The ENERGY STAR Score for K-12 Schools applies to buildings or campuses used as a school for kindergarten through 12th grade students. The objective of the ENERGY STAR score is to provide a fair assessment of the energy performance of a property relative to its peers, taking into account the climate, weather, and business activities at the property. To identify the aspects of building activity that are significant drivers of energy use and then normalize for those factors, a statistical analysis of the peer building population is performed. The result of this analysis is an equation that will predict the energy use of a property, based on its experienced business activities. The energy use prediction for a building is compared to its actual energy use to yield a 1 to 100 percentile ranking of performance, relative to the national population.
- Property Types. The ENERGY STAR score for K-12 schools applies to a property used as a school for kindergarten through 12th grade students. The score applies to an entire school whether it is a single building or a campus of buildings.
- Reference Data. The analysis for K-12 schools is based on data from the Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration’s 2012 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS).
- Adjustments for Weather and Business Activity. The analysis includes adjustments for:
- Number of Workers
- Whether or not the School is Open on Weekends
- Whether or not there is Energy Used for Cooking
- Whether or not the School is a High School
- Weather and Climate (using Heating and Cooling Degree Days, retrieved based on Zip code)
- Percent of the Building that is Heated and Cooled
- Release Date. The ENERGY STAR score for K-12 schools is updated periodically as more recent data becomes available:
- Most Recent Update: August 2018
- Previous Update: February 2009
- Original Release: April 2000
This document presents details on the development of the 1 - 100 ENERGY STAR score for K-12 school properties. More information on the overall approach to develop ENERGY STAR scores is covered in our Technical Reference for the ENERGY STAR Score, available at www.energystar.gov/ENERGYSTARScore. The subsequent sections of this document offer specific details on the development of the ENERGY STAR score for K-12 schools.
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