The Power of Information: Rating and Disclosing Building Energy Performance

1. The Power of Information:Rating and Disclosing Building Energy Performance Alexandra Sullivan US EPA, ENERGY STAR December 2, 2009

2. Agenda • ENERGY STAR Ratings • Objective • Characteristics • Technical foundation • Accessibility • Energy Rating and Disclosure • Benefits • Market Interest • Key to Success • Questions and Discussion

3. ENERGY STAR RatingsObjective • Help businesses protect the environment through superior energy efficiency • Motivate organizations to develop a strategic approach to energy management • Convey information about energy performance in a simple metric that can be understood by all levels of the organization

4. ENERGY STAR RatingsCharacteristics • Monitor actual as-billed energy data • Create a whole building indicator • Capture the interactions of building systems not individual equipment efficiency • Track energy use accounting for weather and operational changes over time • Provide a peer group comparison • Compare a building’s energy performance to its national peer group • Track how changes at a building level alter the building’s standing relative to its peer group

5. ENERGY STAR RatingsTechnical foundation • Analyze national survey data • Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) • Develop regression models to predict energy use for specific space types based on operations • Create scoring lookup table • Ratings are based on the distribution of energy performance across commercial buildings • One point on the ENERGY STAR scale represents one percentile of buildings • Buildings that perform in the 75th percentile or better can earn the ENERGY STAR label

6. ENERGY STAR RatingsTechnical foundation • The rating does • Evaluate as billed energy use relative to building operations • Normalize for operational characteristics (e.g., size, number of employees, walk-in refrigeration, climate) • Depend on a statistically representative sample of the US commercial building population • The rating does not • Attempt to sum the energy use of each piece of equipment • Normalize for technology choices or market conditions (e.g., type of lighting, energy price) • Explain how or why a building operates as it does

7. Houses of Worship K-12 Schools Office Buildings Dormitories Bank/Financial Institutions Medical Offices Hospitals Retail Stores Warehouses Hotels Supermarkets Courthouses Wastewater Treatment Plants Eligible Space Types

8. ENERGY STAR RatingsAccessibility: Portfolio Manager • Free on-line tracking and benchmarking tool • Available for any building • Track energy use • Site EUI • Source EUI • Weather normalized source EUI • National average comparisons • Energy performance ratings (for selected spaces) • Track energy costs • Track carbon emissions using eGRID • Track water consumption • Data sharing functions and automated data import • Apply for ENERGY STAR recognition

9. Statement of Energy Performance

10. Certificate for Display

11. Energy Rating and DisclosureBenefits • Identify inefficiency • There is a great potential for cost-effective energy efficiency across the national building stock • Better information on how much energy buildings use and how buildings compare to one another is critical to fulfilling this potential • Provide a whole building assessment • Energy assessment at the building level reveals information about how technologies interact and influence performance • Improve energy performance • Simple metrics are powerful motivators for change, spurring efficiency improvements within public and private organizations • Metrics that can be easily quantified can be tracked regularly and communicated within and among organizations • Maintain savings • Simple quantifiable measures can be tracked year-to-year to ensure persistence of savings • Almost 40% of ENERGY STAR labels each year are earning a label for the second or third time

12. Energy Rating and DisclosureGrowing Interest • Organizations and businesses • Internal energy management tracking • Internal disclosure of scores (store managers, regional and upper management) • Voluntary disclosure of scores on web (school districts, governments) • Real Estate information services • CoStar • Hotel services (Travelocity, AAA, Orbitz) • Mandatory Disclosure Legislation • Time of Sale (California) • Annual public disclosure (D.C. New York City)

13. Energy Rating and DisclosureGrowing Interest Learn about governments leveraging ENERGY STAR in legislation and voluntary campaigns. www.energystar.gov/government

14. Energy Rating and DisclosureKeys to Success • Measured energy data • The use of actual measured building data is critical to assessing performance • Measured data will account for interactions among building systems, building maintenance, tenant activities, etc • Data verification • Data must be accurate to provide a fair comparison among buildings • Decision makers need to know that information is reviewed and complete • Accessibility • System and metrics should be easy to use and understand • Costs should be kept to a minimum to encourage broad applicability • Consistency • Metrics should be used from design through construction and operation • Standardized metrics provide a reliable platform for organizations

15. Questions and Discussion