Criteria for Rating Building Energy Performance

All types of commercial and institutional buildings can use Portfolio Manager to track and benchmark energy use over time. Certain types of buildings can go a step further and benchmark energy use relative to the national population of similar buildings. In Portfolio Manager this benchmark is called a national energy performance rating and is expressed on a scale of 1 to 100. In order to be eligible for an energy performance rating, buildings must meet several criteria. These criteria can be organized as followed:

• Building Designation
• Operating Characteristics
• Energy Data

Building Designation

The energy performance rating system compares your building to its peer group of similar buildings in the national population. This peer group is identified through the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), a nationally representative survey conducted quadrennially by the Department of Energy. In order to identify that group of peers, at least 50% of your building’s gross floor area (excluding parking lots and garages) must be defined by one of the following space types:

• Bank/Financial Institutions
• Courthouses
• Hospitals (acute care and children’s)
• Hotels and Motels
• K-12 Schools
• Medical Offices
• Offices
• Residence Halls/Dormitories
• Retail Stores
• Supermarkets
• Warehouses (refrigerated and non-refrigerated)
• Wastewater Treatment Plants

The remainder of your building may be occupied by any of the space types in Portfolio Manager, subject to the following restrictions:

1. The combined floor area of all enclosed and not enclosed parking structures cannot exceed the total gross floor area of the building (where the gross floor area of the building excludes the parking floor area).
2. The combined floor area of all Computer Data Centers cannot exceed 10% of the total gross floor area of the building (where the gross floor area of the building excludes the parking floor area).
3. The combined floor area of any space classified as “Other” cannot exceed 10% of the total gross floor area of the building (where gross floor area of the building excludes the parking floor area).
4. If your building is a Hospital (i.e. if Hospital accounts for more than 50% of your space) the only other spaces that may be entered are:
   1. Computer Data Center
   2. Other
   3. Parking
   4. Swimming Pool

Operating Characteristics

Portfolio Manager asks you to enter data for key operating characteristics for each space in your building. There are minimum and maximum thresholds for these values. These limits are designed to make sure that your building falls into an operation pattern consistent with that of the peer group used for comparison. In order to be eligible to receive a national energy performance rating:

1. Gross floor area of the building (excluding garage and parking lot) must be at least 5,000 square feet, with two exceptions:
   1. Hospitals must be at least 20,000 square feet
   2. Bank/Financial Institution must be at least 1,000 square feet
2. All buildings must be in operation at least 30 hours per week
3. All office, bank, courthouse, and K-12 school spaces must contain 1 personal computer or 1 cash register (supermarket spaces can contain at least 0 Personal Computers or cash registers)
4. Each space must contain at least 1 worker during the main shift (does not apply for hospitals or hotels)
5. The user must enter at least 11 consecutive months of data for all of the operating characteristics
6. If the building is a K-12 School, it must be in operation at least 8 out of 12 calendar months
7. If the facility is a hospital, it must include:
   1. At least 16 licensed beds but no more than 1,510 beds and
   2. No more than 40 floors
8. Residence halls/Dormitories must contain at least 5 rooms
9. If the facility is a hotel/motel the room limits are dependent upon the hotel type
   1. Upper upscale must have at least 20 rooms and no more than 2,500 rooms
   2. Upscale must have at least 30 rooms and no more than 2,000 rooms
   3. Mid-scale with food and beverage must have at least 50 rooms and no more than 665 rooms
   4. Mid-scale without food and beverage must have at least 40 rooms and no more than 320 rooms
   5. Economy and budget must have at least 20 rooms and no more than 700 rooms
10. Wastewater treatment plants must have:
    1. Average daily wastewater flow greater than 0.6 million gallons per day (MGD)
    2. Average influent BOD₅ (biological oxygen demand) level greater than 30 and less than 1000
    3. Average effluent BOD₅ level greater than 0

Summary Table (183KB)
The requirements listed above are summarized in a numerical table for quick reference.

Energy Data

To receive an energy performance rating, you must enter energy meters that account for all energy use (regardless of fuel type) in the building. To ensure accurate analysis, EPA applies limitations on this data which are as followed:

1. There must be at least 11 full consecutive calendar months of energy data for all active meters. If there are multiple meters, there must be 11 consecutive and overlapping months.
2. No individual electrical meter entry can be for a period longer than 65 days.