when converting buildings for new uses. 
  • New Incentive for Decarbonized Thermal Networks: Additional target incentive for buildings that connect to non-emitting thermal energy networks (e.g., district geothermal systems and other types).
  • Expanded Renewable Credit Options: Off-site solar investments can now be located anywhere in Colorado. On- or off-site renewables owned within Denver now count at a 1.5x credit multiplier.
  • Adjusted Energy Use Floor Target for Manufacturing, Agricultural and Industrial (MAI) Buildings: Increased from 30 kBtu/sqft/year to 52.9 kBtu/sqft/year.
  • Fair Processes: Increasing avenues for buildings to make adjustments to their plans or appeal decisions 

Watch a briefing that details these updates

Notice Adoption of Rules and Regulations Governing the High-Performance Existing Buildings Program by the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency 

All interested parties are hereby given notice that the City and County of Denver Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency, through the authority set forth in DRMC § 2-404, has adopted the Rules and Regulations Governing the High-Performance Existing Buildings Program on April 1, 2025.  

The above-mentioned proposed rules and regulations are on file and available for public inspection and copying in the Office of the Clerk and Recorder and may be viewed through the links below.  They can also be viewed in person at the Clerk and Recorder’s Office located in the Wellington Webb Building (201 W. Colfax Ave., Denver, CO 80202). 

To request these documents in another language, please contact energizedenver@denvergov.org.

 

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