NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans’ Office of Resilience & Sustainability (ORS) has launched the Municipal Building Energy Use Dashboard, a new online platform that tracks and publicly discloses energy use within municipal buildings. This dashboard was created as a result of the City’s 2022 LEED Ordinance (Sec. 26-23) which requires the City to construct new headquarters to LEED Gold standards and to benchmark, or track, and publicly disclose municipal energy use. The dashboard also supports the City’s Climate Action Plan goal to reduce municipal energy use by 40% by 2030.
“I am excited to continue our mission in transparency and growth as a city by releasing this dashboard to the public,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “The City has been making great strides to improve the energy footprint of our buildings, and this dashboard will serve as platform for residents to see the diligent work being performed for almost a decade.”
Between 2018-2021, the City launched a series of initiatives to reduce energy use in all municipal buildings. As a result, The Department of Property Management oversaw a series of energy projects throughout public buildings and reported a 23% decrease in energy across the City’s municipal portfolio. The Municipal Building Energy Use Dashboard provides insights into the City’s energy efficiency efforts and provides transparency, as directed by the LEED Ordinance. The dashboard can be accessed here: https://nola.gov/municipal-energy-use/.
“Energy efficiency is not just good for the environment – it’s good for the City’s bottom line,” said Deputy Chief Resilience Officer Greg Nichols. “By using less energy, our buildings save money on utility bills and reduce wear and tear on equipment. At the same time, we’re improving indoor air quality for city workers and the public and cutting climate pollution. By making this data public, we hope to encourage other building owners to assess their energy use and take action to make buildings more efficient, sustainable, and resilient.”
The Municipal Building Energy Use Dashboard builds on several energy efficiency projects that are slated to begin in 2026, including those funded through the City’s $49.9 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) award. These initiatives support the implementation of critical greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measures over several years.
For questions or for more information about the dashboard, please reach out to benchmarking@nola.gov.