San Jose Building Performance Ordinance and California Benchmarking: Where Duct Sealing Fits

Key Takeaways

1. The Short Version

Two sets of rules apply to many larger Bay Area buildings. San Jose’s Energy and Water Building Performance Ordinance, adopted December 11, 2018, requires annual benchmarking and periodic Beyond Benchmarking compliance. California’s statewide Building Energy Benchmarking Program, created under Assembly Bill 802, requires annual energy reporting for larger commercial and multifamily buildings. The City says its ordinance builds on AB 802.

Benchmarking measures and reports. Beyond Benchmarking asks San Jose owners to act if performance falls short, and duct sealing is one measure an owner can consider.

2. San Jose: Who Is Covered

According to the City of San José, the ordinance covers nonresidential and multifamily buildings of 20,000 square feet or larger. Buildings of 50,000 square feet and over were required to comply starting in 2019. The City’s October 2024 presentation lists publicly owned buildings at 15,000 square feet or more.

The City publishes a Covered Buildings List, but it says owners not on the list may still be covered. If you are unsure, the City asks owners to email benchmarking@sanjoseca.gov with the building’s San José Building ID.

3. San Jose Annual Benchmarking

The City’s published 2026 schedule shows how a typical year works:

• April 1: Exemption requests due.
• Early April: Invoices mailed. The City says an annual fee applies, due one month from the invoice date.
• May 1: Benchmarking reports due, covering the prior calendar year. Extension requests are also due.
• June and July: 30-day and 60-day noncompliance notices sent.

Owners enter 12 months of electricity, gas and water data into ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and share it with the City. The City says annual benchmarking does not require hiring a third-party vendor, though vendors may be needed for Beyond Benchmarking. The City publishes building data on a public disclosure map.

4. San Jose Beyond Benchmarking

Beyond Benchmarking began in 2023. The City says covered buildings must comply every five years, grouped into cohorts by gross floor area and the ending digits of the Assessor’s Parcel Number, and that owners receive a notice about six months before their due date. Submissions are due May 1 of the compliance year.

The City describes two paths:

• Performance Pathway: If the building meets key energy and water performance standards, the owner submits a Performance Verification Report. One metric in the ordinance compares the building’s weather-normalized site energy use intensity (EUI, energy use per square foot) to a local mean for its property type. In 2024 the City proposed changing how these targets are calculated, so check the current tables.
• Improvement Pathway: If the building can’t meet the standards, the owner may perform an energy audit, retro-commissioning or targeted efficiency upgrades. The City lists qualified providers for ASHRAE Level II audits and retro-commissioning.

Rules change, so confirm your cohort year and current requirements with the City.

5. California’s Statewide Benchmarking Program (AB 802)

The California Energy Commission (CEC) says buildings with more than 50,000 square feet of gross floor area must report each year by June 1. That includes commercial buildings with no residential utility accounts, which began reporting in 2018, and multifamily buildings with 17 or more utility accounts, which began in 2019. Reports are submitted through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, and since 2023 each report needs a benchmarking reference number. The CEC charges no fee and publishes data on a public dashboard.

The CEC also keeps a list of exempted local benchmarking ordinances. Check that list, or ask the CEC, to see whether your San Jose building reports to the City, the state or both. The CEC opened a rulemaking on amendments in 2025, so the state program may change.

6. Do Other Bay Area Cities Require Improvements?

San Francisco’s Existing Commercial Buildings Energy Performance Ordinance, as described in the City’s published dataset, requires annual ENERGY STAR benchmarking for nonresidential buildings of at least 10,000 square feet of conditioned space and residential buildings of at least 50,000 square feet. Qualifying nonresidential buildings must also complete an energy audit, retro-commissioning or a decarbonization plan at least once every five years. Berkeley’s BESO ordinance requires energy reporting and periodic energy assessments on its own schedule.

Unlike a reporting-only rule, San Jose’s Beyond Benchmarking expects a building that misses the performance standards to take an improvement path. Check each city’s current rules.

7. How Duct and Exhaust Sealing Can Lower Energy Use

Leaked air has already been heated, cooled and moved by a fan. ENERGY STAR estimates that a typical house loses about 20–30% of the air moving through its ducts to leaks and poor connections. That figure is for homes, but the same physics applies in larger buildings.

For commercial buildings, a 2023 U.S. General Services Administration Green Proving Ground preliminary assessment of aerosol duct sealing cites an ASHRAE estimate that about 75% of commercial buildings have duct leakage of 10–25%. It also cites manufacturer estimates of a 32% decrease in fan energy and a 2–4% cut in HVAC energy. These are estimates, not guarantees. For shared vertical shafts, see exhaust shaft sealing.

8. Requirement, Owner Impact and Where Duct Sealing Helps

9. How to Document a Duct Sealing Improvement

Our Typical Documentation Process

1. Baseline test. We measure duct or shaft leakage and airflow before any work.
2. Scope record. We list the systems, risers and areas sealed, plus any hand repairs.
3. Sealing log. Aeroseal’s computer monitoring records leakage dropping during sealing.
4. Final test. We retest the same systems with the same method.
5. Written report. You receive before and after results to file with your audit or compliance records.

File the report with your benchmarking records and note the completion date so you can compare utility data before and after.