This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.

July 24, 2013

EPA Debuts Upgraded Energy Star Portfolio Manager Benchmarking Tool

The EPA on July 18 announced the release of an upgrade to its online energy management and tracking tool, the Energy Star Portfolio Manager. The upgraded tool can help businesses achieve President Obama’s call to make commercial buildings at least 20% more energy efficient by 2020. The new Energy Star Portfolio Manager delivers a more user-friendly interface, enhanced data sharing capabilities, better reporting, and for the first time, the ability to manage buildings across their lifecycle, from design through occupancy.

Tens of thousands of organizations—including school districts, retail chains, hospital systems, and local governments—currently use Energy Star Portfolio Manager to measure the energy performance, water use, utility costs, and greenhouse gas emissions of more than 40 percent of the nation’s commercial building space. The tool will continue to deliver the nearly 150 energy, greenhouse gas (GHG), and water performance metrics that owners and managers of commercial buildings use to make strategic management decisions. One of these metrics, the 1–100 Energy Star score, rates a building’s energy efficiency against similar buildings nationwide.

Energy Star-certified buildings use, on average, 35% less energy and generate 35% fewer GHG emissions than typical buildings. Studies have shown that they have lower operating costs, increased asset value, and higher occupancy rates. See the EPA press release and the Energy Star website.