Md. Code Regs. 26.28.01.02

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 26, December 27, 2024

Section 26.28.01.02 - Definitions

A. In this subtitle, the following terms have the meanings indicated.

B. Terms Defined.

(1) "Affordable housing providers" means the owner of a covered building that primarily provides housing to limited income households, where a minimum of 51 percent of households living within the building are at or below 80 percent of the area median income, as defined in the Housing and Community Development Article, § 4-1801, Annotated Code of Maryland, or a covered building that is restricted under the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.

(2) Agricultural Building.

(a) "Agricultural building" means a structure that is used primarily to cultivate, manufacture, process, or produce agricultural crops, raw materials, products, livestock, or commodities.

(b) "Agricultural building" includes a greenhouse.

(3) "Alternative compliance fee" means a fee paid by the building owner to come into compliance with applicable net direct emissions standards, as specified in COMAR 26.28.04.01A.

(4) "Area-weighted standard" means an interim or final performance standard that is calculated based on the floor area proportion of the property types within a covered building.

(5) Authorized Occupant.

(a) "Authorized occupant" means a person that is approved by a building owner to be within a covered building.

(b) "Authorized occupant" does not include:

(i) Security guards;

(ii) Janitors;

(iii) Construction workers;

(iv) Landscapers; and

(v) Other maintenance personnel.

(6) "Baseline performance" means the weather-normalized numeric values of net direct greenhouse gas emissions and site EUI of a covered building for the covered building's baseline year.

(7) "Baseline year" means either calendar year 2025 for a covered building that was constructed and occupied prior to calendar year 2025 or the first full calendar year in which a newly constructed covered building was occupied.

(8) "Benchmark" means to track and input a building's energy consumption data and other relevant building information on a monthly basis for at least 12 consecutive months, as required by the benchmarking tool, to quantify the building's energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

(9) Benchmarking Information.

(a) "Benchmarking information" means descriptive information about a building, its operating characteristics, and information generated by the benchmarking tool regarding the building's energy consumption, efficiency, and performance.

(b) "Benchmarking information" includes but is not limited to the building identification number, address, gross floor area, and separate energy consumption totals for each fuel type.

(10) "Benchmarking tool" means the website-based software, commonly known as ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, or any successor system, approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

(11) "Building" has the meaning set forth in the International Building Code, which is incorporated by reference under COMAR 09.12.51.04A and as modified in COMAR 09.12.51.04B.

(12) "Building owner" means an individual or legal entity possessing title to a building including but not limited to a board of the owners' association, master association, board of directors, community association, cooperative housing corporation, or condominium.

(13) "Campus" means a collection of two or more buildings, of any building type or size, that act as a single cohesive property with a single shared primary function and are owned and operated by the same party, such as, but not limited to, higher education or hospital campuses, as determined by the Department.

(14) "Commercial building" means a commercial building as defined and subject to the commercial provisions of the International Energy Conservation Code, which is incorporated by reference in COMAR 09.12.51.04A and as modified in COMAR 09.12.51.04D, regardless of the nature of the entity or government that owns the building.

(15) Covered Building.

(a) "Covered building" means a building that is a commercial or multifamily residential building in the State of Maryland or is owned by the State of Maryland and has a gross floor area of 35,000 square feet or more, excluding the parking garage area, and is:

(i) A single building;

(ii) One or more buildings held in the condominium form of ownership with a combined gross floor area of 35,000 square feet or more, excluding the parking garage area, and governed by a single board of managers; or

(iii) Two or more buildings with a combined gross floor area of 35,000 square feet or more, excluding the parking garage area, that are served in whole or in part by the same electric or gas meter or are served by the same heating or cooling system or systems, which is not a district energy system.

(b) "Covered building" includes a building that meets the criteria for a covered building as described in this section and is located in a historic district but where the building is not individually designated as a historic property under federal, state, or local law.

(c) "Covered building" does not include:

(i) A building, or space within a building, individually designated as a historic property under federal, State, or local law, separate and apart from a building's inclusion in a historic district;

(ii) A public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school building;

(iii) A manufacturing building;

(iv) An agricultural building; or

(v) A building owned by the federal government;

(16) "Department" means the Maryland Department of the Environment.

(17) "Direct greenhouse gas emissions or direct emissions" means greenhouse gas emissions produced on-site by covered buildings, as calculated by the benchmarking tool unless otherwise specified by the Department.

(18) "District energy system" means a system in which thermal energy generated at one or more central facilities provides heating or cooling through a network of insulated underground pipes to provide hot water, steam, space heating, air conditioning, or chilled water to nearby buildings.

(19) "District energy provider" means an entity that provides thermal energy to customers through a district energy system.

(20) "Electric company" has the meaning stated in Public Utilities Article, § 1-101, Annotated Code of Maryland.

(21) "Final performance standard or final standard" means the numeric values of net direct greenhouse gas emissions that each covered building shall ultimately achieve on an annual basis in 2040 and beyond.

(22) "Financial distress" means:

(a) A property that is the subject of a tax lien sale or public auction due to property tax arrearages;

(b) A property that is controlled by a court appointed receiver; or

(c) A property that was acquired by a deed in lieu of foreclosure in the last calendar year.

(23) "Food service facility" has the meaning stated in COMAR 10.15.03.02B.

(24) Full-Time-Equivalent Employee.

(a) "Full-time-equivalent employee" means a person that occupies a covered building for no less than 40 hours per week throughout a calendar year.

(b) "Full-time-equivalent employee" excludes:

(i) Security guards;

(ii) Janitors;

(iii) Construction workers;

(iv) Landscapers; and

(v) Other maintenance personnel.

(25) "Gas company" has the meaning stated in Public Utilities Article, § 1-101, Annotated Code of Maryland.

(26) "Greenhouse gas emissions or emissions" means gasses released into the atmosphere that contribute to climate change, including but not limited to carbon dioxide (CO₂), as calculated by the benchmarking tool unless otherwise specified by the Department.

(27) Gross Floor Area.

(a) "Gross floor area" means the total building square footage measured between the principal exterior surfaces of the enclosing fixed walls of a building.

(b) "Gross floor area" consists of all areas inside the building, including but not limited to lobbies, tenant areas, common areas, meeting rooms, break rooms, the base level of atriums, restrooms, elevator shafts, stairwells, mechanical equipment areas, basements, and storage rooms.

(c) "Gross floor area" does not include exterior spaces, balconies, bays, patios, exterior loading docks, driveways, covered walkways, outdoor play courts (e.g., tennis, basketball), parking, the interstitial space between floors, which house pipes and ventilation, and crawl spaces.

(d) "Gross floor area" is not the same as rentable space, but rather includes all areas inside the building or buildings.

(28) "Interim performance standard or interim standard" means the weather-normalized numeric values of net direct greenhouse gas emissions which covered buildings shall achieve by a specified calendar year that is prior to 2040.

(29) "Manufacturing building" means a building involved in the process of substantially transforming, or a substantial step in the process of substantially transforming, tangible personal property into a new and different article of tangible personal property by the use of labor or machinery, or otherwise designated as a manufacturing building by the Department.

(30) "Mixed-use building" means a building that contains two or more property types.

(31) Net Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions or net direct emissions.

(a) "Net direct greenhouse gas emissions or Net Direct Emissions" means:

(i) The sum of all direct greenhouse gas emissions from a covered building; or

(ii) For a covered building connected to a district energy system, direct greenhouse gas emissions plus the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to thermal energy inputs from the district energy system used by the covered building, as calculated using the methodology provided in this regulation.

(b) "Net direct greenhouse gas emissions or net direct emissions" does not include direct greenhouse gas emissions from a food service facility located within a covered building.

(32) "Newly constructed covered building" means a covered building that was constructed after 2024 and occupied by at least one fulltime-equivalent employee or authorized occupant.

(33) "Occupied" means a covered building with at least one full-time equivalent employee or authorized occupant.

(34) "Property type" means the primary use of a building space as specified in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.

(35) Site Energy Use.

(a) "Site energy use" means all energy used on-site by a covered building to meet the energy loads of the building.

(b) "Site energy use" includes electricity delivered to the building through the electric grid and/or generated on-site with renewable sources; thermal energy delivered to the building through a district energy system; and natural gas, diesel, propane, fuel oil, wood, coal, and other fuels used on-site.

(c) "Site energy use" excludes electricity used for charging vehicles, a food service facility located within a covered building, and other electricity uses excluded from site energy use by the benchmarking tool.

(36) "Site energy use intensity or site EUI" is calculated by the benchmarking tool by dividing the total energy consumed in one calendar year by the gross floor area of the building and reported as a value of a thousand British thermal units (kBTU) per square foot per year.

(37) "Tenant" means a person or entity occupying or holding possession of a building, part of a building, or premises pursuant to a rental or lease agreement.

(38) "Weather-normalized" means a method for modifying the measured building energy use in a specific calendar year to estimate energy use under normal weather conditions as calculated by the benchmarking tool.

(39) Web services application programming interface (API) or web services API.

(a) "Web services API" means the free application for use by organizations to exchange building energy and other data between their own systems and the benchmarking tool.

(b) "Web services API" may include the entry of data into the tool and/or the calculation and extraction of metrics and other information from the tool.

(40) "Whole building energy consumption data" means energy data that has been summed for an entire building, which may include a single occupant or a group of separately metered tenants, representing the cumulative total of energy used in the covered building.

Md. Code Regs. 26.28.01.02

Regulation .02 adopted effective 51:25 Md. R. 1142, eff. 12/23/2024.