Leaders in energy performance utilize portfolio-wide benchmarking as the foundation for effective energy management programs. Taking Citigroup as a case study, this paper explores strategies and tactics for establishing a corporate benchmarking and energy management initiative across a diverse, widespread portfolio of commercial properties. More (111KB)

Posted with permission: © 2010, ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Washington, D.C. www.aceee.org

Today’s businesses face a multi-faceted challenge – how to cut costs in a down economy while continuing to differentiate themselves as market leaders. Improved energy management across your buildings’ portfolio is one simple strategy that begins to address both goals.

If your company pays its own energy bills – whether for a leased portion of a building or an entire campus – reducing your buildings’ energy consumption directly improves profitability and protects your bottom line against rising energy costs. At the same time, energy efficiency lowers your environmental impact and differentiates your company as an environmental leader. More (1.4MB)

Posted with permission: © 2010, International Facility Management Association (Facility Management Journal Vol. 20, No. 6, November/December) www.fmjonline.com

It is important to tell good stories about lives changed and communities transformed through green building, but it is equally important for those stories to include hard data measured over time and at a scale that is meaningful to future projects. In an education session at the 2010 Greenbuild Affordable Housing Summit, Alyssa Quarforth (ENERGY STAR National Program Manager for commercial and multifamily real estate) joined Rick Samson (President of SAHF Energy) and Ted Toon (Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) to discuss approaches and tools that enable homeowners and property managers to collect data on energy and water savings, as well as occupant health and comfort outcomes. More

While Portfolio Manager is designed to measure whole-building energy consumption, operators of some types of buildings – such as multifamily housing communities and shopping centers – do not always have access to all energy data for their properties. Often, tenants are directly metered by the utility, and the building operator only has access to energy bills for common areas. To address this issue, an enhancement has been added to Portfolio Manager that allows users to select whether the data they are entering is for the entire property or a portion of it. This will allow users to track and compare buildings with similar metering configurations until they are able to gain access to data for the whole building. It will also help EPA better understand the energy use patterns in these markets and enhance the information and resources provided to them in the future. To use the metering configuration enhancement, log into your Portfolio Manager account, go to the Facility Summary page for any building, and view the text box below the Energy Meters section.

ENERGY STAR News: Business and Industry Edition Winter 2010.

Whether you have federal tenants now or plan to attract them in the future, enhance your leasing strategy to include compliance with the requirements of Executive Order (EO) 13514. The EO raises the bar for federal leadership and performance in energy-efficient and sustainable buildings, and, at the same time, raises expectations of the building owners and operators who lease space to federal agencies. Commercial building owners and operators looking for ways to differentiate their properties to federal tenants can use the Federal High Performance Sustainable Buildings Checklist (known as the “Guiding Principles Checklist”) feature within ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to demonstrate compliance with the EO standards. More 

Morrison Residence Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) has won the first EPA National Building Competition. The competition, launched on April 27, 2010, challenged teams from 14 buildings across the country to measure their building’s energy use and reduce waste with help from the Energy Star program.

"The amazing results of the first-ever National Building Competition prove that any building can take simple steps to slash energy use, save thousands of dollars and protect the environment," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "Our top participants together saved nearly a million dollars by cutting energy use, and that's just in the first year. We look forward to seeing even greater savings and energy innovations in the years ahead." More

EPA Press Release

Competition Wrap-up Report

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing nine small businesses and congregations for their achievements in the fight against climate change. Through effective energy management practices and innovative efficiency solutions, all nine organizations demonstrate that no matter the size, it is possible to save money and use significantly less energy and to power the buildings where Americans work, play, and learn.

EPA has launched two new resources on the Bring Your Green to Work website to help every member of an organization play a role in saving energy and fighting climate change. The first is an off-the-shelf package of resources for HR professionals who want to encourage employees to save energy and help the organization’s bottom line. Use this downloadable toolkit to hold and promote a brown bag session to educate employees about energy use, its impact on the environment, and what they can do to help. The second is a companion piece to the animated office cubicle illustrating steps to take in a manufacturing plant to reduce energy use and save money. Check out both these tools and other energy-saving ideas at energystar.gov/work.

At the halfway mark of EPA’s first-ever National Building Competition, the contestants are in a fierce battle to see which building can reduce their energy use the most - take a look and see who’s in the lead!  “The EPA National Building Competition shows that improving the energy efficiency of the buildings where we work, live, play is all gain and no pain for our nation's energy bill,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, Gina McCarthy. “At the mid-point of the competition, we already see significant improvements in energy use and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  With 97 days left to go, it's still anybody's game.”

Mid-Point Rankings
National Building Competition Press Page

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, the first property and casualty insurance company to offer green insurance to the U.S. commercial marketplace, announces that policyholders with ENERGY STAR buildings are eligible for a five percent discount. More ...  

Each year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency.

All organizations participating in the ENERGY STAR program are encouraged to apply for a 2011 ENERGY STAR Award. To be considered, an organization must meet the specific eligibility requirements in the award application and submit a complete online application package by 8 pm EST, December 3, 2010.**

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announces that stand-alone data centers and buildings that house large data centers can now earn the ENERGY STAR label. To earn the label, data centers must be in the top 25 percent of their peers in energy efficiency according to EPA’s energy performance scale. By improving efficiency, centers can save energy and money and help fight climate change. More ...

New Data Center Space Model
Updates to the Water Treatment and Distribution and Wastewater Treatment Plant Spaces
Updates to the Office and Retail Space Models
Removal of Distribution Center "Other" Space Type
New Display of Default Space Attribute Values
New and Revised Building Import Templates
Updates to the Parking Space Adjustment More ...

EPA is pleased to announce that, effective April 1, 2010, the verification required for all applications for the ENERGY STAR label for commercial buildings can now be performed by Registered Architects.

In June, EPA will release expanded functionality in its energy performance benchmarking tool, Portfolio Manager, to rate the energy performance of data centers. The functionality includes both standalone data centers and commercial buildings that contain data centers. More ...

ENERGY STAR News: Business and Industry Edition Spring 2010.

14 US buildings jump on EPA's energy scale and compete to work off the waste in EPA's National Building Competition. EPA is hosting a national competition among commercial buildings to save energy and fight climate change. Competitors will "work off the waste" through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA's ENERGY STAR program. The building that sheds the most energy waste will be recognized as the winner. More ...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a list of U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest number of energy efficient buildings that earned EPA’s Energy Star in 2009. The list is headed by Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Houston, Lakeland, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta and New York. Energy efficiency saves building owners money and fights climate change.

• 2009 ENERGY STAR Labeled Buildings
• Press Release

Each year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. More ...

In 2009, EPA’s Energy Star Leaders prevented the equivalent of more than 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and saved more than $48 million across their commercial building portfolios. These savings have quadrupled since 2008 and represent the single greatest year of savings since EPA recognized the first Energy Star Leaders in 2004. Over the past five years, Energy Star Leaders are saving money and helping our environment by preventing greenhouse gas emissions equal to the emissions from the electricity use of nearly 39,000 homes annually.

• 2009 ENERGY STAR Leaders Achieve Record Savings (132KB)
• Press Release

The multifamily housing and entertainment industries have another incentive to make energy efficiency a New Year's resolution: EPA has unveiled new resources to help both industries achieve superior energy performance. More ...

ENERGY STAR News: Business and Industry Edition Winter 2010.