Tools and Resources

This report defines responsible property investing (RPI) as including facets such as investing in ENERGY STAR certified properties, transit-oriented development, and redevelopment areas. It shows that investors could have purchased a portfolio consisting solely of RPI office properties over the past 10 years and had performance that was better, at less risk, than a portfolio of properties without RPI features. The paper then breaks down the ways that various RPI features impact income, property values, capitalization rates, price appreciation and total returns.

This report from the U.S. Green Building Council explains how high performing buildings show proven cost-effectiveness, boost employee productivity, enhance tenant health, reduce liability for owners, and increase a building's property value. Certification programs like LEED and ENERGY STAR are creating common benchmarks, support tools and opportunities for the public which offer market differentiation and create higher value for buildings.

Global leaders within the data center industry developed a consistent set of global metrics for measuring energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. This protocol provides the agreed-on measurement protocols for PUE, Green Energy Coefficient (GEC), Energy Reuse Factor (ERF), and Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE). This document, dated October 2, 2012, also discusses agreements that have been reached to date.

This document includes the established protocols for measuring Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) at data centers, based on global industry guidance. The document establishes a standard set of metrics, indices, and measurement protocols which aim to improve data center energy efficiency globally.

This document describes the data and analysis used to update the ENERGY STAR Energy Performance Indicator (EPI) for wet corn mills. The paper also compares the results of the original 1997 EPI with the updated analysis which is useful to someone who is interested in how the industry has changed during the last decade. The first section describes the data and the analysis used for the update. The second section compares the two models to show how the energy performance of this industry has changed over time.

ENERGY STAR Award-winning partner CBRE engaged a research team from Maastricht University to measure the uptake of green building certification in the top 30 largest U.S. office markets from 2005 to 2013. The results are outlined in this 38-page report. Among the key findings are: