Mayor Thomas M. Menino, seeking to encourage Boston businesses to be more energy conscious, is proposing a new law that would require commercial building owners to report annual energy and water use to the city, which would in turn make it public.
The proposal, which needs City Council approval, is already generating opposition from building owners, who say the city wants to shame them into expensive energy upgrades that will raise rents for tenants and hurt the commercial real estate market.
“The whole concept is sort of like the scarlet letter,” said Gregory Vasil, chief executive of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, which represents commercial building owners. “Everyone wants to be first in the nation in environmental efficiency. But before we’re the lemming falling off the cliff, we have got to ask, ‘What does this really do? Is there an actual benefit?’ ”
Menino’s proposal is based on similar laws in New York, Washington, San Francisco, and other cities....
Menino filed his proposed ordinance Friday as part of his administration’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change....
After the record cold and harsh winters over the last couple years?
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Related: The Day of the Big Storm
That about says it all.
