Another year, another decarbonization bill. And more angst about a deadline.

A new report commissioned by the Rhode Island General Assembly offers a laundry list of problems — and up to $1.4 million in annual costs —  preventing the state from collecting energy and emissions information from large privately owned buildings.

Yet the city of Providence has already managed to pull off its own version of a building energy benchmarking program, with one half-time employee and a $28,000 city budget, according to information from Priscilla de la Cruz, city sustainability director.

The OER estimated an initial $600,000 cost to expand an energy benchmarking program beyond state-owned buildings, rising to $1.4 million for technical support to implement performance standards around emissions.

Emily Koo, senior policy director and Rhode Island program director at Acadia Center, was unconvinced the problems were as big, or costly, as the report suggested.

 “Providence has already done the work to stand this kind of program up,” said Koo, who previously worked as the city’s sustainability director. “This is the absolute lowest-hanging fruit.”

To read the full article from the Rhode Island Current, click here.