The ENERGY STAR score for retail stores applies to both retail stores and wholesale club/supercenters. The objective of the ENERGY STAR score is meant to fairly assess how a property’s energy use measures up against similar properties considering the climate and business activities. A statistical analysis of the peer population is performed to identify the aspects of property activity that are significant drivers of energy use and to normalize for those same factors. The result of this analysis is an equation that predicts the energy use of a property, based on its business activities. This prediction is compared to the property’s actual energy use to yield a 1 to 100 percentile ranking in relation to the national population of properties.
- Property types. The ENERGY STAR score for retail stores applies to two property types: retail stores and wholesale club/supercenters. The score applies to individual stores and is not available for entire strip malls or enclosed malls. To be eligible for an ENERGY STAR score, a retail store must be a single store that is at least 464.5 square metres (5,000 square feet) and has an exterior entrance to the public.
- Reference data. The analysis for retail stores in Canada is based on data from the Survey on Commercialand Institutional Energy Use (SCIEU), which was commissioned by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and carried out by Statistics Canada, and represents the energy use for the year 2014.
- Adjustments for weather and business activity. The analysis includes adjustments for:
- Worker density (the number of workers per 100 m2)
- Percentage of the building that is heated
- Climate (using heating degree days, retrieved based on postal code)
- Weekly operating hours
- Total length of commercial refrigeration/freezer units
- Whether or not the building is large
- Release date. This is the original release of the ENERGY STAR score for retail stores in Canada.
This document details the development of the 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score for retail store properties. For more information on the methodology used to develop ENERGY STAR scores, go to the Technical Reference for the ENERGY STAR score at http://www.energystar.gov/ENERGYSTARScore. The subsequent sections of this document offer specific details on the development of the ENERGY STAR score for retail stores in Canada.
Download more information about the ENERGY STAR Score for Retail Stores in Canada here. (PDF, 367.7 KB)