EPA’s Target Finder calculator

Target Finder is EPA’s online calculator that helps architects, engineers, and property owners and managers assess the energy performance of commercial building designs and existing buildings. There’s no login required, which makes Target Finder useful for quick-and-easy calculations and “what-if” scenarios. There are two basic ways to use Target Finder:

• See what annual energy usage you need to achieve to meet a target – If you enter basic information about your business activity and set a target, you can see what this target means in terms of energy use, cost, and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Evaluate estimated energy use – If you already have a design or retrofit project and know its estimated energy use, you can calculate the corresponding efficiency metrics. In addition, you can see the projected costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

When to use Target Finder

Target Finder is useful for quick-and-easy calculations and “what-if” scenarios. Below are the main ways that people use Target Finder.

For new construction

Set your goal during the pre-design phase

Starting a new project? Before you even hit the drawing board, use Target Finder to see the energy use associated with a given target performance level.

Evaluate your design as you go

Have a design? Use Target Finder to see how your design stacks up to similar real buildings nationwide. If you enter your estimated energy consumption along with details of the planned building activities, you’ll get a 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score (for eligible property types), national median comparison, and greenhouse gas profile for your design. Any time you change your design or refine the expected building activities, come back to see how you’re doing.

For existing buildings

Estimate the impact of upgrades or improvements

Thinking about making upgrades to your property? Enter basic information into Target Finder to see what its 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score might be.

Assess a property before you buy

Looking to purchase a building? Once you find a building you like, enter basic information into Target Finder to estimate its 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score.

What-if scenarios

Wondering how much energy you need to use to earn a certain ENERGY STAR score? Get this information quickly by entering a minimum amount of data.

How Target Finder works

Like Portfolio Manager, Target Finder accounts for building and operating characteristics, such as operating hours and number of PCs, as well as 30-year weather data for your project site. It then compares this data to the actual energy consumption of real buildings, as collected by nationally representative surveys, such as DOE’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). The data from these surveys are built into Target Finder, meaning that, with a couple mouse clicks, you can assess your designs against the best-available data sample in the nation, plus have it normalized for size, operating characteristics, and weather.