Scope
Section 3530 of Title 20 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations sets the 2021 Building Energy Performance Standards. They apply to privately owned buildings with at least 50,000 square feet of gross floor area, and to District-owned or District-instrumentality-owned buildings with at least 10,000 square feet, other than buildings covered by the hospital-campus or college-campus standards in subsections 3530.2 and 3530.3. The property-type table names Data Center and prints 50 in the ENERGY STAR score column and 1.8 Total Energy kBtu per IT Energy kBtu in the source-energy column. A building that can receive an ENERGY STAR score does not meet the standard if its score is below the score for its property type. A building that cannot receive that score is measured against the source-energy figure for its property type. Subsection 3530.4 says the 2021 standards remain in effect until the Department of Energy and Environment establishes new standards. This is one row in a standard that also lists many other property types. It is not a tax exemption, a moratorium, or a rule that every data center in the District must meet both numbers.
- Geographic scope
- District of Columbia
- Jurisdiction
- District (state-level)
- Authority type
- Government agency
- Issuing authority
- Department of Energy and Environment
Dates
- Adopted
- 30 April 2021
- Effective
- 30 April 2021
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- Subsection 3530.4 says the 2021 standards remain in effect until the Department of Energy and Environment establishes new standards. No calendar expiration is printed.
- Source document
- 30 April 2021
- Last checked
- 24 September 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)
Summary
The District's 2021 building energy performance standards, published April 30, 2021, include a Data Center row: an ENERGY STAR score of 50 and a source-energy figure of 1.8 total energy kBtu per IT energy kBtu. The standards apply to private buildings of at least 50,000 square feet and District-owned buildings of at least 10,000 square feet, and they remain in effect until the Department of Energy and Environment adopts new ones. They do not apply to every data center, and they do not regulate siting or taxes.
What this does not establish
- Data Center is one property type in a table that also sets standards for offices, hospitals, schools, and many other uses. This is not a data-center-only law.
- The size thresholds exclude smaller buildings. A data center below 50,000 square feet, or below 10,000 square feet if District-owned, is outside this section. Hospital-campus and college-campus buildings are covered by different subsections that do not name Data Center.
- Whether a particular building is tested against the score of 50 or the 1.8 source-energy figure depends on whether that building can receive an ENERGY STAR score. This record does not say every data center must meet both numbers.
- The section-history page opened on September 24, 2026 lists the April 30, 2021 final rulemaking and no later adopted amendment. Whether a later standard was adopted and not yet posted on that page was not established.
- Whether any District building is benchmarked under the Data Center property type was not established.
Unresolved questions
- Whether the Department of Energy and Environment has adopted a replacement standard that is not yet shown on the section-history page.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- No related action is recorded.
Sources
https://dcregs.dc.gov/Common/DCMR/RuleList.aspx?DownloadFile=%7BA61AF7AD-74D6-474E-81C0-92608625B345%7D
- 20 DCMR section 3530 history page lists the April 30, 2021 final rulemaking and no later adopted amendment · 30 April 2021