Analyze Benchmarking Results
Once you’ve successfully benchmarked your building in Portfolio Manager, you’ll have access to more than 100 different metrics to track and assess your performance. Find out what your results mean and what steps to take next.
What your 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score means
The ENERGY STAR score provides a comprehensive snapshot of your building’s energy performance, taking into account the building’s physical assets, operations, and occupant behavior. It is expressed on an easy-to-understand 1 to 100 scale, where the higher the score, the better the energy performance of the building. It’ll help you identify which buildings in your portfolio to target for improvement or recognition.
A score of 50 is the median. Lower is worse than average; higher is better.
What is the 1-100 ENERGY STAR score and certification for buildings?
What the 1-100 ENERGY STAR score does (and doesn’t) tell you
EPA, in conjunction with stakeholders, developed the 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score as a screening tool; it does not by itself explain why a building performs a certain way, or how to change the building’s performance. It does, however, help you assess how your building is performing and identify which buildings offer the best opportunities for improvement or recognition.
| The Score Does | The Score Does Not |
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Target low-scoring buildings for cost-effective improvements
As long as your building systems are running, it might seem wasteful to repair or replace working systems. But if your building received a low ENERGY STAR score, it means it’s using a lot more energy than similar buildings — and wasting energy and money in the process. Start with any low-scoring buildings in your portfolio, which have the greatest potential to improve efficiency and lower operating costs.
Earn recognition for efficient buildings
If your building received an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher, it may be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification.
Ways to benchmark using EUI (no score)
The 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score is just one way to benchmark the performance of your building. Benchmarking — or comparing your performance to something similar — can help give context to your results. No matter your building type, you can use Portfolio Manager to compare your performance against:
- Similar buildings in your portfolio
- Past performance
- Target performance
- The Sustainable Buildings Checklist
Let’s take a closer look at each of these benchmarks below.
Similar buildings in your portfolio
Portfolio Manager enables you to select from 18 broad categories and 80 different functions to describe your building. This makes it easy for you to identify and compare similar buildings within your portfolio (or a shared portfolio, if you’re participating in one).
Group buildings by function, size, location, metering scenario…whatever makes the most sense to you. Then compare them by weather-normalized energy use intensity, costs, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, or another performance indicator of your choice.
Past performance
You can also compare your current performance to your past performance, to see if energy use has been creeping up over time — or jumped unexpectedly due to an undiagnosed problem. Compare any two 12-month periods to track changes over time.
Target performance
You can also set different targets: a target 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score, a target percentage better than median, or a target percentage improvement relative to your baseline energy use. Then track how your building is performing against your goal as you implement your energy efficiency initiatives.
Sustainable Buildings Checklist
The Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings are required by law for implementation across U.S. Federal government buildings. But anyone can use the Sustainable Buildings Checklist that’s built into Portfolio Manager to compare performance against these guiding principles and get a sense of the “greenness” of their building.
The checklist explains each guiding principle to let you track your sustainability in five areas:
- Design
- Energy
- Water
- Environmental quality
- Materials
