Page 199 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

EXISTING BUILDINGS 177

TABLE 6.2 ENERGY STAR BUILDING INVENTORY

CATEGORY NUMBER % OF TOTAL
Energy Star buildings in U.S. 4,398 100%
Energy Star office buildings 1,645 37.4%
Energy Star office buildings in Georgia 36 2.19%

Obtaining an Energy Star Rating

Obtaining an Energy Star rating for a building is no slam-dunk. You’ve cut
your electricity bills by 10 percent. The chiller is operating smoothly, lights
are off after hours, the building automation system is working on schedule—
overall, you have a pretty efficient building. Compared to what? While your
utility bills may be lower this year, how do you know what your target should
be? How are other buildings of your size, occupancy, and location operating?
One way to find out is to call facility managers in your area, compare the
scope of your buildings, and analyze your utility data together. But this is
burdensome and time-consuming, even if the other facility managers have
this information and are willing to share it. Fortunately, a mechanism exists
for facility managers to compare their buildings with other buildings of the
same size, occupancy type, and location. This tool is the Energy Star Port-
folio Manager program.
Portfolio Manger is an online tool that allows users to track and assess
building energy consumption. Portfolio Manager can help you set investment
priorities, identify under-performing buildings, verify efficiency improve-
ments, and receive EPA recognition for superior energy performance. It’s free
and very easy to use. You can track one building or an entire portfolio. After
you register with Portfolio Manger, you create a profile for the building you
want to analyze. All that is needed is basic information, such as square foot-
age, occupancy counts, estimated number of computers, operating hours,
and, of course, energy consumption and cost data. For qualifying facilities, 12
Portfolio Manager rates your building on a score of 1 to100. This ranking is
relative to similar buildings nationwide, based on an energy consumption
survey conducted by the Department of Energy, the Commercial Building
Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). CBECS is conducted every four years
and gathers data on buildings and energy use from thousands of properties
across the United States, giving you the ability to measure your building’s
performance against that of thousands of similar buildings.