Eligibility Criteria for the 1-100 ENERGY STAR Score

You can use Portfolio Manager to measure and track the energy and water use of any building over time. However, for certain properties, you can go a step further and benchmark their energy use relative to similar buildings nationwide.

In Portfolio Manager, this benchmark is called an ENERGY STAR score and is expressed on a scale of 1 to 100. To get an ENERGY STAR score, your property must meet several criteria related to its:

1. Property Type
2. Property Use Details
3. Energy Data

1. Property Type

The ENERGY STAR score compares your building’s energy performance against that of similar buildings across the country. This peer group is identified through nationally representative survey data, primarily from the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), a survey conducted approximately every four years by the U.S. Department of Energy.

To identify your building's group of peers, more than 50 percent of your building's gross floor area (excluding parking lots and garages) must be defined as one of the eligible property types. See the list of property types that are eligible to receive a 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score.

The remainder of your building may house other property types, and you can still get a 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score. However, that’s subject to a few restrictions:

1. Your parking garage can’t be bigger than your building. Or in technical terms, the combined floor area of all enclosed and unenclosed parking areas can’t exceed the total gross floor area of the building.

2. You can’t have more than 25 percent of your floor space be ineligible for a score. The combined floor area of any property use types that do not have an ENERGY STAR score (i.e., types not listed on the link above) can’t exceed 25 percent of your total floor area.

2. Property Use details

Portfolio Manager asks you to enter data for key property use details. To be eligible to receive a 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score, there are minimum and maximum thresholds for these values. These limits are designed to make sure that your building operates similarly to the peer group used for comparison. To be eligible to receive a 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score, your building must meet the thresholds listed below.

Property Type	Requirement (Property types must...)
All buildings	Be at least 5,000 square feet. The following are exceptions to this rule: Convenience stores, K-12 schools, offices, banks, religious worship facilities, and warehouses may be as small as 1,000 square feet. Hospitals must be at least 20,000 square feet. Data centers do not have a square-foot minimum. Be in operation at least 30 hours per week. There are two exceptions to this rule: This does not apply to buildings that are not asked for hours of operation, such as hotels and hospitals. This does not apply to religious worship facilities. Have at least 1 worker during the main shift, when this is asked. This does not apply to K-12 schools in the U.S.; it only applies to K-12 schools in Canada.
Hospitals	Have at least 1 bed set up and staffed for use.
Multifamily housing	Have at least 20 units.
Municipal wastewater treatment plants	Have an average daily wastewater flow greater than 0.6 million gallons per day (MGD). Have an average influent biological oxygen demand (BOD5) level greater than 30 and less than 1000. Have an average effluent BOD5 level greater than 0.
Offices, bank branches, financial offices, and courthouses	Have at least 1 personal computer (PC).
Residence halls/ dormitories and barracks	Have at least 5 rooms.
Retail stores	Have an exterior entrance to the public. Be a single store only.
Senior living facilities	Not have an average number of residents that exceeds the resident capacity.
Religious worship facilities	Have at least 25 seats and no more than 4,000 seats.

3. Energy Data

To receive a 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score, you must enter energy meters that account for all energy use for all fuel types in the whole building, regardless of who receives or pays the utility bills. To ensure accurate analysis, EPA applies limitations on this data as follows:

1. You must include all energy used by the property (e.g., electricity, gas, oil, steam, onsite renewable energy, etc.).
2. There must be at least 12 full consecutive calendar months of energy data for all active meters and all fuel types.