Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich signed a bill Monday aimed to improve energy efficiency in buildings.
“Hopefully, other people see that the universe doesn’t come to an end after we do this and they decide they can walk down the same path, but sometimes you’ve got to lead,” Elrich said at the Executive Office Building in Rockville.
The county council unanimously passed Bill 16-21 on April 19.
Commercial and residential buildings make up 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in Montgomery County as of 2018, according to the county.
The bill expands the jurisdiction’s environmental benchmarking law to encompass county-owned, commercial and multifamily buildings. It creates a board to advise the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on performance standards implementation. Also, it requires building energy performance reports to the county executive and council for covered buildings.
