State & local government

DataTrends: Energy Use in Wastewater Treatment Plants

This 2-page factsheet summarizes the energy, operational, and property characteristics of wastewater treatment plants benchmarking in Portfolio Manager. Other statistics are also presented in an easy-to-read format.

The factsheet is part of the Portfolio Manager DataTrends series, which uses the data available in Portfolio Manager to examine benchmarking and trends in energy and water consumption in hundreds of thousands of U.S. commercial buildings.

DataTrends: Energy Use in Courthouses

This 2-page factsheet summarizes the energy, operational, and property characteristics of courthouses benchmarking in Portfolio Manager. Other statistics are also presented in an easy-to-read format.

The factsheet is part of the Portfolio Manager DataTrends series, which uses the data available in Portfolio Manager to examine benchmarking and trends in energy and water consumption in hundreds of thousands of U.S. commercial buildings.

Local governments and ENERGY STAR: ICMA's case study series on EPA's ENERGY STAR National Building Competition

Learn how local governments have reduced energy use and showcased their successes in EPA’s ENERGY STAR National Building Competition. This 10-page case study series developed by ICMA details the experiences of Charlotte, NC; Cary, NC; and Hillsborough County, FL during the 2012 competition. From “crab, you’re it!” to a Chief’s Energy Challenge that pits fire stations against each other, find out how these local governments competed to save…and how you can too.   

The New York City Local Law 84 Benchmarking Report, 2013

In 2011, New York City passed Local Law 84, which requires all large buildings in the city to measure and disclose energy consumption annually. This report analyzes data from the second year of benchmarking, and, as such, was the first report to be able to compare two robust sets of data. Among the more notable findings: the median 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score of New York City buildings increased from a 64 to 67 between the two reporting years. 

Energy-Efficient County Buildings

In May of 2012, the National Association of Counties and the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS) launched a study to learn more about how counties use energy in their buildings. Their goal is to help counties identify strategies to increase their energy efficiency by tracking energy use in their facilities and creating a plan for energy-saving improvements. Read this 15-page report for a summary of findings about county buildings and their energy use based on an analysis of data in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.

Easy Access to Energy Improvement Funds in the Public Sector

This two-page primer provides an overview of two of the most popular mechanisms for financing energy efficiency projects in the public sector: performance contracts and tax-exempt lease-purchase agreements. Both mechanisms provide effective alternatives to traditional debt financing, and both may allow you to pay for energy efficiency upgrades by using money that is already set aside in your utility operating budget – allowing you to draw on dollars saved from future energy bills to pay for new, energy-efficient equipment and projects today.

Finding Money for Your Energy Efficiency Projects

This 14-page paper describes how performance contracts and tax-exempt lease-purchase agreements may offer you a practical solution when no money is available in the current budget for further improvements. It equips you to persuade the decision-makers within your school district, city, county, community college, university, or state that implementing energy efficiency upgrades is a good business decision and should be done as soon as possible.

ENERGY STAR® Performance Contracting Best Practices

This 19-page primer is designed to establish best practices for energy service companies (ESCOs) that are implementing energy performance contract (EPC) projects by integrating several publicly available Web-based ENERGY STAR tools that the U.S. EPA has designed and provides free-of-charge through ENERGY STAR. EPA believes that the use of these tools will help make the results of EPC projects more actionable and understandable to building owners, tenants, policy makers, and the general public.

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