ENERGY STAR

Quarterly Trainers Meeting

Amatullah R’id and Alexandra Sullivan

Agenda• September-November 2009

– Office Occupancy Requirement– Multifamily Housing– Portfolio Manager Reports Feature (Phase I)– Federal Sustainability Checklist– Water Baseline Functionality– Renewable Energy Certificates

• Remaining 2009– Update eGrid emissions factor file– Portfolio Manager Reports Feature (Phase II)

• 2010 Plans– Planned Releases

September - November 2009

Office Occupancy

• Previous Office Occupancy Requirement– 75% or more average occupancy required– Only required when applying for the label

• Background– Partners requested change because of the

economic downturn – EPA performed extensive analysis of the Office

model to determine how the model performed at varying levels of occupancy

Office Occupancy (cont.)

• New Office Occupancy Requirement– More than 50% average occupancy required for Offices

in order to earn the ENERGY STAR label– If a building averages more than 10% vacancy for the

12-month period of assessment, the user is required to enter the vacant space separately in Portfolio Manager (PM)

– If occupancy changes over time, square footage can be reallocated between the vacant and occupied spaces using the “Update” function

– If any previously entered data is not consistent with the new occupancy rules, use the “Correct” function

Office Occupancy (cont.)

• Guidance for Entering Vacant space in PM:– Number of Workers = 0– Weekly Operating hours = 0– Number of Personal Computers = 0– Percent Heated = As experienced in the vacant space– Percent Cooled = As experienced in the vacant space

• ENERGY STAR C&I Website Updates– Professional Engineer Guide updated to include new

50% Office occupancy requirement– 3 New FAQs and 3 Updated FAQs in PM Help – Office Space Use definition updated to link to vacancy

FAQ

Office Occupancy (cont.)• FAQs

– New FAQs• Is my office building required to achieve a minimum level of

occupancy in order to earn the ENERGY STAR?

• How do I determine Weekly Operating Hours for my multi-tenant building?

• How do I account for my office building’s vacant space in Portfolio Manager?

– Updated FAQs• Can I apply to earn the ENERGY STAR plaque for an office

building that isn't 100% occupied?

• What would you use for occupancy level if it fluctuates?

• Where can we find a cheat sheet for estimating data?

Multifamily Housing• Commercial Real Estate Partners and users wanted clarification on

the optional characteristics language for Multifamily Housing• EPA revised the language for optional characteristics to better

capture the original intent of the questions and provide useful information

• Unchanged Operating Characteristics– Required

• Gross Floor Area (Required)– Optional

• Percent of the gross floor area that is heated • Percent of the gross floor area that is cooled • Indicate whether the facility is Affordable Housing (subsidized

housing regulated by national, state, or local government), or Market Rate Housing

– Please Note: Multifamily Housing is still is unable to obtain an EPA energy performance rating

Multifamily Housing (cont.)Previous Updated

How many occupied or unoccupied apartment units

does this building have?

Total number of occupied and unoccupied apartment units in

the building

Number of bedrooms that are located in each individual

apartment unit

Total number of bedrooms in the building

Number of Floors Maximum number of floors

Percentage of square footage that is devoted to occupied or

unoccupied apartment units

Percent of gross floor area that is common space only

Number of laundry hookups located in individual

apartment units

Total number of laundry hookups located in all individual

apartment units (not including laundry hookups located in

common areas)

Number of dishwashers located in individual apartment units

Total number of dishwashers in the building

Portfolio Manager Reports: Phase I

• Purpose: Allows you to easily display data, generate reports and graph information about your facilities and their performance

• Users can create eight different reports for any building in their portfolio or shared with other organizations and export these reports into four file types (xls, pdf, csv, xml)

• Quick Reference Guide is available for first-time users• One complete year of data is required for most metrics

that calculate based on annual measures (e.g. change from baseline metrics)– If you have only one complete month of data, you will see N/A for

metrics that require one year of data

• Reports can be displayed in a tabular or graphical format

1

Portfolio Manager Reports: Phase I (cont.)

• Access the Quick Reference Guide• Select one of the 8 types of reports from the

“Generate a Report” page

2

Portfolio Manager Reports: Phase I (cont.)

Let’s Go to Portfolio Manager….

Federal Sustainability Checklist

• Purpose: In response to Executive Order 13423, the Interagency Sustainability Working Group (EPA, FEMP, GSA) developed technical guidance to assist agencies in meeting both the goals and statutory requirements

• New functionality for federal government buildings in PM:– User required to state if their facility is owned,

operated or leased by the Federal government – Must enter the agency name and the federal real

property ID along with basic building and organization information

Federal Sustainability Checklist (cont.)

Federal Sustainability Checklist (cont.)

• Users must select a sustainability path– Guiding Principles for Sustainable Existing Buildings– Third-Party Green Building Certification– Both

• Users can assess their federal building stock using the following principles and functionality:

1. Employ integrated design2. Optimize energy performance3. Conserve water4. Enhance indoor environmental quality5. Reduce environmental impact of materials

• Contact Katy Hatcher: hatcher.caterina@epa.gov

Water Baseline

• Previously users could not track their water consumption relative to a baseline

• Outcome of the Sustainability Checklist, but useful for all PM users

• Users can now select their baselines or have PM set the baseline to the earliest period in which they had 12-months of water consumption

• Includes new change metrics for water which were not previously tracked for PM users

• Users are not able to set their baselines for water treatment facilities

Renewable Energy Certificates

• Many questions about the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) functionality in PM since the August 31st, 2009 release:– How to enter RECs that are purchased on an annual

basis?– What to do when a user has a mix of renewable fuels?– What to enter for the Generation Facility ID or name when

the user does not know the ID or name?• EPA will update the REC module in PM and is planning

to release updated functionality in 2010. • EPA is evaluating how to make the inputs more flexible

for users with different resource mixes and generation periods

Renewable Energy Certificates (cont.)– REC Timeframe

• Issue: Period of generation may not be quarterly• Interim Solution: Users should divide annual REC MWh/kWh into

quarterly periods and enter that amount into PM as four separate RECs

– Renewable Fuel Type• Issue: Some RECs include multiple renewable fuel types and the

PM functionality only allows them to enter one fuel type• Interim Solution: Users should divide the quarterly REC amount

and apportion it to each fuel type and enter them into PM as separate RECs

– Generation Facility ID/Name • Issue: Users do not know their Generation Facility Name or ID #• Interim Solution: Users should contact their utility or third-party

provider in order to obtain this information

Remaining 2009

Remaining 2009• November Release

– Update the eGrid emissions factor file• December Release

– Portfolio Manager Reports Feature (Phase II)• Allows users to create Customized Report templates

from the PM metrics• Enables users to share their customized report with

other users via a URL and customized instructional text • Can be used for utility energy efficiency programs or

other mandated program for improved energy efficiency at the state and local level

• Users can edit templates shared with them and upload and share data

2010 Plans

2010 Plans

• New Major Release dates– April and October

• Monthly O&M release dates will not change

• Tentative 2010 Release Plans– April Release

• Data Center Model • Additional Renewable Fuels (tentative)

– October Release• Senior Care Model

2010 Plans: April Release

• Data Center Model Release– EPA performed extensive analysis of a sample

of data centers nationally– Currently in process of developing and

selecting the final rating model– Model will be released in April 2010

• Additional Renewable Fuels Updated into PM (tentative)– EPA currently investigating additional on-site

renewable fuels to add to PM in April 2010

• Senior Care Model Release (Planned)– EPA in process of working with National Senior

Care associations to administer a national survey– This effort will be finalized in early 2010– Data analysis will begin in early 2010– Targeted Release date -- October 2010

• Additional elements for 2010 still under consideration

2010 Plans: October Release

Questions?

buildings@energystar.gov