Frequently Asked Questions

The first step in the process is to Claim Your Building. This ensures that we have your email address and preferred contact information. Having your contact information allows us to share information with you about upcoming deadlines, webinars, and rebates and financial incentives for which you may qualify. Our aim is to help building owners comply with requirements in a cost-effective manner and to avoid penalties – but that’s only possible if we can communicate with you.

Search for your address on our buildings map. This will give you the unique ID you need to claim your building. 

Yes - the Energize Denver small building requirements apply to a building as a whole. This includes residential and commercial condominium buildings. While individual owners in these buildings may own units less than the 5,000 square feet threshold, the performance requirements apply to the whole building, which includes both individual and common spaces.

However, residential condominiums may also apply to pursue the Residential Condominiums Alternate Compliance Option. This option was designed specifically to meet the challenges that residential condominiums will face. It allows for these buildings to meet their requirements in shared common spaces only rather than the entire building. More information about the Residential Condominiums Alternate Compliance Option can be found in section 4 of the Compliance Guide.

Yes – the Energize Denver small building requirements apply to a building as a whole, including any basement or crawl space.  

The ordinance does not apply to townhouses, which are defined as follows by Section 202 of the International Residential Code: 

Townhouse: A single-family dwelling unit constructed in a group of three or more attached units in which each unit extends from foundation to roof and with a yard or public way on not less than two sides. 

If you believe that your townhome has been misclassified, please email energizesmallbuildings@denvergov.org with documentation that demonstrates how your building meets the above definition of townhome (e.g. blueprints, floor plans, site development plans, photos, etc.).  

Yes – all commercial and multifamily buildings that meet the small building criteria must comply with ordinance requirements, regardless of tenancy agreements. We plan to develop more detailed guidance to help building owners work with their tenants to come into compliance. This will be available in the technical guidance we will release later in 2023. You can also refer to Denver’s Smart Leasing Program for more information about aligning your goals with your tenants’ goals.

The ordinance affects municipal buildings the same as private buildings. The City and County of Denver is developing detailed plans to bring all qualifying municipal buildings into compliance so that we can lead by example. 

Lighting load is the total number of kilowatt-hours used for lighting within a building – this includes all interior and exterior lighting associated with a building address. A standard lighting audit will calculate a building’s lighting load. The Energize Denver small buildings requirement says that 90% of a building’s lighting load (i.e. 90% of the kilowatt-hours used for lighting) must be provided by LED lights. As a rule of thumb, typically, 97% of the lighting fixtures in a building must be LED in order for 90% of the lighting load to be provided by LEDs, but this can vary based on the type of lighting present.

The City and County of Denver is committed to supporting building owners in their efforts to meet building performance requirements. Buildings that do not achieve their energy performance targets could be subject to penalties based on full non-compliance, or partial compliance with either the lighting or renewable requirements. More information about the penalty assessments for Buildings 5,000 – 24,999 can be found in section 6 of the Technical Guidance.

To confirm that you have completed one of the compliance pathways for performance, you will need to send proof of this compliance to the Energize Denver team. Section 7 of the Compliance Guide details the information and documentation needed to report your compliance to the city for each of the different compliance pathways.

Your building was identified as meeting the Energize Denver small building requirements based upon data gathered from the Assessor’s Office of the City and County of Denver. If you believe that this information is inaccurate, please emailenergizesmallbuildings@denvergov.orgwith documentation that demonstrates the documented square footage (e.g. blueprints, floor plans, site development plans, site survey, appraisal report, etc.).

Please emailenergizesmallbuildings@denvergov.organd we will make the necessary corrections.

Yes – several rebates and financing options exist to support small building owners in Denver. The Energize Denver Audits, Rebates, Loans, Grants, and Guidance page provides information on rebates and financing options based on your building type.