Guidance on the Use of Other in Portfolio Manager

Other can be used to classify a facility or a portion of a facility where the primary activity does not fall into any of the available space types.

If an entire facility is classified as Other, it is not eligible to receive a national energy performance rating; however, if a portion of a facility is classified as Other, you may be able to receive a national energy performance rating. To be eligible, the gross floor area of the facility must be comprised of 50% or more of an eligible space type and 10% or less of the gross floor area must be comprised of an Other space type.

The following information is required for Other Spaces.

• Gross floor area
• Weekly operating hours

Guidance if a facility is comprised entirely of non-eligible space types.

If a facility is comprised entirely of non-eligible space types, it should be entered into Portfolio Manager as an Other space type. We encourage you to enter your space and utility data in order to track your weather normalized source energy use over time. However, if your entire facility is listed as Other, it is not eligible to receive a National Energy Performance Rating.

EPA is continually working to expand the available space types. As new space types become available, you will be able to reclassify your spaces accordingly if they have previously been entered as Other.

Guidance if Other is used in combination with another space type

If an Other space type accounts for more than 10% of your facility's gross floor area, you will not be eligible to receive the national energy performance rating.

Please note that the purpose of the national energy performance rating is to compare a facility's performance to that of its peers. Again, this peer group is identified through the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), a nationally representative survey conducted quadrennially by the Department of Energy. Portfolio Manager defines these peer groups according to the Eligible 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

Other should only be used in combination with one of these spaces to identify a space if its function is inherently different from the rest of your facility, and is not expected to be characteristic of your peer group. For example, spaces such as gymnasiums, greenhouses, or small landscaping garages are inherently part of a school; they should not be classified as Other. Likewise, conference rooms, storage closets, and atria are inherently part of office buildings and their functions; they should not be classified as Other. However, if your school or office contains a restaurant or public library (as on the first floor in an urban setting), that should be classified as Other.

If the use of a facility is characterized by one of the eligible space types, it is probably not necessary for you to use Other. We suggest that you read the list of supporting functions included with each space type definition before you classify a space as Other.

Examples of spaces that should be classified as Other:

• A movie theater on the first floor of an office building
• A public works garage that shares space on public land with a school
• Laboratory space (except for high school laboratory space and hospital laboratory space)
• Manufacturing space