Green Building Blog

There’s a new phrase gaining popularity in the energy efficiency and cost saving arena. It’s really a new name for something we’ve been advocating for all along.

And What You Can Do About It in 2017

The good news is that EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager is getting a much needed data update.

The bad news is that it may cause some Energy Star scores to go down.

How Portfolio Manager Works

As you probably know, Energy Star Portfolio Manager (ESPM) is a well-known and widely used program for comparing energy use among existing buildings. Building owners and managers use ESPM to see how well their building performs with regards to energy use. The ESPM rates the building on a 1-100 scale against buildings of similar size and use. It also takes into consideration climatization so that buildings in different climate zones can be compared with each other. 

Energy Star requires a score of 75 or better to earn Certification. For details, click here. If your score is below 75, or you would like to see a higher score – and lower utility bills – consider implementing some low-cost or no-cost Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) with relatively fast paybacks. Other ECMs might be more expensive with long paybacks. In that case you may want to consider alternative financing, such as Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE (Click to learn how PACE can help you.)

Note: Since this was article was originally posted, a budget passed Congress that does not significantly reduce EPA funding. So we believe the Energy Star Program is safe - for now. It’s good to know, however, what else is out there from the private sector, for example, ASHRAE bEQ as is discussed below. Our industry needs to be well-versed in all the options, not on a just-in-case basis, but on a what’s-best-for-the-customer basis. (updated 5/10/2017)

Since its inception in 1992, the Energy Star label has gained tremendous popularity, and today thousands of products (mostly small and medium home appliances) sport the Energy Star logo. Use of this program, run by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE), had saved $362 billion on energy bills and prevented nearly 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere. If this program goes away, as is being proposed by the current administration, we risk losing many of the gains that have been made.