Recently in Portfolio Manager Category

Energy use in commercial buildings and manufacturing plants accounts for nearly half of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 50 percent of energy consumption nationwide.

For more than a decade, EPA has worked with businesses and organizations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through strategic energy management practices. Today, there are Energy Star qualified facilities in every state across the country.

Energy Star Rated Buildings

To qualify for the Energy Star, a building or manufacturing plant must score in the top 25 percent using EPA's National Energy Performance Rating System.

Nearly 4,100 buildings and manufacturing plants have earned the EPA's Energy Star through the end of 2007, with the addition of more than 1,400 in 2007 alone. They include about 1,500 office buildings, 1,300 supermarkets, 820 K-12 schools and 250 hotels. Also, more than 185 banks, financial centers, hospitals, courthouses, warehouses, dormitories, and - for the first time - big-box retail buildings earned the Energy Star. More than 35 manufacturing plants such as cement, auto assembly, corn refining, and - for the first time - petroleum refining are also being recognized.

These award-winning commercial buildings and manufacturing plants have saved nearly $1.5 billion annually in lower energy bills and prevented carbon dioxide emissions equal to the emissions associated with electricity use of more than 1.5 million American homes for a year, relative to typical buildings.

Commercial buildings that have earned the Energy Star use nearly 40% less energy than average buildings and emit 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, offering a significantly smaller carbon footprint.

About 500 Energy Star buildings use 50% less energy than average buildings.

Many of these buildings excel due to good energy management practices such as routine energy efficiency benchmarking.

Investment in Building Energy Efficiency

For investors interested in energy efficiency in either conventional or green construction, meaningful answers to a few questions will go a long way towards ensuring a sustainable investment.

To determine how a building's energy use compares to other similar buildings in the country, the U.S. EPA's ENERGY STAR program developed an energy performance rating system that rates a building's energy efficiency on a scale of 1–100. A building that scores in a 75 or above on this scale (placing its energy performance among the top 25 percent among similar buildings) can earn an ENERGY STAR label. Receiving a rating for a building is easy and can be done at the energystar.gov Web site using Portfolio Manager, a free, online tracking and benchmarking tool.

More than 62,000 have been rated, and more than 4,000 of them have earned the ENERGY STAR label to date.

New Construction Project Energy Efficiency

Has an energy target been established?

New construction project teams often promote building designs that are energy efficient, but do not always provide an estimate of the completed and commissioned building's expected energy to owners and investors. Many green building rating systems and programs targeting energy efficiency in building design rely on computer modeling primarily concerned with estimating if a design exceeds the building code, which is not an indicator of how much energy the building will use.

Establishing energy targets can help drive energy-efficient design choices; energy efficiency goals should be set based on comparisons to actual building energy use. EPA's Target Finder tool provides an easy way to develop an energy use target tailored to a specific design project.

Investors should ask about a new building design's estimated energy use and if it is Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR.

Green Certified Buildings

What method or system was used to certify the building? Did it earn points for energy efficiency?

If a building has been operating for at least one year, it should be benchmarked for energy efficiency using the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool and against its energy target.

The building envelope, mechanical systems, lighting, and controls systems

Energy-efficient buildings have efficient components and systems that are properly designed and sized and are actively managed once occupied. It is important to make sure that these investments are not subverted in the name of green design or value engineering.

The Commissioning Strategy

Specifying and installing the latest energy saving technologies may make little impact unless these technologies are properly commissioned along with other building systems. New technologies often require more attention during commissioning. Be sure that the project budget includes proper funding for commissioning.

“Green Buildings and Energy Efficiency: Diligence Pays” 
(162KB), from Off the Charts, the EPA ENERGY STAR newsletter covering energy management for the financial markets, Summer 2006.