Tools and Resources

The ENERGY STAR Score for Kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) schools applies to both primary and secondary schools. This score is not applicable to college, cégep, or university classroom facilities and laboratories; vocational, technical or trade schools; or preschool or day care buildings. The objective of the ENERGY STAR score is to provide an unbiased 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.

This 19-page primer is designed to establish best practices for energy service companies (ESCOs) that are implementing energy performance contract (EPC) projects by integrating several publicly available Web-based ENERGY STAR tools that the U.S. EPA has designed and provides free-of-charge through ENERGY STAR. EPA believes that the use of these tools will help make the results of EPC projects more actionable and understandable to building owners, tenants, policy makers, and the general public.

Print out this checklist and take it along during your Treasure Hunt in your restaurant or commercial kitchen.

Creating an energy policy is a key step in formalizing your organization's commitment to saving energy. After all, you’ll be much more likely to achieve lasting results when energy efficiency is integrated as a core element of your organization’s business practices.

This five-page article introduces energy performance contracts and the corresponding benefits of using tax-exempt lease-purchase agreements as the underlying financing vehicle. It explains how to use the energy inefficiencies buried in your current operating budget to pay for energy-saving equipment.

This 14-page paper describes how performance contracts and tax-exempt lease-purchase agreements may offer you a practical solution when no money is available in the current budget for further improvements. It equips you to persuade the decision-makers within your school district, city, county, community college, university, or state that implementing energy efficiency upgrades is a good business decision and should be done as soon as possible.

Harshaw Trane performance contract saves Hardin County Schools $5 million and helps eight schools earn the ENERGY STAR certification.

Read this 2-page success story to learn how the Seaford School District (Seaford SD), a rural school system in southwestern Delaware, implemented an energy management plan that has reduced its portfolio-wide energy consumption by 16 percent annually, saving nearly 8.2 million kBtus of energy. As a result, the district is saving an estimated $100,000 in annual energy costs and preventing nearly one million pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Through its energy efficiency efforts, Seaford SD offsets the CO2 emissions of approximately 105 vehicles or 53 households.

This 36-page briefing report provides a tutorial in the fundamentals of energy performance contracting (EPC) for policy makers who need to understand how EPC fits into the broader context of energy efficiency policy and programs.

Texas School District saved $4.2 million in energy, water, and operational efficiencies with support from Johnson Controls.