Technical documentation

EPA provides ENERGY STAR 1 – 100 scores for more than 10 types of commercial buildings. These scores are based on robust data samples and are updated as new data becomes available.

The ENERGY STAR Score for Hospitals applies to general medical and surgical hospitals, including critical access hospitals and children’s hospitals.

The ENERGY STAR Score for K-12 Schools applies to buildings or campuses used as a school for kindergarten through 12th grade students.

The ENERGY STAR Score for Medical Offices applies to facility space used to provide diagnosis and treatment for medical, dental, or psychiatric outpatient care.

The ENERGY STAR Score for Offices applies to office and financial office property types.

The ENERGY STAR Score for Residence Halls/Dormitories applies to buildings associated with educational institutions (residence halls/dormitories) or military facilities (barracks) which offer multiple accommodations for long-term residents.

The ENERGY STAR Score for Senior Care Communities applies to buildings that house and provide care and assistance for elderly residents.

The ENERGY STAR score provides a fair assessment of the energy performance of a property relative to its peers, taking into account the climate, weather, and business activities at the property. Stand-alone swimming pools are not eligible to earn the ENERGY STAR score.

The ENERGY STAR Score for Wastewater Treatment Plants applies to primary, secondary, and advanced treatment facilities with or without nutrient removal capacity.

This FAQ describes the 2009 upgrade to EPA's 1-100 ENERGY STAR score for hotels. The document explains the changes made to the scoring model, including a new data source, the updated analysis of energy use per square foot, and service levels based on operating characteristics.

When you benchmark your building in Portfolio Manager, one of the key metrics you’ll see is energy use intensity, or EUI. Essentially, the EUI expresses a building’s energy use as a function of its size or other characteristics.

EPA’s 1 - 100 ENERGY STAR score is an external benchmark for assessing the performance of commercial buildings.

The energy used in commercial buildings accounts for roughly one quarter of worldwide emissions of the greenhouse gases (GHG) linked to global climate change, making buildings an important part of your GHG inventory.

For consistency and comparability, all energy performance metrics in Portfolio Manager reports are expressed in either thousand British thermal units (kBtu) or billion joules (GJ) and are annualized to 12 calendar months.