The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) have signed an agreement that will create a common platform for measuring and assessing the energy performance of commercial buildings in both countries. The agreement will harmonize the approach of the two countries by enhancing EPA’s existing Energy Star Portfolio Manager software tool to track and rate the energy performance of Canadian commercial buildings, in addition to buildings in the United States.

EPA Press Release

NRCan Press Release

Today, EPA released an important update to ENERGY STAR's national energy performance scale methodology for hospitals. The updated performance scale will help hospitals better assess their energy performance and make more informed financial and investment decisions in order to cut costs and improve their energy efficiency.

Updated ENERGY STAR Scale for Hospitals

ENERGY STAR and the healthcare industry

EPA Press Relesase

Visit our new project page to see a project timeline, download a fact sheet, or register for our next quarterly update webinar.

Today EPA announced that the University of Central Florida (UCF) is the winner of EPA’s 2011 Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings. In its second year, the competition featured teams from 245 buildings across the country in a head-to-head battle to save energy, reduce costs, and protect people's health and the environment. UCF’s winning building was a parking garage on the university’s main campus where energy use was decreased by 63.2 percent. Together, competitors cut their energy costs by $5.2 million.

More information on the 2011 Energy Star National Building Competition

EPA Press Release

In the first six months of the competition, participants saved more than $3.7 million on utility bills

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star program has announced the Top Contenders at the midpoint of the 2011 National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings. The list of Top Contenders identifies the leaders with the greatest percent reduction of energy use in each of the twelve building categories in the competition. EPA also provided an update on the progress of all participants as they continue to go head-to-head to save energy, reduce costs and protect Americans’ health and their environment. More

EPA Press Release

Initiative Incorporates ENERGY STAR Tools and Resources

City of Houston’s Mayor has received the 2011 U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Award.the city's work in implementing the Houston Green Office Challenge, which relies heavily on ENERGY STAR tools and resources. Participants measure and track their building’s monthly energy use with EPA’s online tool, Portfolio Manager and participate in monthly EPA training sessions on improving energy performance in buildings. More than 330 organizations participate in the Challenge, including city-owned buildings.

EPA Press Release

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing the first cookie and cracker bakeries to earn ENERGY STAR certification. The first thirteen ENERGY STAR certified bakeries are owned by Lance Private Brands, Richmond Baking of Indiana, Oak State Products, Bremner Food Group, and the Kellogg Company. Compared to average plants, these thirteen ENERGY STAR certified bakeries save 4.3 trillion Btus of energy, avoid nearly $24 million in utility bills, and prevent more than 85,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, equivalent to the emissions from more than 16,000 cars. Plants verified to be in the top twenty-five percent of performance nationwide may be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification.

·         More information about ENERGY STAR Cookie and Cracker Energy Performance Indicators

·         Find ENERGY STAR certified manufacturing plants across the U.S.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing the first container glass plants to earn ENERGY STAR certification. The first ENERGY STAR certified container glass plants include three Verallia North America plnats, owner by Saint-Gobain, located in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Massachusetts. Compared to average container glass plants, these ENERGY STAR certified container glass plants annually save 1.3 million Btus of energy, avoid about $7.5 million in energy bills, and prevent the emission of nearly 61,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, equal to the emissions from the electricity use of more than 7,000 homes for one year. Plants verified to be in the top twenty-five percent of performance nationwide may be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification.

·        More information about ENERGY STAR Glass Energy Performance Indicators

·         Find ENERGY STAR manufacturing plants across the U.S.

A new report by researchers at Duke University affirms that the ENERGY STAR program has helped improve the energy efficiency of the cement manufacturing industry, which has cut its energy intensity by 13 percent over a decade. This improvement is equivalent to a total source energy use reduction of over 60 trillion Btu and an annual emissions reduction of almost 1.5 million metric tons of energy-related carbon, according to the report. Cement manufacturing is very energy intensive, and the improvements represent a substantial shift in the industry’s energy efficiency curve. 

The report, Measuring Improvement in the Energy Performance of the U.S. Cement Industry, validates EPA’s energy management strategy, particularly the importance of performance measurement and recognition for top performance. The report also demonstrates that the gap between top performing cement manufacturing plants and others has closed and the performance of the industry as a whole has improved.

·         EPA statement about the report (97KB)

·         Measuring Improvement in the Energy Performance of the U.S. Cement Industry

·         More information about EPA's work with the cement industry

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR program launched the 2011 National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings. Teams from 245 buildings around the country are going head-to-head to improve energy efficiency and determine who can reduce their energy use the most. Nearly five million commercial buildings in the United States are responsible for approximately 20 percent of both the nation’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion annually. Through energy efficiency improvements, competitors are working to save energy, reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and protect the health of Americans.

EPA Press Release

Battle of the Buildings

Thousands of buildings across the country are saving energy while reducing harmful air pollutants and protecting the health of Americans with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star program. EPA recognized 74 leading Energy Star organizations for their achievements in energy efficiency across their entire building portfolios in 2010, 50 of which were recognized as first time Energy Star Leaders. Through their commitment to superior energy management, these organizations together have prevented the equivalent of more than 460,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually and saved more than $100 million a year.

EPA Press Release

New Senior Care Facility Model

Effective March 21, 2011, a new rating will be available for Senior Care facilities, and those facilities scoring 75 or higher will be eligible to apply for the ENERGY STAR label. This rating methodology will be used for individual buildings and campuses of buildings that house and provide care and assistance for elderly residents. Nursing homes (skilled nursing facilities) and assisted living facilities are eligible under this definition. Independent senior living communities are not eligible under this definition. However, it is common for some Senior Care Facilities to offer a mix of residential options including independent living along with some form of assisted living. In these situations, more than 50% of the units in a community must be considered skilled nursing or assisted living in order to be eligible as a Senior Care Facility. Facilities with more than 50% independent living units cannot earn a rating under this model and should benchmark using the Multifamily space type in Portfolio Manager.

• Gross floor area
• Total Number of Units
• Average Number of Residents
• Total Resident Capacity
• Workers on Main Shift
• Number of PCs owned by the community (does not include PCs owned by residents)
• Number of Commercial Refrigeration/Freezer Units
• Number of Commercial Washing Machines
• Number of Residential Washing Machines
• Number of Residential Electronic Lift Systems
• Percent of the Gross Floor Area that is Heated
• Percent of the Gross Floor Area that is Cooled

• Power Distribution Unit (PDU) Output Energy
• IT Equipment Input Energy (meters on each piece of equipment

• The option to input the Generation Method as a combination of six renewable energy types:
  • Biogas
  • Biomass
  • Geothermal
  • Small Hydropower
  • Solar
  • Wind

• Three options to identify the location where your green power product was generated. The more information you know about the location where your power was generated, the more accurately Portfolio Manager can compute your Avoided Emissions. The three options for entering the generation location are:
  • Specific electricity generation plant
  • Unknown generation plant but known eGRID sub-region
  • No information about the location available

• The ability to specify the Generation Period in month/year format, including future dates, to more accurately represent the Green Power Purchase time period.

• District Steam- 1.21
• District Hot Water- 1.28

• New Templates – New templates will be posted for download on March 4, 2011. The electronic processing of any new templates will begin on March 21, 2011.
• Old Templates – The previous templates will be removed on March 4, 2011. Any completed versions of the previous template must be submitted by March 14, 2011 in order to be processed electronically.

• Addition of the new optional Data Center IT Energy meter types to the following templates: Bank; Courthouse; Data Center; Dormitory; Hospital; Hotel; Medical; Office; Other; Refrigerated Warehouse; Retail; School; Supermarket; Unrefrigerated Warehouse; Worship
• Removal of the “Healthcare- Long Term Care (Nursing Home; Assisted Living)” category from the Other template

1. New Meter Types – The Automated Benchmarking Services Console will now enable Portfolio Manager users to authorize their information service providers to support these additional meter types:
   • Facility water meters
   • Campus energy meters
   • Campus water meters

2. Multiple ABS Providers – The ABS console will now enable you to assign more than one ABS provider to each meter. Only a single ABS provider will be able to update the meter data (i.e. have read/write access), however you can also designate as many other providers as you would like to have read only access to each meter.

EPA is once again 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. More

As of December 19, 2010, Federal agencies are now required to lease space in buildings that have earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR in the most recent year.  This provides an opportunity for owners and operators of ENERGY STAR labeled buildings to attract and retain Federal tenants, and allows Federal agencies to help move the market for energy efficient buildings.