ENERGY STAR Score for Retail Stores and Supermarkets

The ENERGY STAR Score for Retail Stores and Supermarkets applies to retail stores, supermarkets/grocery stores, and wholesale clubs/supercenters. 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 retail stores and supermarkets applies to retail stores, supermarkets/grocery stores, and wholesale clubs/supercenters. The score applies to individual establishments and is not available for entire strip malls or enclosed malls. To receive an ENERGY STAR score, a retail store must be a single store that is at least 5,000 square feet and has an exterior entrance to the public.
• Reference Data. The analysis for retail stores and supermarkets 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
  • Weekly Operating Hours
  • Number of Commercial Refrigeration/Freezer Units
  • Weather and Climate (using Heating and Cooling Degree Days, retrieved based on Zip code)
  • Percent of the Building that is Heated and Cooled
  • Whether or not the Buildings is a Supermarket
• Release Date. The ENERGY STAR score for retail stores and supermarkets is updated periodically as more recent data becomes available:
  • Most Recent Update: August 2018 (combined Retail/Supermarket model)
  • Prior Update: July 2008 (Supermarket)
  • Original Release: July 2001 (Supermarket); October 2007 (Retail)

This document presents details on the development of the 1 - 100 ENERGY STAR score for retail stores and supermarkets. 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 retail stores and supermarkets.