Colorado Energy Office | Building Performance Standard Task Force Facilitation

Lotus facilitated monthly meetings with the State of Colorado Building Performance Standard (BPS) Task Force and ensured that the Task Force remained focused on the equitable impacts of the BPS on communities, building owners (especially for affordable housing), and Colorado’s workforce. Through the Task Force meetings, Lotus guided the task force through technical discussions and decisions and brought forward data to support decision-making. Lotus also completed an analysis of available benchmarking data to guide the Task Force conversations from a technical perspective, as well as designed a Public Engagement Plan and process that included a focus on gathering input from representatives across the State that can speak to the equity and workforce impacts of the BPS.

The Public Engagement Plan guided the outreach and engagement activities that were used to gather input from a broad network of stakeholders and interested parties from outside the Task Force. This included identifying the key audiences and ways to engage them, the community and business organizations that would be able to funnel input from their members, and developing a survey, public outreach materials, and designing and supporting the facilitation of three public engagement sessions.

The Task Force recommended that the State include a holistic approach to implementing the BPS that includes creating programs that would provide support and resources for the Colorado workforce, and to assess equity concerns for tenants, disproportionately impacted communities, and others who may be adversely impacted by the BPS requirements. Lotus then worked with the Colorado Energy Office to design an Equity Priority Building Approach. Lotus’s recommendations reflect the integration of an equity lens with BPS and ensure the ongoing clean energy transition is accessible to all. This means considering the community, the building itself, and the building’s occupants, as well as how to reduce the burden imposed by the State BPS program and the risk of displacement or gentrification. Important in this equity approach is giving building owners a voice in the process by allowing a building to self-identify as an EPB.