Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Ability to Share Forward

Adult Education

Adult Education refers to buildings used primarily for providing adult students with continuing education, workforce development, or professional development outside of the college or university setting.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to classrooms, administrative space, conference rooms, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, cafeterias, auditoriums, restrooms, stairways, atriums, elevator shafts, and storage areas.

Aggregate Meter – Number of Individual Meters Included

If you have an aggregate meter, you have the option to enter identifying information about each individual meter that rolls up into it (Custom ID Name, Custom ID, Service Address, Active/Inactive, and Date Meter Became Active). This metric is the count of the active meters that have been entered as part of your aggregate meter for the Metric Year. If you have multiple aggregate meters of the same fuel type, this number will be the sum of all of the individual meters for all of the aggregate meters for that fuel type. You cannot get the detailed information about each individual meter from Portfolio Manager Reporting, but you can download this information from the Custom Download screen.

Metrics are available for each of the following five fuel types:
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-Electric– Number of Individual Meters Included
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-Natural Gas– Number of Individual Meters Included
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-District Steam– Number of Individual Meters Included
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-District Hot Water– Number of Individual Meters Included
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-District Chilled Water– Number of Individual Meters Included

Aggregate Meters

Aggregate meter metrics are either Yes or No.
  • Yes - means the property has one or more meters that have been marked as "Aggregate" meters (for that fuel type) and they were active during the Metric Year. An aggregate meter is a single meter that contains the cumulative total of multiple tenant meters. For example, an apartment building may have 100 electricity meters (one for each tenant), but instead of entering 100 individual meters into Portfolio Manager, you may enter one aggregate electricity meter that combines all of the electricity for the tenants into one meter. Once a meter has been marked as an “Aggregate,” you have the option to enter some details about each of the individual meters that roll up into it, so that the property owner can review the accuracy and completeness of the consumption data in the meter.
  • No - This property does not have any Aggregate meters (for this fuel type).
Metrics are available for each of the following five fuel types:
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-Electric
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-Natural Gas
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-District Steam
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-District Hot Water
  • Aggregate Meter(s)-District Chilled Water
Also see: Aggregate Meter – Number of Individual Meters Included.

Alert Metrics

You can use the following Alerts to spot check your properties for the most common errors that cause metrics to show as "N/A."

These alert metrics are at the property level:
  • Gross Floor Area is 0 ft2 – Your property Gross Floor Area must be larger than 0 ft2.
  • Property has no uses – Each property must have at least one Property Use (ex: Office, Retail, K-12 School). A property use is automatically created when you first create a property. You can also create one on the Details tab.
  • Data Center Issue (with Estimates, IT Configuration, or IT Meter) - If you have a Data Center, then you need to either be using Data Center Energy Estimates or have an IT Meter. This alert will flag any properties without the required data/meters. See this FAQ for more details.
These alert metrics are available for Energy, Water, and Waste:
  • No meters are associated with this property – This means you haven't told Portfolio Manager which meters to use towards your metrics. You can associate meters from the Energy (Water/Waste) tab, click "Change Meter Selections.”
  • Meter has less than 12 full calendar months of data – 12 full months of calendar data is required for all metrics. A “full month” includes the first and last days of that month. If your bills run from mid-month to mid-month, you will need 13 bills to equal "12 full calendar months."
  • Meter has overlaps – An overlap is where the same date is covered by multiple bills.
  • Meter has gaps - A gap is where a date(s) is NOT covered by one of your bills.
Individual monthly meter entry is more than 65 days long (only available for energy meters) - If any of your individual monthly meter entries is over 65 days, then you will not be able to get Weather Normalized Metrics.

Ambulatory Surgical Center

Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC) refers to health care facilities that provide same-day surgical care, including diagnostic and preventive procedures. This property type is for stand-alone ASCs that are not located within a Medical Office building.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to offices, operating and recovery rooms, waiting rooms, employee break rooms and kitchens, restrooms, elevator shafts, stairways, mechanical rooms, and storage areas.

Amount of Laundry Processed Onsite Annually

The Amount of Laundry Processed Onsite Annually is the total quantity of laundry that is processed every year. The quantity is expressed as a weight (e.g., kg) and should be a combined weight reflecting both linen and terry, if appropriate. You should include all laundry processed, including laundry processed on behalf of other businesses (e.g., a hotel serving as a district laundry processing center).

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Application Primary Contact

Approximate Pool Size

Approximate Pool Size is the size of either indoor or outdoor heated swimming pools. Many pools have unique/nonstandard shapes. You should select the size that is closest to your pool’s size.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Aquarium

Aquarium refers to buildings used to provide aquatic habitat primarily to live animals and which may include public or private viewing areas and educational programs.

Gross Floor area should include public and restricted areas such as visitor walkways, tank space, retail areas, restaurants, restrooms, laboratories, classrooms, administrative/office space, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells. Areas not in enclosed buildings, such as outdoor habitats, open-air theaters, walkways, and landscaped areas should not be included in the Gross Floor Area.

Area of All Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezer Units

The Area of Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezer Units is the total area of walk-in units at the property. Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezers are large enough for a person to actually walk into. They may or may not have a door, plastic strips, or other flexible covers.

Average Effluent Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5)

Average Effluent Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5) is the BOD5 concentration of wastewater after it is treated and is leaving a Wastewater Treatment Plant. The concentration should be an average concentration, estimated over a 12-month period. BOD is the measure of the amount of oxygen required by bacteria for stabilizing material that can be decomposed under aerobic conditions. BOD5 is a commonly used determinant of the organic strength of a waste, recording the oxygen demand over a five-day period. BOD5 should be reported in mg/l.

BOD5 is not the same as CBOD5 (carbonaceous biological oxygen demand). To receive an ENERGY STAR score, you must report BOD5, not CBOD5, for your wastewater treatment plant.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Average Influent Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5)

Average Influent Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5) is the BOD5 concentration of wastewater when it is entering a Wastewater Treatment Plant to be treated. The concentration should be an average concentration, estimated over a 12-month period. BOD is the measure of the amount of oxygen required by bacteria for stabilizing material that can be decomposed under aerobic conditions. BOD5 is a commonly used determinant of the organic strength of a waste, recording the oxygen demand over a five day period. BOD5 should be reported in mg/l.

BOD5 is not the same as CBOD5 (the carbonaceous biological oxygen demand). To receive an ENERGY STAR score, you must report BOD5, not CBOD5, for your wastewater treatment plant.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Average Influent Flow

Average Influent Flow is the total average daily flow of water through a Water Treatment and Distribution Plant or Wastewater Treatment Plant. Specifically:
  • Water Treatment and Distribution Plants - This daily flow rate includes all sources of water through the plant, including ground water, surface water, and purchased water. This value is provided via a Plant Flow Rate Meter, through which you can update flow rates regularly (quarterly, monthly, daily, etc.).
  • Wastewater Treatment Plant - This value is the average daily flow of wastewater into the plant. It is provided via a Plant Flow Rate Meter, through which you can update flow rates regularly (quarterly, monthly, daily, etc.).

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Average Number of Residents

The Average Number of Residents is the average number of residents that occupied the property for the previous 12 months. Residents should only include those who live at the property, and should not include any employees or any visitors.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Average Number of Vehicles in Inventory

The average number of vehicles in inventory, not including vehicles housed at off-site locations.

Inventory should include all light, medium, and heavy-duty cars and trucks that are either new or used. Agricultural and construction equipment, snowmobiles, motorcycles, ATVs, and watercraft should not be included in the vehicle inventory.

Average Occupancy

Avoided Emissions

Avoided Emissions are the emissions benefits associated with green power use. Avoided emissions may be either onsite or offsite.
  • Onsite Avoided Emissions are the emissions benefits of your onsite renewable system (when you’ve retained the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)) due to the reduction in grid-supplied electricity. It is calculated as the amount of Onsite Green Power you consume multiplied by the non-baseload (marginal) emissions factor of your eGRID subregion.
  • Offsite Avoided Emissions occur when you purchase green power (which come with RECs) from your utility or an independent supplier. Offsite Avoided Emissions also occur in the case of REC arbitrage, a transaction where you sell the RECs associated with your own onsite system and purchase other substitute RECs. In this case, the avoided emissions associated with your green power originate from offsite sources, not your onsite system.

Award Recipient

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B

Bank Branch

Bank Branch refers to a commercial banking outlet that offers banking services to walk-in customers.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including banking areas, vaults, lobbies, atriums, kitchens used by staff, restrooms, conference rooms, storage areas, stairways, and elevator shafts. Drive-thru windows should be included in the open parking lot, not partially enclosed parking.

Bar/Nightclub

Bar/Nightclub refers to buildings used primarily for social/entertainment purposes, and is characterized by most of the revenue being generated from the sale of beverages instead of food.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to standing/seating areas, stage/dressing room areas, food/drink preparation or kitchen areas, retail areas, restrooms, administrative/office space, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Properties whose primary business revenues are generated from the sale of food should be entered using one of the Restaurant property uses, even if there is a bar.

Barracks

Barracks refers to residential buildings associated with military facilities or educational institutions which offer multiple accommodations for long-term residents.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to bedrooms, restrooms, common areas, food service facilities, laundry facilities, meeting spaces, exercise rooms, health club/spas, lobbies, elevator shafts, storage areas, and stairways.

Basic Property Information

Basic Property Information includes the property name, address, gross floor area, Property IDs, and federal data (if applicable).

Biomass Emissions

See GHG Emissions.

Bowling Alley

Bowling alley refers to buildings used for public or private, recreational or professional bowling.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to bowling lanes, concession areas, party rooms, retail areas, administrative/office space, employee break rooms, restrooms, storage areas, and mechanical rooms.
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C

Campus

A campus is a collection of two or more co-located buildings that function as a single property with a single shared primary function, meaning they collectively serve a common purpose. They are generally owned and operated by the same party.

To be eligible for ENERGY STAR Certification, certain property types must apply for certification as a campus:
  • In the US there are five property types that earn ENERGY STAR certification as a campus: K-12 School, Multifamily Housing, Hospital, Hotel, and Senior Living Community.
  • In Canada, there are seven property types that earn ENERGY STAR certification as a campus: K-12 School, Hospital, Senior Living Community, Ice/Curling Rink, Self-Storage, Hotel, and Multifamily Housing.
While the above properties must apply for certification as a campus, you might also want to benchmark individual "child" buildings if you have complete building energy data for them.

For other property types that exist as a campus (such as an office park made up of multiple office buildings, or a lot containing several warehouses), each individual building must be benchmarked and certified individually. This may require sub-metering if multiple buildings share an energy meter.

This FAQ provides some examples about what constitutes a campus.

Here's a link to all Campus FAQs.

Canadian Regional Median Total (Location-Based) GHG Emissions

The Canadian Regional Median Total (Location-Based) GHG Emissions is only available in parts of Canada (not in the north provinces) and provides a comparison point for your building’s GHG emissions. It represents the typical amount of GHG emissions (per area) for your property type and province. It does not normalize for weather or by property use details. It is directly calculated by multiplying the national median energy use intensity by property type, the regional fuel mix (based on the SCIEU survey or alternate surveys) and the Provincial GHG Factors (based on Environment and Climate Change Canada’s most recent National Inventory Report).

Casino

Casino refers to buildings primarily used to conduct gambling activities including both electronic and live table games.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to the main casino floor/gaming area, restaurants/bars, retail areas, administrative/office space, restrooms, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

If your Casino is located in the same building as a hotel, we recommend that you enter a separate hotel property use.

Ceiling Height

The maximum vertical distance measured from floor to ceiling.

Change in EUI For Energy Projects

Change in EUI for an Energy Project compares the EUI value before and after an energy upgrade (or series of upgrades). You can select the pre- and post- periods you would like to compare. As a default Portfolio Manager will set these periods according to your date of completion. For example, if you have a project with a completion date of March 15, 2011, then your change will compare the EUI for the 12 months before the implementation date of your project (March 2010 to February 2011) to the 12 months after your project (April 2011 to March 2012). Please note that other energy projects and/or changes in operation may have occurred during this time. We do not attempt to estimate the effect of a single energy project controlling for all other changes.

Child Property

Clear Height

The distance measured from the floor to the lowest overhead obstruction for the majority of the warehouse space. This is the height in which goods, products, or materials can be vertically stacked. If the warehouse consists of areas with varying clear heights, use the average of the clear heights.

College/University


College/University refers to buildings used for the purpose of higher education. This includes public and private colleges and universities.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to: classrooms, laboratories, offices, cafeterias, libraries, maintenance facilities, arts facilities, athletic facilities, residential areas, storage rooms, restrooms, elevator shafts, and stairways.

Common Entrance

A common entrance is a door that leads from the exterior of the building to interior common hallways that allows access to all the individual residential units. Typically, the mailboxes and buzzers are located at the common entrance. Buildings can still have individual exterior doors to units as long as there is a common entrance.

Completely Enclosed Parking Garage

Completely Enclosed Parking Garage is the total area of a parking structure that is completely enclosed on all four sides and has a roof. This includes an underground parking structure or a fully enclosed structure on the first few stories of a building. Completely Enclosed Parking Garages have lights on and ventilation 24 hours/day, therefore individual private garages in Multifamily Housing are not considered “Parking.”

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Composted

Composed refers to organic waste materials (most commonly food scraps and yard debris) that are decomposed and ultimately, transformed into soil-like fertilizer. Both onsite composting and offsite composting (where someone picks up your compost and takes it to a commercial composting site) are counted.

Computer Lab

Computer Lab is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – Indicates that there is a Computer Lab, which refers to a room or set of rooms specifically designed and equipped with at least 10 computers and associated peripherals, such as printers, for the use of the occupants. Typically, such spaces are separated by walls and doors and have their own temperature and humidity control.
  • No – Indicates that the property does not contain a Computer Lab.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Congratulations Letter

If your application for an ENERGY STAR certification is approved, a Congratulations Letter will be sent to the contact selected during the application process. Included in the letter is information regarding receipt of ENERGY STAR certification.

Connected Contacts

Your “Connected” contacts are those that you’ve made a connection with through Portfolio Manager (similar to “Facebook friends”). Connections are necessary to share your properties with others (either individuals or organizations); you need to be “connected” with them. To make a connection, go to the “Add Contact“ or “Add Organization” page and search for them within Portfolio Manager (they need to have a Portfolio Manager account). Once you find them, send a “Connection” request. After they accept your connection request, they will show up on your list of connected contacts.

Connection Status

  • Connected - A contact that has a Portfolio Manager account that your account is linked to. You can share properties between your accounts.
  • Not connected - A contact that was created directly in your account and is not linked to another Portfolio Manager account. These contacts can be used in forms and applications, but not for property sharing. If you would like to search for this contact to see if they have an account, click the “Add Contacts/Connections” button.
  • Web Services Connection - A contact with a web services account you have linked to and can share properties with for the purposes of setting up web services.
  • Connection pending - A contact who you have requested to link your account to but has not accepted yet.

Construction Status

Construction Status indicates whether your property is:
  • a design project
  • an existing operational property
  • a test property (one you are using for training or testing new features in Portfolio Manager)
You initially select your construction status when you create a property. You can change the construction status on the Details tab, under Basic Information.

Contacts for Designs /Statement of Design Intent (SEDI)

The application for Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR includes several important contacts:
  • Owner Contact is the person who represents the property owner. We will correspond with this person if there are any issues with the application. In most cases, this is the person who submits the application online.
  • Architect of Record is the organization who designed the property.
  • Project Architect is the person who was the main point of contact from the architect firm.
  • Verifying Professional – If you are not using the SEDI for Designed to Earn, then you can use someone other than a Project Architect to sign off on the validity of the information.

Contacts for ENERGY STAR Certification

The application for ENERGY STAR Certification includes several important contacts:
  • Application Primary Contact is the person we will correspond with if there are any issues with the application. In most cases, this is the person who submits the application online.
  • Award Recipient is the person to whom your ENERGY STAR congratulations letter and ENERGY STAR decal will be mailed.
  • Signatory is the person in the organization, who will sign the final ENERGY STAR application in hard copy, along with the Licensed Professional. This person must be in your Contacts Book, but does not necessarily have to have a Portfolio Manager account.
  • Property Manager is an outside organization that you have hired to manage your facility operations. If your property is managed internally by the property owner, this field will not be applicable.

Contacts for ENERGY STAR Reports

The various ENERGY STAR Reports include several important contacts:
  • Primary Contact is the main point of contact for the property. This is the person who people would contact with questions about the property.
  • Property Owner is the organization that owns the property/building.
  • Licensed Professional is the person who validates the property information that appears on the report. For ENERGY STAR certification, a Licensed Professional (a Professional Engineer (PE/P.Eng) or a Registered Architect) is required. For more information, see the glossary term for Licensed Professional.

Convenience Store with Gas Station

Convenience Store with Gas Station refers to buildings that are co-located with gas stations and are used for the sale of a limited range of items such as groceries, toiletries, newspapers, soft drinks, tobacco products, and other everyday items. Convenience Store with Gas Station may include space for vehicle servicing and repair.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to sales floors, restrooms, offices, staff break rooms, storage areas, and vehicle repair areas. Energy use associated with outside areas such as vehicle parking and gas filling areas should be included with the total energy use for the building(s), but the square footage associated with these outdoor areas should not be included in the Gross Floor Area.

Convenience Store without Gas Station

Convenience Store without Gas Station refers to buildings used for the sale of a limited range of items such as groceries, toiletries, newspapers, soft drinks, tobacco products, and other everyday items, which are not co-located with a gas station.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to sales floors, restrooms, offices, staff break rooms, and storage areas.

Convention Center

Convention center refers to buildings used primarily for large conferences, exhibitions, and similar events. Convention centers may include a diverse variety of spaces, including large exhibition halls, meeting rooms, and concession stands.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to exhibit halls, preparation and staging areas, meeting rooms, concession stands, offices, break rooms, restrooms, security areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells. Loading dock areas located outside the walls of the building should not be included in the gross square footage.

Conference facilities located within a Hotel should be included along with your Hotel property use details, rather than added as a separate Convention Center property use. Conference facilities primarily serving smaller meetings should be entered as Social/Meeting Hall.

Cooking Facilities

Cooking Facilities is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – There is a commercial cooking area designed to provide and serve food to occupants and/or visitors. This may include restaurants and cafeterias.
  • No – There is not a commercial cooking area.
If your facility contains only employee break room kitchens, this field should be marked No.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Cooling Equipment Redundancy

Cooling Equipment Redundancy describes the redundant capacity of the cooling equipment in a Data Center. Redundant cooling equipment is typically required in a Data Center to have backup cooling in case of a cooling equipment failure (not a power outage). The specific level of redundancy will depend on your particular Data Center. Cooling Equipment Redundancy is not required, nor is it factored into any metrics

If there are multiple systems operating at different levels of redundancy, choose the option that applies to the majority of the data center cooling load.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Courthouse

Courthouse refers to buildings used for federal, state, or local courts, and associated administrative office space.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to temporary holding cells, chambers, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, atriums, conference rooms and auditoriums, fitness areas for staff, restrooms, storage areas, stairways, and elevator shafts.

Currency Type

Portfolio Manager does not currently assign a Currency Type. You should enter the same Currency Type for all of your properties to allow for comparison. As a future enhancement, Portfolio Manager may add a field to specify a Currency Type of either Canadian Dollars or US Dollars, on a property-by-property basis for all of its all financial indicators (e.g. energy cost, water cost, investment in upgrades, etc). Portfolio Manager does not convert between currencies.

Current as of

“Current as of” is a date that is pre-populated with January 1st of the year that the building was built. You can edit the date if your “property use details” change. For example, if you change your weekly operating hours on June 1st of the same year your building was built, you would change "Current as of" to 6/1/xxxx.

Custom Access

Custom Access allows you to select more granular permissions for each group of information (Property, Meters, Goals, and Recognition). If you are sharing a property with multiple meters, you can even select different permissions for each meter. By default, all selections are set to "Read Only." After you select permissions, you also decide whether you want to give "Share Forward" rights, meaning the ability to share the property with others.

The permissions that you can select are:
  • None suppresses access to that specific tab (Meters or Goals) or that specific information (Certification). However, all metrics for the property are still accessible via Reporting.
  • Read Only provides the ability to view all data, but not edit any data
  • Full Access provides the ability to add and/or edit any of this data. For example, if you want someone to add meter bills to your property, you would select “Full Access” for that meter.
Also see Permissions.

Custom ID

Custom Intensity Metrics

Custom Intensity Metrics are metrics you can create by choosing a numerator and a denominator from existing Portfolio Manager metrics:

[Choose any Energy/Water/GHG metric] per [Choose an existing or custom Property Use].

Some examples are:
  • [Site Energy] per [Student]
  • [Water Use] per [Hotel Room Sold]
  • [Total (Location-Based) GHG Emissions] per [Widgets Manufactured]
  • [Weather Normalized Source Energy] per [Worker on Main Shift]
  • [Direct GHG Emissions] per [Hospital Bed]
Initially, you'll be able to create these metrics for individual properties on the Summary tab. In the future, we expect to roll out functionality to allow you to set Custom Intensity Metrics for your entire portfolio (including buildings shared at full access with you). You will be able to create three Custom Intensity metrics. There will be nine new metrics available in Reporting:
  • Custom Intensity Metric 1 - Name
  • Custom Intensity Metric 1 - Value
  • Custom Intensity Metric 1 - Units
  • Custom Intensity Metric 2 - Name
  • Custom Intensity Metric 2 - Value
  • Custom Intensity Metric 2 - Units
  • Custom Intensity Metric 3 - Name
  • Custom Intensity Metric 3 - Value
  • Custom Intensity Metric 3 - Units

Custom Property Use Details

Custom Property Use Details are metrics for you to track anything that is important to you that isn’t already in Portfolio Manager. For example, schools might want to track “Number of Students”, hotels might want to track “Rooms Sold,” a manufacturing plant might want to track “Number of Widgets Manufactured.” Initially, you will be able to set these metrics individually at the property level on the Details tab. In the future, we expect to roll out functionality to allow you to set the Custom Use Details for your entire portfolio (including buildings shared at full access with you). You will be able to add two Custom Property Use Details for each property. Six new metrics will be available in Reporting:
  • Custom Use Detail 1 - Name
  • Custom Use Detail 1 - Value
  • Custom Use Detail 1 - Units
  • Custom Use Detail 2 - Name
  • Custom Use Detail 2 - Value
  • Custom Use Detail 2 - Units
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D

Data Center

Data Center refers to buildings specifically designed and equipped to meet the needs of high density computing equipment, such as server racks, used for data storage and processing. Typically these facilities require dedicated uninterruptible power supplies and cooling systems. Data center functions may include traditional enterprise services, on-demand enterprise services, high performance computing, internet facilities, and/or hosting facilities.

Often Data Centers are free standing, mission critical computing centers. When a data center is located within a larger building, it will usually have its own power and cooling systems, and require a constant power load of 75 kW or more. Data Center is intended for sophisticated computing and server functions; it should not be used to represent a server closet or computer training area.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to raised floor computing space, server rack aisles, storage silos, control console areas, battery rooms, mechanical rooms for cooling equipment, administrative office areas, elevator shafts, stairways, break rooms and restrooms. When a data center is located within a larger building, include only the spaces that are uniquely associated with the data center in the gross floor area. For example, do not include spaces shared by the data center and other tenants, such as break rooms or hallways.

Data Center - Apply Energy Estimates

Apply Data Center Energy Estimates is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes - Estimates for energy consumption will be applied for this data center. Estimates are applied to all data centers in Canada.
  • No - IT Energy is metered and entered in Portfolio Manager, and will be used to determine an ENERGY STAR score for this property.

Data Center IT Energy

IT Energy is the amount of energy required by the server racks, storage silos, and other IT equipment in the Data Center. IT Energy is a measure of energy (i.e. kWh), it should not be reported as an instantaneous reading of electric demand.

IT Energy may be measured at any of 4 locations:
  • Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Output (required for a score, in most cases)
  • Power Distribution Unit (PDU) Input
  • PDU Output
  • Server/Equipment Input
IT Energy meters permit readings for a user-determined time period (e.g. weekly, monthly, or quarterly). Monthly measurements are recommended, on schedule with utility readings, if possible.

In order to receive an ENERGY STAR score, the IT energy must be measured at the UPS Output. However, you may track IT energy at the other measurement locations for your own purposes. A measurement of IT Energy from the UPS Output is consistent with a Category 1 measurement of data center Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), as recommended by EPA and other leading organizations. In the following circumstances only, EPA will permit alternate measurement approaches based on the IT configuration:
  • Data Centers that do not have a UPS are permitted to supply readings from the input to the PDU.
  • Data Centers for which more than 10% of the UPS load is directed to non-IT (e.g. mechanical) equipment are required to provide a reading that excludes the non-IT equipment. Two options are permitted:
    • If energy used by non-IT equipment is measured, then you can subtract the non-IT energy from the total UPS energy, and enter the remainder into your UPS Output Meter.
    • If energy used by non-IT equipment is not measured, then you can supply a reading from the input to the PDU that supports the IT equipment.

Data Center IT Energy Configuration

Data Center IT Energy Configuration describes how your IT load is powered and therefore will determine where you must measure IT Energy to earn an ENERGY STAR score for a Data Center. The preferred location of this measurement is at the output of the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) meter. The glossary term for Data Center IT Energy lists other meter locations which are permitted under certain conditions when UPS readings are not available.

Data Center PUE

Data Center Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is a measure of Data Center infrastructure efficiency, representing the amount of energy that is needed per unit delivered to IT equipment. It is computed as the total annual source energy divided by the annual IT source energy. A typical PUE value is about 2.0, which indicates that for every kWh that is delivered to IT equipment, an additional kWh is required for cooling, power supply, and infrastructure. PUE is the basis of the ENERGY STAR performance scale for Data Centers. PUE is only available for Stand-alone Data Centers (where the only Property Type is Data Center).

Data Quality Checker

The Data Quality Checker runs a set of basic data checks on a property to help identify possible data entry errors and to see whether the building differs from typical operational patterns. It will show you both warnings (marked by a yellow triangle icon) and errors (marked with a red stop sign icon). There are two Data Quality metrics:
  • Data Quality Checker Run?
  • Data Quality Checker - Date Run
These metrics are tied to the selected 12 months of the report. For example, if you run a report for the calendar year 2021 – the Data Quality metric will only tell you if the Data Quality checker was run for the calendar year of 2021.

Date Meter became Active - Date Meter became Inactive

The Date Meter became Active and Date Meter became Inactive correspond to the life of a meter.
  • The Date Meter became Active is the date (XX/XX/XXXX) of the very first bill for this meter (when the meter was installed or the date you want to start tracking your bills).
  • The Date Meter became Inactive is the date (XX/XX/XXXX) of the very last bill for this meter (when the meter is taken offline or became inactive).

Default Data Flag

Default Data Flag is a Yes/No flag that indicates whether default values have been applied to any of the Property Use Details (such as Hours, Workers, or Computers).
  • Yes - One or more default value was used in the Property Use Details.
  • No – There are no default values for any Property Use Details.
Default values are available for property types that can get a score (in either the US or Canada) and for Property Use Details that are used in the calculation of the score. The default values are derived from the sample population that was used to create each score.

This was designed to help you get a quick score, when you don’t know the exact values for your Property Use Details. However, you should always go back and enter the actual values for your property to obtain the most accurate score. Note, there is never a default for Gross Floor Area (GFA), because GFA is needed to understand your basic property function and populate other default values.

Although the US and Canada rely on different national surveys, the same default values (based on the US population) are applied for all properties, regardless of country.

You can view this metric for all properties in a report, or for each individual Property Use Type on the Details tab.

Degree Days

Degree days measure the amount of heating or cooling necessary at your property. Degree days are measured relative to a base of 65°F(18°C). Above 65°F(18°C) it is assumed that your property will need to have cooling and below 65°F(18°C) it is assumed that your property will need to have heating.
  • Heating Degree Days (HDD) - HDD is the equivalent number of days you would have to heat your building by 1 degree to accommodate the heating requirement. For example, if you have a day on which the temperature is 55°F degrees, that day is worth 10 Heating Degree Days because it is 10 degrees below 65°F. HDD is calculated in this way for each day of the year and summed up to get the total annual HDD.
  • Cooling Degree Days (CDD) - CDD is the equivalent number of days you would have to cool your building by 1 degree to accommodate the cooling requirement. For example, if you have a day on which the temperature is 80°F degrees, that day is worth 15 Cooling Degree Days because it is 15 degrees above 65°F. CDD is calculated in this way for each day of the year and summed up to get the total annual CDD.

Delivery Facility

Delivery Facility is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – This facility delivers mail products directly from the building to offsite customers at their residence or place of business.
  • No – This facility does not deliver mail products.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR

Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR (DEES) recognition is awarded for design projects that meet property type requirements, achieves a 75 or higher ENERGY STAR 1-100 score and account for total annual estimated energy use.

Design Site Energy

See Site Energy.

Design Source Energy

See Source Energy.

Design Target

See Target Values.

Dining Hall

Dining Hall is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – There is a Dining Hall, which refers to special space and equipment in a residential facility that is dedicated to food preparation and service for the residents. This may include bakeries, lunch counters, restaurants, or other commercial food service activities. This does not include student or occupant lounges or galleys that have food-preparation equipment and/or vending machines.
  • No – The property does not contain a Dining Hall.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Direct GHG Emissions

See GHG Emissions.

Disposed Waste

Disposed waste refers to your waste that was not composted, recycled, or donated. This waste generally goes to a landfill or an incinerator. (See Waste Disposal Method.)

Disposed Waste Destination

The Disposed Waste Destination is one of 4 options where your disposed waste (trash) ultimately goes:
  • Landfill
  • Incineration
  • Waste to energy
  • Other/Unknown (if you aren’t sure where your trash goes after its picked up)

Distribution Center

Distribution Center refers to unrefrigerated buildings that are used for the temporary storage and redistribution of goods, manufactured products, merchandise or raw materials. Buildings that are used primarily for assembling, modifying, manufacturing, or growing goods, products, merchandise or raw material should be classified as Manufacturing Facility.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to space designed to store non-perishable goods and merchandise, offices, lobbies, stairways, restrooms, equipment storage areas, and elevator shafts. This should not include exterior/outdoor loading bays or docks.

Donated/Reused

Donated/Reused refers to materials that were sold or given to someone else who can still use them. For example, a company may replace their computers every few years and donate the old computers to a school.

Drinking Water Treatment & Distribution

Drinking Water Treatment and Distribution refers to facilities designed to pump and distribute drinking water through a network of pipes. Depending on the water source (ground water, surface water, purchased water), a water utility may or may not contain a treatment process. This property use applies to any/all water sources and any/all levels of treatment.

Gross Floor Area should include all areas within the physical structures at the plant, including but not limited to treatment areas, administrative offices, break rooms, restrooms, stairways, hallways and mechanical rooms. The Gross Floor Area should not include any exterior portions of the facility, such as retention or settling ponds.

Although not typically used for normalization at plants, Gross Floor Area is a required system input for all properties.
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E

Editing and Updating

In the action menu for each property, you will find two ways to change your data:
  • Correct Mistakes – If you find a mistake or want to finalize an estimated number, this selection takes you to the History Log. Making an edit in the History Log will correct the value, but there will not be a record of this change saved in Portfolio Manager.
  • Update With New Information – If a change has occurred on your property (for example, your weekly operating hours changed from 40 hours per week to 60 hours per week) you will want to use the Update Use Details page, where you can enter the effective date for this change. Your energy use intensity can be affected by these changes. Portfolio Manager saves a record of all “updates” in the History Log.

Electric Demand

Electric Demand is the rate of using electricity. For most commercial buildings, demand is measured in kilowatts (kW). Demand tracking is optional and does not affect any of your energy metrics.

Utilities measure the highest rate of using electricity each billing cycle in order to adequately size the generation, transmission and distribution capacity required to provide energy to each customer. The utility then recoups these costs by billing you based on your highest measured demand, and when that demand occurs relative to when the utility experiences peak demand on their system.

In Portfolio Manager, there are 2 inputs for Demand for Electric Grid Meters:
  • Electric Demand (kW) is the highest measured rate of your electricity use for each bill. You should be able to find this rate, measured by kW, on your electric bill. It’s not always called “Electric Demand” though, it could be called: Peak Demand, On-Peak Demand, Load, etc.
  • Electric Demand Cost ($) is the cost that you are charged for electric demand on each bill. Your bill may have a single value for demand cost, or you may have to add individual demand costs and tariffs explicitly related to electric demand. Demand costs should be a subset of your total electricity cost.
There are four Demand metrics that you can add to Custom Reports:
  • Annual Maximum Demand (kW) is the highest demand value across all your electric meters and all meter entries covered in the 12-month performance period. It is equal to the highest month’s value measured by one of your meters. It is not a cumulative number. If you have multiple electric meters tracking demand, only one meter’s monthly value will be equal to the Annual Maximum Demand.
  • Annual Maximum Demand (MM/YYYY) is the month and year within the 12-month period that had the highest demand.
  • Annual Maximum Demand (Meter Name (Meter ID)) is the name of the meter that had the highest measured demand, and its Meter ID that was assigned by Portfolio Manager when the meter was created. This is only important if you have multiple electric meters tracking demand because you can only get one Annual Maximum Demand per property.
  • Annual Demand Cost ($) is the sum of all demand costs across all months and all meters in the 12-month performance period. Unlike the other demand metrics, cost is a cumulative number. Demand costs are a subset of total electricity costs.

Electric Distribution Utility (EDU)

See Electric Emissions Rate.

Electricity Use - Monthly

“Electricity Use-Monthly” is a reporting metric that returns 12 values, one for each month in the specified year, of electricity use summed across all electricity meters. The values are “calendarized” as they are on the chart on the Energy Tab. This metric allows you to retrieve calendarized monthly electricity metrics for multiple properties at once. Select this metric in Reporting, from the “Select Information and Metrics” modal, on the “Energy Use by Fuel Source” tab. The data will appear on a separate tab in your final report.

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Many commercial buildings have Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations, and many of them are not separately metered. Since the purpose of Portfolio Manager is to access the energy efficiency of the building, we want to exclude the energy used to charge electric vehicles when benchmarking the building. If your EV chargers are not separately metered, you can apply an energy estimate for your EV charging equipment which will be subtracted from your total energy use (similar to how parking is handled).

The following information is used to estimate a building’s EV charger energy:
  • The number of Level One EV Charging Stations. Level one chargers are smaller charging units that usually come with the vehicle itself, and plug into a standard 120VAC outlet. Outlets that are specifically dedicated to EV charging may count as a Level One EV charger.
  • The number of Level Two EV Charging Stations. Level two chargers are higher voltage chargers that must be purchased separately from the vehicle, which must be plugged into a 240VAC outlet. Most public charging stations are level two. If one charging station has multiple plugs that can charge multiple cars simultaneously, then count it as multiple stations.
  • The number of DC Fast EV Charging Stations. Level three chargers are the highest voltage chargers available, and not typically found in most locations given the demand of electrical infrastructure. These offer the quickest way to charge an electric vehicle, and as opposed to level one and level two chargers which utilize AC (alternating current), DC Fast charging uses DC (direct current). If one charging station has multiple plugs that can charge multiple cars simultaneously, then count it as multiple stations.

Emissions Factor

The GHG Emissions of a property are calculated by multiplying Site Energy by the emissions factor for each fuel type.

For electricity, GHG emissions factors are based on the region of the country where the property is located (using EPA’s Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID)). These factors are based on measured power plant data from utility owners and operators.

For all other fuels, a national emissions factor is used.

Notes:
  • Emission factors from 2000- present are available in Excel
  • Full documentation on how emissions are calculated is in our Technical Reference on Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
  • There are no emission rates associated with "Other" meters. If you have an "Other" fuel type meter, you will not get any GHG metrics.
  • Properties outside of the US and Canada will use US emissions rates. For electricity, they will use the National Average.
  • Properties in Canada have regional emission rates for both electricity and natural gas based on the province.

Enclosed Floor Area

Enclosed Floor Area is the area within a Stadium or Arena that is covered/fully enclosed and can be conditioned. This is a subset of the Gross Floor Area that reflects only areas that are fully enclosed, which may include offices, storage areas, restaurants, and maintenance rooms.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Enclosed Mall

Enclosed Mall refers to buildings that house multiple stores, often “anchored” by one or more department stores, and with interior walkways. Most stores will not have entrances accessible from outside, with the exception of the “anchor” stores.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to retail stores, offices, food courts, restaurants, restrooms, storage areas, staff break rooms, atriums, walkways, stairwells, and mechanical rooms.

Energy/Power Station

Energy/Power Station applies to buildings containing machinery and/or associated equipment for generating electricity or district heat (steam, hot water, or chilled water) from a raw fuel, including fossil fuel power plants, traditional district heat power plants, combined heat and power plants, nuclear reactors, hydroelectric dams, or facilities associated with a solar or wind farm.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to power generation areas (boilers, turbines etc), administrative space, cooling towers, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, meeting rooms, restrooms, cafeterias, stairways, elevator shafts, and storage areas (which may include fossil fuel storage tanks or bins). This should not include any exterior spaces associated with the power stations.

Energy Cost

Whatever you enter into “Total Cost” for each energy meter gets rolled up into the Energy Cost metrics for the selected 12-month time period. There are energy cost metrics available for each individual energy type (Grid Electricity, Onsite Solar/Wind Electricity, Natural Gas, Fuel Oil (No. 1), ...) and also as aggregated values for all fuel sources combined (Energy Cost, Energy Cost Intensity, and National Median Energy Cost).

Energy Rate

The Energy Rate is the price of energy per unit. For example, the electricity rate might be 11 cents per kilo-watt hour. Natural gas rate might be $13 per million Btu.

Energy Service Providers

Energy Service Providers are companies that offer energy services and products to help you improve the energy efficiency of your property.

ENERGY STAR Certification

ENERGY STAR Certification is awarded to buildings and manufacturing plants that earn a 75 or higher on ENERGY STAR's 1-100 energy performance scale, indicating that the facility performs better than at least 75% of similar buildings nationwide. The ENERGY STAR performance scale accounts for differences in operating conditions, regional weather and climate data, and other important considerations.

ENERGY STAR Certification - Application Status

The "ENERGY STAR Certification - Application Status" is in two places in Portfolio Manager, each with slightly different information.
  1. In Reporting: there is a metric "ENERGY STAR Certification - Application Status" that returns the the status of the property's current application, if there is one in process. It's not tied to any Period Ending Date because Portfolio Manager doesn't save the value over time. The possible statuses are below. Note - there is not a status for "Approved" or "Not Approved." After an application is Approved (or not approved), the status is reset to "Not Available" because there is no longer an application in process
    • Submitted - Your application has been submitted, but it is not yet under review.
    • Under Review - Your application is under review.
    • Escalated to Expert - Your application has been escalated to a subject matter expert.
    • Questions for Applicant - We emailed you questions about your application. You must respond within 30 days or your application will expire. If you have not received an email from EPA:
    • Revised Application Required - You are required to submit a revised application.
    • Pending Approval - Your application has been reviewed and is ready to be approved, but for administrative reasons, it cannot be approved until the following calendar year. Watch for an approval notice shortly after the new calendar year begins. This can happen for one of two reasons:
      • Your property has already earned certification in the current calendar year. To confirm this, you can check your property’s profile on the Registry of ENERGY STAR Certified Buildings, your Recognition tab in Portfolio Manager, or your award package.
      • Your application was submitted after the deadline to earn certification for the current calendar year (in 2022, that deadline was December 9), and thus is only eligible for certification in the following calendar year.
    • Not Available - Your property does not have any applications currently in process.
  2. On the Recognition tab: each individual application for a property has its own status. The possible statuses include all the statuses above, plus these additional ones:
    • Not Submitted - An application has been started, but it hasn't been submitted. 
    • strong>Approved - Your application has been approved, but your award decal has not yet been shipped to your property.
    • Award Sent - Your award decal has been sent.
    • Expired - Your application has expired because you did not respond to our questions.
    • Not Approved - Your application was not approved.

ENERGY STAR Certification - Eligibility for Any PED

ENERGY STAR Certification - Eligibility indicates whether or not your property is eligible for ENERGY STAR certification for any period.

ENERGY STAR Certification - Eligibility for Report PED

ENERGY STAR Certification - Eligibility indicates whether or not your property is eligible for ENERGY STAR certification. Common reasons for not being eligible include:
  • Your property is not able to earn a 1-100 score
  • You do not have an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher
  • You have already earned ENERGY STAR certification within the last 11 months
  • Your energy data is more than 120 days old
There are two eligibility metrics:
  • ENERGY STAR Certification - Eligibility for Report PED - will determine eligibility only for the Period Ending date specified in the report.
  • ENERGY STAR Certification - Eligibility for all PEDs - will determine eligibility for the property based on all possible PEDs.
Note: In order to be eligible to earn ENERGY STAR certification, your building must be located in the US or Canada.

ENERGY STAR Certification - Last Approval Date

ENERGY STAR Certification - Last Approval Date is the date that we approved your last application. If your property has not earned certification, no value will display here.

Note: In order to be eligible to earn ENERGY STAR certification, your building must be located in the US or Canada.

ENERGY STAR Certification - Next Eligible Date

ENERGY STAR Certification – Date Next Eligible is the date on which you are next eligible to apply for ENERGY STAR Certification. It is 11 months after the ending date of your last approved application (“For Year Ending: XXX”). For example, if your last certification was for the year ending July 31, 2019, your Date Next Eligible is June 30, 2020. If your property has not earned certification, no value will display here.

Note: In order to be eligible to earn ENERGY STAR certification, your building must be located in the US or Canada.

ENERGY STAR Certification - Profile Published

Profile Published is a yes/no designation indicating whether a profile for the ENERGY STAR Registry of Certified Buildings has been published for your property. Please note that if your property has not earned certification, no value will display here.

Note: In order to be eligible to earn ENERGY STAR certification, your building must be located in the US or Canada.

ENERGY STAR Certification - Year(s) Certified

ENERGY STAR Certification - Year(s) Certified is a list of all years for which your property has been certified.

Note: In order to be eligible to earn ENERGY STAR certification, your building must be located in the US or Canada.

ENERGY STAR Certification - Year(s) Certified (Score)

ENERGY STAR Certification - Year(s) Certified (Score) is a list of all years for which your property has been certified and the property score at the time of certification. Note: the score in this metric is the actual score from the application, which may not match the score for that year in Portfolio Manager because the calculations behind the ENERGY STAR scores are updated approximately every five years (including all historical scores) to keep up with the current state of commercial buildings.

ENERGY STAR Data Verification Checklist

The Data Verification Checklist is a version of the application for ENERGY STAR certification, for non-application purposes. It consists of the same sections as the application, including an overview of the overall property, the property use details, and energy consumption. A Verifying Professional can sign and stamp it to verify the validity of the data, if needed.

ENERGY STAR Partner

An ENERGY STAR Partner is a business or organization who signs a partnership agreement with EPA's ENERGY STAR program and makes a fundamental commitment to protect the environment through the continuous improvement of energy performance.

ENERGY STAR Score

The ENERGY STAR Score is a measure of how well your property is performing relative to similar properties, when normalized for climate and operational characteristics.

The ENERGY STAR scores are based on data from national building energy consumption surveys, and this allows Portfolio Manager to control for key variables affecting a building’s energy performance, including climate, hours of operation, and building size. What this means is that buildings from around the country, with different operating parameters and subject to different weather patterns, can be compared side-by-side in order to see how they stack up in terms of energy performance. The specific factors that are included in this normalization (Hours, Workers, Climate, etc) will depend on the property type.

The 1-100 scale is set so that 1 represents the worst performing buildings and 100 represents the best performing buildings. A score of 50 indicates that a building is performing at the national median, taking into account its size, location, and operating parameters. A score of 75 indicates that a property is performing in the 75th percentile and may be eligible to earn ENERGY STAR Certification.

ENERGY STAR Scores are available for many property types.

The 1-100 scale is based on the country in which your property is located. Properties in the US are compared to the national population of properties in the US. Similarly, properties in Canada are compared to the national population of properties in Canada. At this time there are no ENERGY STAR scores specifically developed for other countries. Therefore, properties located in other countries will be compared to the US national population, by default.

ENERGY STAR Score Preview for Model Updates

ENERGY STAR Score Preview for Model Updates is "preview" of what a property's score will be based on EPA's model updates. The purpose is to provide stakeholders a "final draft" of what their new score will be so that you may provide meaningful feedback to EPA, prior to EPA finalizing the score. Note that this preview will only show a score for property types that are currently undergoing a model update. All others will show "N/A". Please refer to this FAQ for more information on current model updates.

Energy Use by Type

Energy Use by Type is a summary of the annual consumption of an individual type of energy (e.g. electricity or natural gas). Annual totals are available for every energy type in Portfolio Manager:
  • Electricity (grid, onsite solar, onsite wind); specific metrics include:
    • Electricity Use - Grid Purchase
    • Electricity Use - Generated from Onsite Renewable System (the total amount of energy produced from your onsite solar/wind)
    • Electricity Use - Generated from Onsite Renewable Systems and Used Onsite
    • Electricity Use - Generated from Onsite Renewable Systems and Exported
    • Electricity Use - Grid Purchase and Generated from Onsite Renewable Systems (the combined total of all the electricity used by the property, including grid purchases and the solar/wind electricity generated and used onsite.)
  • Natural Gas
  • District Steam
  • District Hot Water
  • District Chilled Water (electric driven chiller, absorption chiller using natural gas, engine-drive chiller using natural gas, other)
  • Propane and liquid propane
  • Fuel Oil #1
  • Fuel Oil #2
  • Fuel Oil #4
  • Fuel Oil #5 & #6
  • Diesel
  • Kerosene
  • Wood
  • Coal (bituminous and anthracite)
  • Coke
  • Other

Energy Use Units

You can choose from two different setting for the Units you see throughout Portfolio Manager:
  • Metric Units – This will apply standard metric units to all values. Standard metric units include square meters for area, joules for energy, kilograms and Metric Tons for emissions, and cubic meters for volumes. For example:
    • EUI will be in gigajoules per square meter (GJ/m2)
    • Area will be in square meters (m2)
    • Volume of water will be in cubic meters (m3)
    • Emissions will be in Kilograms (kg) or Metric Tons (t)
  • EPA Units – The standard units applied by EPA for the most part follow the International System of Units (SI). However, for a few key performance metrics related to emissions, EPA recommends metric units for consistency with common business practices and global protocol. EPA units include square feet for area, British Thermal Units (Btu) for energy, kilograms and Metric Tons for emissions, and gallons for volumes. For example:
    • EUI will be in kBtu/ft2
    • Area will be in ft2
    • Volume of water will be in kgal
    • Emissions will be in Kilograms or Metric Tons

You can modify your unit preference in Account Settings at any time.

Enrollment

Enrollment is the total student enrollment for the year (i.e. number of students).

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Estimated Data Flag

When entering bills, you can mark entries as an "Estimation" if you've entered any estimated meter entries (for energy, water, or waste).

In Reporting, under Data Accuracy, you can choose three general metrics for "Estimated Values" (one for energy, water, and waste), and an "Estimated Data Flag" for each specific meter type.
  • Yes - A meter(s) includes estimated usage.
  • No - There are no estimated meter entries.

Estimated Savings from Energy Projects

Estimated Savings from Energy Projects is anticipated savings that you estimate for your energy projects. This is a value you will calculate through either engineered assumptions or energy modeling. This value is entered at the start of a project so you can track actual performance before and after the upgrade. When computed at the property level, this metric will sum the Estimated Savings from Energy Project across all individual projects that you have entered for the property.

Estimated Total Annual Energy Use

A property design does not have any actual energy data, therefore, you need to estimate the property's energy use for metric calculations.

EUI

EUI stands for Energy Use Intensity. It is the energy use per square foot at a property (energy divided by square foot). EUI enables you to compare different sized buildings.

There are many versions of EUI in the metrics:
  • Site EUI .
  • Source EUI
  • Weather Normalized Site EUI
  • Weather Normalized Source EUI
  • Site EUI - Adjusted to Current Year
  • Source EUI - Adjusted to Current Year
  • National Median Site EUI
  • National Median Source EUI
Watch our 3 minute video of EUI.

Exchange Data

Exchange Data allows you to select an organization (which is registered to use web services) to exchange data with your Portfolio Manager account. You will be able to specify specific permissions regarding whether the organization will be able to view or modify property, building, and meter level information. You will also decide if you want to grant "Share Forward” rights, meaning the ability to share the property with others.
  • Note: When sharing to exchange data, you may also be required to provide additional information to the organization so that they can process your request to exchange data with Portfolio Manager.
Also see Permissions.

Exchanging Data

Portfolio Manager has been designed to allow third-party organizations to electronically sync data with your account. You can authorize companies that exchange data with Portfolio Manager to update your meters, manage building data, and retrieve metrics. To get started, search for organizations that exchange data. Then connect with them and share your properties and meters. More information about exchanging data via web services.

Exterior Entrance to the Public

Exterior Entrance to the Public is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The store has an exterior entrance through which customers enter from the outside.
  • No – There is no exterior entrance available to the public. Patrons must enter through an interior entrance, such as from within a mall or an atrium in a mixed use establishment.
Note that a retail store must have an Exterior Entrance to the Public in order to be eligible to receive the ENERGY STAR.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.
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F

Fast Food Restaurant

Fast Food Restaurant, also known as Quick Service Restaurant, refers to buildings used for the preparation and sale of ready-to-eat food. Fast Food Restaurants are characterized by a limited menu of food prepared quickly (often within a few minutes), and sometimes cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to kitchens, sales areas, dining areas, restrooms, offices, staff break rooms, and storage areas. Gross Floor Area should not include any outdoor/exterior seating areas, but the energy use of these outdoor areas should be reported on your energy meters.

Federal Agency/Department

The government agency or department that owns or leases the federal property. This is relevant for U.S. and Canada.

Federal Region/Sub-Department

The regional or sub-departmental information associated with property that is owned or leased by the government. This is relevant for the U.S. and Canada.

Financial Office

Financial Office refers to buildings used for financial services such as bank headquarters and securities and brokerage firms.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to offices, trading floors, conference rooms and auditoriums, vaults, restrooms, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, atriums, fitness areas for staff, storage areas, stairways, and elevator shafts.

Fire Station

Fire Station refers to buildings used to provide emergency response services associated with fires. Fire stations may be staffed by either volunteer or full-time paid firefighters.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to office areas, vehicle storage areas, residential areas (if applicable), storage areas, break rooms, restrooms, kitchens, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym

Fitness Center/Health Club/Gym refers to buildings used for recreational or professional athletic training and related activities.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to weight and cardio equipment areas, personal training areas, courts, locker rooms, restrooms, indoor swimming pools, sauna and spa areas, retail areas, administrative/office space, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Fixed Film Trickle Filtration Process

Fixed Film Trickle Filtration Process is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The plant uses Trickle Filtration as a method of biological treatment. Trickle Filtration is a process used to reduce Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and ammonia nitrogen levels. Trickling filters are composed of a bed of porous material (rocks, slag, plastic media, or any other medium with a high surface area and high permeability). Wastewater is distributed over the surface of the media, where it flows downward as a thin film over the media surface for aerobic treatment. The wastewater is then collected at the bottom through an under-drain system. The effluent is then settled by gravity to remove biological solids prior to being discharged.
  • No – The plant does not utilize Trickle Filtration.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Food Sales

Food Sales refers to buildings used for the sales of food on either a retail or wholesale basis, but which do not meet the definition of Supermarket/Grocery Store, Convenience Store, or Convenience Store with Gas Stations. For example, specialty food sales like a cheese shop or butcher.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to sales areas, storage areas, offices, kitchens, staff break rooms, and restrooms.

Food Service

Food Service refers to buildings used for preparation and sale of food and beverages, but which do not meet the definition of Restaurant or Bar/Nightclub. For example a bakery or coffee shop.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to kitchens, sales areas, dining areas, staff break rooms, restrooms, and storage areas. Gross Floor Area should not include any outdoor/exterior seating areas, but the energy use of these outdoor areas should be reported on your energy meters.

Full Access

Full Access is the ability to view and edit your property. With Full Access, a person can do all of the same things you can, except delete the property. Full Access automatically comes with the ability to "Share Forward,” which means the person with whom you share can also share that property with others. If you want someone to have Full Access to all the property data, but NOT be able to “Share Forward,” then you need to share with Custom Access.

Also see Permissions.

Full Service Spa Floor Area

The Full Service Spa Floor Area is the total area that is devoted to full-service spa operations in the hotel. A full-service spa will usually have a dedicated staff of trained specialists; do not enter “spa” simply because there is a hot tub/whirlpool or sauna.

The area should include all portions of the spa such as all reception areas, dressing/changing rooms, dry treatment rooms (e.g., massages), water treatment rooms (e.g., hydrotherapy), pump/mechanical rooms, and storage areas. Do not include area related to a gym or fitness center, which is captured separately as Gym/Fitness Center Floor Area.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Full Year of Energy

Full Year of Energy is a Yes/No flag that indicates whether there is a full year of energy data available for the selected time period:
  • Yes - There is a full year (12 complete calendar months) of energy data associated with the selected time period.
  • No - There less than a full year (fewer than 12 calendar months) of energy data associated with the selected time period.

Full Year of Water

Full Year of Water is a Yes/No flag that indicates whether there is a full year of water data available for the selected time period:
  • Yes - There is a full year (12 complete calendar months) of water data associated with the selected time period.
  • No - There less than a full year (fewer than 12 calendar months) of water data associated with the selected time period.
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G

GHG Emissions

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions are the carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) gases released into the atmosphere as a result of energy consumption at the property. GHG emissions are expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), a universal unit of measure that combines the quantity and global warming potential of each greenhouse gas. Emissions are reported in four categories, each is available as a total amount in metric tons (Metric Tons CO2e) or as an intensity value in kilograms per square foot (kgCO2e/ft2):

  • Direct Emissions – Direct Emissions are emissions associated with onsite fuel combustion (e.g. combustion of natural gas or fuel oil).
  • Indirect Emissions – Indirect Emissions are emissions associated with purchases of electricity, district steam, district hot water, or district chilled water. These emissions occur at your utility’s plant, but they are a result of your property’s energy consumption and therefore contribute to your overall GHG footprint. Indirect Emissions are calculated using two different methods:
    • Indirect (Location-Based) GHG Emissions uses a regional emissions factor for electricity, and national factors for district fuels. Onsite Green Power has zero emissions, but Offsite Green Power is treated as regular grid electricity.
    • Indirect (Market-Based) GHG Emissions calculates both Onsite and Offsite Green Power as zero emissions. You can also optionally enter a custom emissions factor for the energy that you purchase (the factor is often documented in a contract with the energy provider).[Coming Spring 2024]
  • Total GHG Emissions – Total GHG Emissions is the sum of Direct Emissions and Indirect Emissions. Since there are two versions of Indirect Emissions, there are two versions of Total GHG Emissions:
    • Total (Location-Based) GHG Emissions
    • Total (Market-Based) GHG Emissions [Coming Spring 2024]
  • Biomass Emissions– Biomass Emissions are emissions associated with biogenic fuels such as wood or biogas (captured methane). The only biomass fuel currently available in Portfolio Manager is wood. Biogenic fuels are combusted onsite, but do not contribute to Direct or Total Emissions.
Also see Avoided Emissions.

Government Subsidized Housing

Government Subsidized Housing is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The property receives some type of local, state, or federal affordable housing subsidy for some or all units. Examples include Federal Housing Association (FHA) Insured; Public Housing; Agricultural Housing; Veterans Affairs (VA) Housing; Department of Defense (DoD) Housing; Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC); Project Based Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) (including Section 8), or another type of local, state or federal subsidy.
  • No – The property does not receive any subsidies.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Grant Dollars

Grant Dollars is the annual amount of grant dollars received by the college/university.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Green Button

Green Button is an industry-led effort that began in January 2012 in response to a White House directive to provide utility customers electronic access to their energy data in a standard format. The purpose is to empower customers with data. When Green Button is fully implemented, the goal is that consumers will be able to take advantage of a growing array of online services to help them manage their energy data and save money.

The Green Button "standard" XML file format is planned to be used in two ways:

  1. Download My Data / Upload My Data. Consumers can "Download My Data" (from participating utilities or Portfolio Manager) in the Green Button format. Then, with the Green Button file in hand, "Upload My Data" to another website (e.g. a participating energy service company).
  2. Connect My Data. This is a data exchange protocol (like Portfolio Manager's Data Exchange) which allows for the automatic transfer of energy bill data from a utility to a third party based on customer authorization.
As a first step, Portfolio Manager has implemented Download My Data for electric meters. This means you can download your Portfolio Manager electric meter data in the Green Button XML file format (See: "How do I download my Portfolio Manager data in Green Button format?"). A use for this file might be a 3rd party vendor who offers energy consulting services and can upload your file to offer you efficiency recommendations.

As a future enhancement, we are considering adding Upload My Data to Portfolio Manager (where you would download the Green Button file from your utility, and upload it into Portfolio Manager. EPA is also tracking Connect My Data. However, the standard and certification process for Connect My Data are still under development by the Green Button consortium.
Learn more at http://www.greenbuttondata.org

Green Power

Green Power is a generic term for renewable energy sources and specific clean energy technologies that emit fewer GHG emissions compared to other energy sources that supply the electric grid. You may use green power directly from an on-site renewable system, or purchase green power from your utility or independent green power supplier. In order for power to be considered green, you must own the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which are the legal claims/rights to the environmental benefits of the green power. These rights can be sold separately from the actual electricity (kWh). There are several Green Power metrics:
  • Onsite Green Power is the power generated from an onsite renewable system. The only types of onsite green power currently tracked in Portfolio Manager are solar and wind power. Energy use from these systems is green only if you retain the rights to the RECs. If you sell the RECs (for example, through REC arbitrage), then you do not have onsite green power. If you arbitrage the RECs, then it becomes Offsite Green Power.
  • Offsite Green Power is the green power purchases from your utility or independent suppliers. If through utility purchases you acquire both electricity (kWh) and RECs, then you have the right to the Green Power. If you purchase your electricity (kWh) from your utility but your RECs from another provider, then you may attribute these RECs to your utility power. Offsite Green power sources in Portfolio Manager include Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Biogas (Landfill gas), Biomass, and Small Hydropower.
  • Percent of Electricity that is Green Power is the percent of total electricity that is either onsite or offsite green power.

Gross Floor Area

The Gross Floor Area (GFA) is the total “property” square footage, and a “property” can be a:
  • Single building
  • Campus of buildings
  • Part of a building (such as a single tenant space).
Depending on which above type you have, your exact GFA is determined differently:
  1. “Single buildings” and “campuses of buildings” measure the GFA between the outside surface of the exterior walls of the building(s) (it is also acceptable to measure from the inside perimeter of the exterior walls if that is more readily available). This includes all areas inside the building(s) including supporting areas. GFA is not the same as rentable space, but rather includes all area inside the building(s).
    • Include in GFA: lobbies, tenant areas, common areas, meeting rooms, break rooms, atriums (count the base level only), restrooms, elevator shafts, stairwells, mechanical equipment areas, basements, storage rooms.
    • Do not include in GFA: exterior spaces, balconies, patios, exterior loading docks, driveways, covered walkways, outdoor play courts (tennis, basketball, etc.), parking (How to enter parking?), the interstitial plenum space between floors (which house pipes and ventilation), crawl spaces.
      • Although you do not include these areas in your GFA, you do include their energy use. Our algorithms assume buildings have outdoor usage, too. The GFA refers specifically to interior space. But, the energy use evaluated should be all the energy required to operate your building, which includes the energy used both inside and out.
    • You may exclude the GFA of certain Property Uses, if they meet these 4 criteria (see this FAQ for details):
      1. The Property Use is less than 10% of the building’s GFA
      2. The Property Use is not a property type eligible to receive an ENERGY STAR score
      3. The Property Use is sub-metered so that both the Property Use’s energy consumption and GFA can be excluded
      4. The Property Use’s energy use patterns are significantly different than those of the rest of the building (ex: A cell phone tower on a building)
  2. “Parts of a building,” such as tenant spaces, measure the GFA of the “usable square feet.” Usable square feet include the specific area the tenant occupies to do business. Learn more about how to benchmark a tenant space.
See Property Gross Floor Area Metrics for an explanation of how different GFAs are tracked in Portfolio Manager.

Gross Floor Area that is Conference Space

Conference space refers to the total area used for conferences, exhibitions, and formal meetings. It is a subset of the total Gross Floor Area. It should include all meeting rooms, meeting halls, ballrooms, breakout rooms, auditoriums, theaters, classrooms and restrooms. It should not include meeting space used by building employees, such as break rooms or office meeting rooms. Also exclude corridors and lobbies.

Gross Floor Area that is Exhibit Space

Exhibit space refers to the total area used for public collection display areas. It is a subset of the total Gross Floor Area. It should not include outdoor public collection display areas.

Gross Floor Area Used for Food Preparation

The Gross Floor Area Used for Food Preparation is the total size of all large/commercial kitchen areas used for the storage and preparation of food. This will be a subset of Gross Floor Area for the property. It should not include small kitchens, employee break rooms/pantries, concession stands, or service and seating areas.

Group

You can create Groups for your properties to help you access them quicker. For example you could create a Group for each Region of the country, or a Group for each account manager. Once you create Groups you can use them to more easily select properties (such as in Reporting). You can create and edit Groups from the My Portfolio page.

Guiding Principle 1.1 Integrated - Team

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was originally developed for US Federal buildings managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Use an integrated team to develop and implement policy regarding sustainable operations and maintenance.

Guiding Principle 1.2 Integrated - Goals

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was originally developed for US Federal buildings managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Establish operational performance goals for energy, water, material use and recycling, and indoor environmental quality, and ensure incorporation of these goals throughout the remaining lifecycle of the building. Incorporate sustainable operations and maintenance practices within the appropriate Environmental Management System (EMS).

Guiding Principle 1.3 Integrated - Plan

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Incorporate a building management plan to ensure that operating decisions and tenant education are carried out with regard to integrated, sustainable building operations and maintenance.

Guiding Principle 1.4 Integrated -Occupant Feedback

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Augment building operations and maintenance as needed using occupant feedback on work space satisfaction.

Guiding Principle 1.5 Integrated - Commissioning

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Assess existing condition and operational procedures of the building and major building systems and identify areas for improvement. Employ recommissioning, tailored to the size and complexity of the building and its system components, in order to optimize and verify performance of fundamental building systems. Commissioning must be performed by an experienced commissioning provider. When building commissioning has been performed, the commissioning report, summary of actions taken, and schedule for recommissioning must be documented. Building recommissioning must have been performed within four years prior to reporting a building as meeting the Guiding Principles. Meet the requirements of EISA 2007, Section 432.

Guiding Principle 2.1 Energy Efficiency - Option 1

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Receive an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher.

Guiding Principle 2.1 Energy Efficiency - Option 2

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Reduce measured building energy use by 20% compared to building energy use in 2003 or a year thereafter with quality energy use data.

Guiding Principle 2.1 Energy Efficiency - Option 3

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings. Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:

Reduce energy use by 20% compared to the ASHRAE 90.1 2007 baseline building design if design information is available.

Guiding Principle 2.1 Energy - Energy Efficiency (Any Option)

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Assess energy efficiency using one of the three efficiency options (ENERGY STAR Score, Measured 20% reduction, or 20% reduction compared to code).

Guiding Principle 2.2 Energy - Efficient Products

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Use ENERGY STAR and FEMP-designated energy efficient products, where available.

Guiding Principle 2.3 Energy - Onsite Renewable

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Implement renewable energy generation projects on agency property for agency use, when lifecycle cost effective.

Guiding Principle 2.4 Energy - Measurement and Verification

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Per the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct2005) Section 103, install building level electricity meters to track and continuously optimize performance. Per the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) 2007, the utility meters must also include natural gas and steam, where natural gas and steam are used.

Guiding Principle 2.5 Energy - Benchmarking

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Compare annual performance data with previous years' performance data, preferably by entering annual performance data into the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and/or Labs 21 for laboratories.

Guiding Principle 3.1 Indoor Water - Option 1

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Reduce potable water use by 20% compared to a water baseline calculated for the building. The water baseline, for buildings with plumbing fixtures installed in 1994 or later, is 120% of the Uniform Plumbing Codes (UPC) 2006 or the International Plumbing Codes (IPC) 2006 fixture performance requirements. The water baseline for plumbing fixtures older than 1994 is 160% of the UPC 2006 or the IPC 2006 fixture performance requirements.

Guiding Principle 3.1 Indoor Water - Option 2

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Reduce building measured potable water use by 20% compared to building water use in 2003 or a year thereafter with quality water data. If only one meter is installed for the site, reduce the water use (indoor and outdoor combined) by at least 20% compared to building water use in 2003 or a year thereafter.

Guiding Principle 3.1 Water - Indoor Water (Any Option)

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Assess indoor water using one of the two options (measured 20% reduction or 20% reduction compared to code)

Guiding Principle 3.2 Outdoor Water - Option 1

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Reduce potable irrigation water use by 50% compared to conventional methods.

Guiding Principle 3.2 Outdoor Water - Option 2

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Reduce building related potable irrigation water use by 50% compared to measured irrigation water use in 2003 or a year thereafter with quality water data. If only one meter is installed for the site, reduce the potable water use (indoor and outdoor combined) by at least 20% compared to building water use in 2003 or a year thereafter.

Guiding Principle 3.2 Outdoor Water - Option 3

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Use no potable irrigation water.

Guiding Principle 3.2 Water - Outdoor Water (Any Option)

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Assess outdoor water using one of three options (50% measured improvement, 50% reduction compared to code, or no outdoor water consumption.

Guiding Principle 3.3 Water - Stormwater

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Employ strategies that reduce stormwater runoff and discharges of polluted water offsite. Per EISA Section 438, where redevelopment affects site hydrology, use site planning, design, construction, and maintenance strategies to maintain hydrologic conditions during development, or to restore hydrologic conditions following development, to the maximum extent that is technically feasible.

Guiding Principle 3.4 Water - Efficient Products

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Where available, use EPA's WaterSense labeled products or other water conserving products. Choose irrigation contractors who are certified through a WaterSense-labeled program.

Guiding Principle 4.1 Indoor Environment - Ventilation and Thermal Comfort

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the 2008 Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Meet ASHRAE Standard 55-2004 Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy and ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2007: Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality.

Guiding Principle 4.2 Indoor Environment - Moisture Control

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Provide policy and illustrate the use of an appropriate moisture control strategy to prevent building damage, minimize mold contamination, and reduce health risks related to moisture. For facade renovations, Dew Point analysis and a plan for cleanup or infiltration of moisture into building materials are required.

Guiding Principle 4.3 Indoor Environment - Automated Lighting Controls

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:

Provide automated lighting controls (occupancy/vacancy sensors with manual-off capability) for appropriate spaces including restrooms, conference and meeting rooms, employee lunch and break rooms, training classrooms, and offices.

Guiding Principle 4.4 Daylighting and Occupant Controls - Option 1

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:

Provide automated lighting controls (occupancy/vacancy sensors with manual-off capability) for appropriate spaces including restrooms, conference and meeting rooms, employee lunch and break rooms, training classrooms, and offices.

Guiding Principle 4.4 Daylighting and Occupant Controls - Option 2

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:

Provide occupant controlled lighting, allowing adjustments to suit individual task needs, for 50% of regularly occupied spaces.

Guiding Principle 4.4 Indoor Environment - Daylighting and Occupant Controls (Any Option)

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Choose one of two options to meet additional daylighting and lighting controls performance expectations (minimum daylight factor or occupant controlled lighting)

Guiding Principle 4.5 Indoor Environment - Low-Emitting Materials

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Use low emitting materials for building modifications, maintenance, and cleaning. In particular, specify the following materials and products to have low pollutant emissions: composite wood products, adhesives, sealants, interior paints and finishes, solvents, carpet systems, janitorial supplies, and furnishings.

Guiding Principle 4.6 Indoor Environment - Integrated Pest Management

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Use integrated pest management techniques as appropriate to minimize pesticide usage. Use EPA-registered pesticides only when needed.

Guiding Principle 4.7 Indoor Environment - Tobacco Smoke Control

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Prohibit smoking within the building and within 25 feet of all building entrances, operable windows, and building ventilation intakes.

Guiding Principle 5.1 Materials - Recycled Content

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:

Per section 6002 of RCRA, for EPA-designated products, meet or exceed EPA's recycled content recommendations for building modifications, maintenance, and cleaning. For other products, use materials with recycled content such that the sum of postconsumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at least 10% (based on cost or weight) of the total value of the materials in the project. If EPA-designated products meet performance requirements and are available at a reasonable cost, a preference for purchasing them shall be included in all solicitations relevant to construction, operation, maintenance of or use in the building. EPA's recycled content products designations and recycled content recommendations are available on EPA's Comprehensive Procurement Guideline web site at www.epa.gov/cpg.

Guiding Principle 5.2 Materials - Biobased Content

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:

Per section 9002 of FSRIA, for USDA-designated products, use products with the highest content level per USDA's biobased content recommendations. For other products, use biobased products made from rapidly renewable resources and certified sustainable wood products. If these designated products meet performance requirements and are available at a reasonable cost, a preference for purchasing them should be included in all solicitations relevant to construction, operation, maintenance of or use in building. USDA's biobased product designations and biobased content recommendations are available on USDA's BioPreferred web site at www.biopreferred.gov.

Guiding Principle 5.3 Materials - Environmentally Preferred Products

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Use products that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment over their lifecycle when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. A number of standards and ecolabels are available in the marketplace to assist specifiers in making environmentally preferable decisions. For recommendations, consult the US Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers at www.wbdg.org/design/greenspec.php

Guiding Principle 5.4 Materials - Waste and Materials Mgmt

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Provide reuse and recycling services for building occupants, where markets or on-site recycling exist. Provide salvage, reuse and recycling services for waste generated from building operations, maintenance, repair and minor renovations, and discarded furnishings, equipment and property. This could include such things as beverage containers and paper from building occupants, batteries, toner cartridges, outdated computers from an equipment update, and construction materials from a minor renovation.

Guiding Principle 5.5 Materials - Ozone Depleting Compounds

The Sustainable Buildings Checklist evaluates sustainability in existing buildings. It was first developed for US federal building managers for compliance with the Federal Guiding Principles for High Performance Sustainable Buildings. It is also a valuable tool for evaluating the sustainability of non-government buildings.

Specifically, the intent of this Guiding Principle is to:
Eliminate the use of ozone depleting compounds where alternative environmentally preferable products are available, consistent with either the Montreal Protocol and Title VI of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, or equivalent overall air quality benefits that take into account lifecycle impacts.

Guiding Principles -Actual Date of Compliance

The date a property achieves 100% Sustainable Buildings Checklist completion. Portfolio Manager does not automatically populate this date. It is entered by the user.

Guiding Principles - Checklist Manager

The Checklist Manager is the person who is responsible for the completion of the Sustainable Buildings Checklist for the property. This person may be any one of your contacts.

Guiding Principles - Completion

Sustainable Buildings Checklist Completion is the percentage of Guiding Principles required actions that are considered complete. A required action is complete if "Yes" or "Not Applicable" is selected. The user must justify a “Not Applicable” selection for these required actions to count towards Sustainable Buildings Checklist completion.

Guiding Principles - Target Date of Compliance

The date a property is expected to achieve 100% Sustainable Buildings Checklist Completion. Portfolio Manager does not automatically populate this date. It is entered by the user.

Gymnasium Floor Area

Gymnasium Floor Area is the total size of all areas devoted to a gymnasium. This will be a subset of the Gross Floor Area for the property, and should include gymnasium/athletic areas, spectator areas, locker rooms, restrooms, and other associated space.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.
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H

Heated Swimming Pool

Heated Swimming Pools are indoor or outdoor pools that are heated. For indoor pools, include the Gross Floor Area (GFA) of the building in which the pool is located. For outdoor pools, do not include any of the outdoor GFA. If your entire property is an outdoor heated swimming pool then your Gross Floor Area (GFA) will be the GFA of your swimming pool, which Portfolio Manager will calculate for you.

To add a Heated Swimming Pool Property Use:
  • Go to the Details tab
  • In the upper right-hand box which lists all of your Property Uses, click Add Another Type of Use
  • Under Entertainment/Public Assembly choose Recreation
  • A secondary selection box will appear where you can choose Heated Swimming Pool
  • Select the pool size that is closest to your pool

High School

High School is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The school teaches to high school students (grades 10, 11, and/or 12). For example, if your school teaches grades K-12 (elementary, middle and high school), select Yes.
  • No – The school does not teach high school students. For example, if your school only teaches grades 6,7,and 8, select No.

History Log

The History Log is a record of all “updates” you have made to your Property Use Details (ex. Number of Workers, Weekly Operating Hours). See “Editing and Updating” for more information.

Hospital (General Medical & Surgical)

Hospital refers to a general medical and surgical hospital (including critical access hospitals and children’s hospitals). These facilities provide acute care services including emergency medical care, physician's office services, diagnostic care, ambulatory care, surgical care, and limited specialty services such as rehabilitation and cancer care. Hospitals must have in-patient beds and offer overnight care.

To be eligible for the Hospital Property Type:
  • More than 50% of the GFA of all buildings must be used for general medical and surgical services (not long-term acute care, specialty care, or ambulatory surgical services).
  • More than 50% of the licensed beds must provide acute care services.
The Hospital property type should include all space types owned by the hospital that are located within the Hospital campus, including non-clinical spaces such as administrative offices, food service, retail, hotels, and power plants.

Gross Floor Area (GFA) should include all space within the building(s) on the campus including but not limited to operating rooms, patient rooms, emergency treatment areas, medical offices, exam rooms, laboratories, lobbies, atriums, cafeterias, restrooms, stairways, corridors connecting buildings, storage areas, and elevator shafts.

If your facility does not meet this definition, it is not eligible for an ENERGY STAR score as a Hospital. However, your property may be eligible under another healthcare property type:

Hospital Laboratory

A Laboratory is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The property contains a laboratory, which is typically an area used for experimentation/testing that has independently controlled and specifically designed environmental systems.
  • No – The property does not contain a laboratory.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Hotel

Hotel refers to buildings renting overnight accommodations on a room/suite and nightly basis, and typically include a bath/shower and other facilities in guest rooms. Hotel properties typically have daily services available to guests including housekeeping/laundry and a front desk/concierge.

Hotel does not apply to properties where more than 50% of the floor area is occupied by fractional ownership units such as condominiums or vacation timeshares. Hotel properties should be majority-owned by a single entity and have rooms available on a nightly basis. Condominiums should select the Multifamily Housing property use.

Gross Floor Area should include all interior space within the building(s), including but not limited to guestrooms, halls, lobbies, atriums, food preparation and restaurant space, conference and banquet space, fitness centers/spas, indoor pool areas, laundry facilities, elevator shafts, stairways, mechanical rooms, storage areas, employee break rooms, restrooms, and back-of-house offices.

Hotel - Gym/Fitness Center Floor Area

The Gym/Fitness Center Floor Area is the total area in the hotel that is devoted to gym or fitness center operations, including all reception areas, locker rooms, weight rooms, cardiovascular equipment rooms, special-purpose rooms (e.g., classroom/studio space for aerobics; spinning; sauna) and storage/mechanical rooms. A Gym/Fitness Center may be staffed or unstaffed, and may range from a single room with a treadmill and a multipurpose machine to a full fitness club with a wide variety of machines and program offerings.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Hours Per Day Guests Onsite

The Hours Per Day Guests Onsite is the average number of hours per day that a typical guest will spend on the hotel premises including time spent in guest rooms, at hotel restaurants, at meetings/conference activities, and/or engaging in recreational activities located on the hotel grounds. You can select from the following options: .
  • Less than 15 Hours
  • 15-19 Hours
  • 20 Hours or more
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.
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Ice/Curling Rink

Buildings that include one or more indoor ice sheets used for public or private, recreational or professional skating, hockey, or ringette. Buildings that are exclusively used for curling are not currently eligible for an ENERGY STAR score but can be benchmarked using this property type.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to ice area, spectator areas, concession stands, restaurants, retail areas, locker rooms, administrative/office areas, employee break rooms, restrooms, mechanical rooms, and storage areas.

Larger facilities primarily serving professional or collegiate functions and with significant spectator seating (above 5,000 seats) should be entered as Indoor Arena.

Ice Events

Ice Events is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The property hosts ice events such as organized hockey games, ice skating competitions, and/or on-ice shows.
  • No – The property does not host any ice events.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Indirect Emissions

Individual Meter Custom ID

This is the value for the Individual Meter Custom ID specified in the Individual Meter Custom ID Name.For example, if the Custom ID Name is Meter ID, then the Custom ID would be the actual Meter ID, such as 12345.

Individual Meter Custom ID Name

The utility will have a custom identifier to map the individual meters to the aggregate. This is the name (or type) of that custom identifier. Some examples utilities might use are: Meter IDs, Service Point IDs.

Individual Meter - Date Meter Became Inactive

If the Individual meter is no longer active, this is the date on which the meter's measured consumption stopped being reflected in the reported consumption of the aggregate meter.

Individual Meter is Active

Individual Meter is Active is either:
  • Yes - The meter is currently active and its measured consumption is being reflected in the reported consumption of the aggregate meter.
  • No - The meter is no longer active and the "Individual Meter - Date Meter Became Inactive" is the date on which the meter's measured consumption stopped being reflected in the reported consumption of the aggregate meter.

Individual Meter - Service Address for Meter

This is a real-world descriptor of the specific location for which the meter is capturing consumption. For example, in a multi-tenant property, a relevant descriptor might be '5th Floor, Suite 510.' The goal of this field is to ensure that the Portfolio Manager user can meaningfully interpret the list of meter IDs, which are likely to be numeric.

Indoor Arena

Indoor Arena refers to enclosed structures used for professional or collegiate sports and entertainment events. Examples of events held in indoor arenas include basketball and hockey games, circus performances, and concerts. Indoor Arenas usually have capacities of 5,000 seats or more and are often characterized by multiple concourses and concession areas.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to court/rink space, all concourse space on which workers or guests can walk, concession areas, retail stores, restaurants, restrooms, administrative/office areas, employee break rooms, kitchens, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Institutional Property

A property belonging to an institution rather than a commercial entity. This indicator is available in Canada only.

Investment in Energy Projects

Investment in Energy Projects is the total cost/investment for an energy upgrade at your property. This value is entered along with an upgrade so that you can track your cumulative investment and compare this with your energy savings. At the property level, this investment value is summed across all individual energy projects that have been entered.

Irrigated Area

Irrigated area is the amount of outdoor vegetated area that is supplied water regularly, measured in square feet, square meters, or acres. Typically this includes landscaped areas that are irrigated with or without an in-ground/automatic irrigation system along with areas regularly watered by hand. If you have vegetated areas that were specifically xeriscaped to require no water at all, these may be included in your total. However, you cannot include hard/un-vegetated surfaces such as patios, decks, and driveways.

Irrigated area is not required and it is not used in the calculation of any of your energy metrics. However, it is required for the Water Score for Multifamily properties. Irrigated Area was defaulted to "0" for all multifamily properties in Aug 2018.

All property types can use irrigated area to help manage your outdoor water use, by tracking your outdoor water per square foot of irrigation.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended irrigated area when the property is fully operational.
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Justification Required

If your property meets all applicable Guiding Principle requirements, it is in compliance with the Guiding Principles. If the agency deems a required action inapplicable for the property, select "N/A" for that action and provide a justification in the "Required Justification" field. A required action cannot be deemed inapplicable because of difficulty or cost, unless otherwise stated in the Guiding Principles text.
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K

K-12 School

K-12 School refers to buildings or campuses used as a school for Kindergarten through 12th grade students. This does not include college or university classroom facilities/laboratories, vocational, technical, trade, adult or continuing education schools, preschool, or day care.

If the school serves any of the above student populations (e.g., an elementary school that includes pre-kindergarten), at least 75% of the students must be in grades kindergarten through 12.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to classrooms, administrative space, conference rooms, restrooms, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, cafeterias, gymnasiums, auditoriums, laboratory classrooms, portable classrooms, greenhouses, stairways, atriums, elevator shafts, small landscaping sheds, and storage areas.
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Laboratory

Laboratory refers to buildings that provide controlled conditions in which scientific research, measurement, and experiments are performed or practical science is taught.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to workstations/hoods, offices, conference rooms, restrooms, storage areas, decontamination rooms, mechanical rooms, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Language Preference

Language preference is the language (either English or French) that displays throughout Portfolio Manager and also the language in which you want all communications from Portfolio Manager. For example, if there are questions about your application for ENERGY STAR certification we will contact you in your preferred language. Portfolio Manager users can select their language preference under Account Settings -> Your Preference.

There are some contacts in Portfolio Manager who do not have an account (such as the President of a company who is the “Signatory” for an application). When selecting these contacts, you may be asked for their language preference.

Last Modified By - Electricity Meters

Last Modified By - Electricity Meters is the person who last updated your property's electricity meters. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: meter consumption data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), meter associations, demand, and green power; essentially any changes you make from the Energy tab to an electric meter (Electric Grid, Onsite Solar & Onsite Wind).

Last Modified By - Gas Meters

Last Modified By - Gas Meters is the person who last updated your property's natural gas meters. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: meter consumption data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), and meter associations; essentially any changes you make from the Energy tab to a natural gas meter.

Last Modified By - Non-Electric Non-Gas Energy

Last Modified By - Non-Electric Non-Gas Energy Meters is the person who last updated your property's energy meters (with the exception of electric and gas meters which are covered in separate metrics). Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: meter consumption data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), and meter associations; essentially any changes you make from the Energy tab to any of these meters: propane, fuel oil, diesel, District Steam, District Hot Water, District Chilled Water, Coal, Coke, Wood, Kerosene, "Other" Energy Meters, any Data Center/IT meters, and any Flow Meters.

Last Modified By - Property

Last Modified By - Property is the person who last updated your property's information. There are three Property Specific (vs Meter-specific) “Last Modified By” metrics:
  • Last Modified By – Property: This includes any changes to your property. Changes include property name, address, Number of Workers, Gross Floor Area, Standard and Custom IDs, Baseline Dates, new meter consumption data, etc. "Saving" data, even if there wasn't an actual edit, will count as an update to this field. Sharing, transferring, and reporting, does not trigger an update to this field. See this FAQ for a full list of what triggers an update. There are separate metrics that track the last modified date for your energy, water, and waste meters, however this metric for the property includes edits to your energy, water, and waste meters. If the last edit to your property was to add an electricity bill, then the "Last Modified By - Property" will be the same as the "Last Modified By - Electric Meters."
  • Last Modified By – Property Use: will only be triggered if you add/edit/delete any Property Uses. Most changes to your Property Uses will also trigger changes to your Property Use Details. The only change that will only flag the Property Use and not Property Use Detail is a change to the Property Use name.
  • Last Modified By – Property Use Detail: will only be triggered if you add/edit/delete any Property Use Details.
If the Last Modified By metric is "Not Available" and it's corresponding Last Modified Date is a valid date, it's probably because something was deleted. We don't save a record of what was deleted or who deleted it, just the date that something was deleted.

Last Modified By - Waste Meters

Last Modified By - Waste Meters is the person who last updated your property's waste meters. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: waste bill data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), and meter associations; essentially any changes you make from the Waste & Materials tab.

Last Modified By - Water Meters

Last Modified By - Water Meters is the person who last updated your property's water meters. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: water bill data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), and meter associations; essentially any changes you make from the Water tab.

Last Modified Date - Electricity Meters

Last Modified Date - Electricity Meters is the date that your property's electricity meters were last updated. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: meter consumption data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), meter associations, demand, and green power; essentially any changes you make from the Energy tab to an electric meter (Electric Grid, Onsite Solar & Onsite Wind).

Last Modified Date - Gas Meters

Last Modified Date - Gas Meters is the date that your property's natural gas meters were last updated. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: meter consumption data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), and meter associations; essentially any changes you make from the Energy tab to a natural gas meter.

Last Modified Date - Non-Electric Non-Gas Energy Meters

Last Modified Date - Non-Electric Non-Gas Energy Meters is the date that your property's energy meters (with the exception of electric and gas meters which are covered in separate metrics)- were last updated. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: meter consumption data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), and meter associations; essentially any changes you make from the Energy tab to any of these meters: propane, fuel oil, diesel, District Steam, District Hot Water, District Chilled Water, Coal, Coke, Wood, Kerosene, "Other" Energy Meters, any Data Center/IT meters, and any Flow Meters.

Last Modified Date - Property

Last Modified Date - Property is the date when your property's information was last updated. There are three Property Specific (vs Meter-specific) “Last Modified Date” metrics:
  • Last Modified Date – Property: This includes any changes to your property. Changes include property name, address, Number of Workers, Gross Floor Area, Standard and Custom IDs, Baseline Dates, new meter consumption data, etc. "Saving" data, even if there wasn't an actual edit, will count as an update to this field. Sharing, transferring, and reporting, does not trigger an update to this field. See this FAQ for a full list of what triggers an update. There are separate metrics that track the last modified date for your energy, water, and waste meters, however this metric for the property includes edits to your energy, water, and waste meters. If the last edit to your property was to add an electricity bill, then the "Last Modified Date - Property" will be the same as the "Last Modified Date - Electric Meters."
  • Last Modified Date – Property Use: will only be triggered if you add/edit/delete any Property Uses. Most changes to your Property Uses will also trigger changes to your Property Use Details. The only change that will only flag the Property Use and not Property Use Detail is a change to the Property Use name.
  • Last Modified Date – Property Use Detail: will only be triggered if you add/edit/delete any Property Use Details.

Last Modified Date - Waste Meters

Last Modified Date - Waste Meters is the date that your property's waste meters were last updated. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: waste bill data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), and meter associations; essentially any changes you make from the Waste & Materials tab.

Last Modified Date - Water Meters

Last Modified Date - Water Meters is the date that your property's water meters were last updated. Changes that will trigger this to be updated include: water bill data, basic meter information (Meter Name, units, Date Meter became Active/Inactive, etc.), and meter associations; essentially any changes you make from the Water tab.

Length of All Open or Closed Refrigeration/Freezer Units

The Length of All Open or Closed Refrigeration/Freezer Units is the length of the front of all open or closed cases that are used for the sale or storage of perishable goods. This includes display-type refrigerated open or closed cases and cabinets as well as display-type freezer units typically found on a sales floor. Include cases located inside and immediately adjacent to the building. These units may be portable or permanent, and may have doors, plastic strips, or other flexible cover. Do not include vending machines or half -size/compact refrigerators.

Letters of Intent - Architect of Record and Building Owner

There are two required "Letters of Intent" for the SEDI:
  • The Architect of Record (AOR) Letter of Intent, from the AOR firm, confirms the validity of the information in the Statement of Energy Design Intent (SEDI) for the Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR.
  • The Building Owner Letter of Intent confirms the building owners intent to operate the building to earn EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification once it is constructed and occupied. There are two different letters depending on the type of building owner:

Library

Library refers to buildings used to store and manage collections of literary and artistic materials such as books, periodicals, newspapers, films, etc. that can be used for reference or lending.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to circulation rooms, storage areas, reading/study rooms, restrooms, administrative space, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, conference rooms and auditoriums, fitness areas for staff, storage areas, stairways, and elevator shafts.

Licensed Bed Capacity

Licensed Bed Capacity is the total number of beds that your hospital is licensed to have in operation. This may be more than your Staffed Beds, which are those that are set up and ready for use.

Licensed Professional

A Licensed Professional must validate the property information that appears on applications for ENERGY STAR certification. At this time, the licensed professional is required to be a Professional Engineer (PE/P.Eng) or Registered Architect.
  • A Professional Engineer (PE/P.Eng) is an engineer who is registered or licensed within certain jurisdictions (usually a state) to offer professional engineering services directly to the public.
  • A Registered Architect is an architect who is registered or licensed within a certain jurisdiction (usually a state) to offer professional architectural design services directly to the public.

Lifestyle Center

Lifestyle Center refers to a mixed use commercial development that includes retail stores and leisure amenities, where individual retail stores typically contain an entrance accessible from the outside and are not connected by internal walkways. Lifestyle centers have an open air design, unlike traditional enclosed malls, and often include landscaped pedestrian areas, as well as streets and vehicle parking.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to retail stores, offices, food courts, restaurants, restrooms, residential areas, storage areas, staff break rooms, stairwells, and mechanical areas. Do not include any exterior spaces such as pedestrian walkways or vehicle parking areas.

Live Environment

Location of Pool

Location of the Heated Swimming Pool indicates whether your pool is located indoor or outdoor.
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Mailing Center/Post Office

Mailing Center/Post Office refers to buildings used as establishments dedicated to mail and mailing supplies. This includes government operated Post Offices and Post Depots, in addition to private retailers that offer priority mail services and mailing supplies.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to retail counters, administrative space, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, conference rooms, storage areas, stairways, and mechanical rooms. This should not include exterior/outdoor loading bays or docks.

To be eligible for the Mailing Center/Post Office score in Canada, buildings must deliver mail or parcels directly to customers. Buildings that maintain an inventory of goods or have a high degree of automated mechanical sortation should benchmark as Distribution Center. Buildings that serve as air cargo terminals should benchmark as Other.

Manufacturing/Industrial Plant

Manufacturing/Industrial Plant refers to sites used for manufacturing, mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction operations. Typically, a Manufacturing/Industrial plant includes a main production area that contains machinery and equipment used for producing products. Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s) at the plant, including but not limited to production areas, offices, conference rooms, employee break rooms, storage areas, mechanical rooms, stairways, and elevator shafts.

Nearly two dozen industrial plant types can earn ENERGY STAR certification in a tool outside of Portfolio Manager. Go to: www.energystar.gov/epis for details on how to use the “Energy Performance Indicators” (EPIs) to receive an ENERGY STAR score and see how a plant’s energy performance compares to plants with similar characteristics.

Maximum Number of Floors

The Maximum Number of Floors refers to the number of floors in the tallest building at the property.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Maximum Resident Capacity

The Maximum Resident Capacity is the licensed capacity for the total number of residents that the property was designed to house.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Medical Office

Medical Office refers to buildings used to provide diagnosis and treatment for medical, dental, or psychiatric outpatient care.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building, including but not limited to offices, exam rooms, operating rooms for outpatient surgical procedures, laboratories, lobbies, atriums, conference rooms and auditoriums, employee break rooms and kitchens, restrooms, elevator shafts, stairways, mechanical rooms, and storage areas. If you have restaurants, retail (pharmacy), or services (dry cleaners) within the Medical Office Building, we recommend you include this square footage in the Medical Office Property Use.

*The medical office score does not apply to veterinary offices or standalone ambulatory surgical centers.

Metered Areas

Metered Areas is a designation of what areas within your building are covered by your energy and water meters. You may choose from the following options:
  • Total energy (or water) consumption for the whole building
  • Consumption for tenant areas only
  • Consumption for common areas only
  • Consumption for a combination of tenant and common areas, where you select all of the following which apply:
    • Tenant Heating
    • Tenant Cooling
    • Tenant Hot Water
    • Tenant Plug Load/Electricity
    • Common Area Heating
    • Common Area Cooling
    • Common Area Hot Water
    • Common Area Plug Load/Electricity
  • Consumption for a different configuration. You should use this option if you do not think any of the above apply for your property, for example maybe your meters may include a cell phone tower that is unrelated to your operation
Note that this designation is set separately for energy, water, and waste meters. For example, your water meters may reflect the total water consumption at your property, but your energy meters may cover common areas only.

Meter ID

There are two types of Meter IDs in Portfolio Manager:
  • Portfolio Manager Meter IDs are unique identifiers assigned by EPA for each meter when it is first created in Portfolio Manager. They can be downloaded from Custom Downloads or on the individual meter download spreadsheets.
  • Custom Meter IDs are IDs that users can create for their own purposes. For example, you could create a Custom ID to track your utility’s meter number. For each Custom Meter ID, you must fill in both a name for the ID and its actual value (Example: ABC Utility Meter ID, 01234). A maximum of three custom Meter IDs are available. They can be downloaded from Custom Downloads or on the individual meter download spreadsheets.

Metric Year

A Metric Year is a 12-month period starting on the first day of one month, and ending 12 months later on the last day of that month (ex: 6/1/2013 – 5/31/2014). All metrics in Portfolio Manager are calculated based on 12 full calendar months of data. The 12-month period associated with a given metric is often represented by the Year Ending Date which is the last day of the 12-month period. For example, if your Year Ending Date is 12/31/2012, your metrics would be based on the calendar year of 2012.

There are three particular Metric Years of interest for a property:
  • Baseline Year is the 12-month period used as a historic point of comparison. Portfolio Manager will default your Baseline Year to the first 12-month period for which you have data. You can change it on the Goals tab. You can also set a different baseline date for energy and for water.
  • Current Year is the most recent 12-month period for which you have 12 full months of data. For example, if you update your bills every month, then your Current Year will always be the 12-months ending with the most recent month that you entered your bills. A different Current Year is determined for energy and water, based on the most current meter data.
  • “Your Choice” Year is a 12-month period which you select. For example, if you are running a report, you can select any 12-month period to view metrics. Or, if you are applying for ENERGY STAR Certification, you may have several different Years (each represented by the last day of that 12-month period) to choose from.

Mixed Use Property

A Mixed Use (or multi use) property is one that contains multiple property types, none of which are greater than 50% of the total Gross Floor Area (GFA), including parking GFA.

Mixed Use properties can get an ENERGY STAR score and certification if they meet two criteria:
  • 75% of the property's GFA (excluding parking) is comprised of property types that are eligible for an ENERGY STAR score
  • At least one property type (that is eligible for certification) is more than 50% of the GFA (excluding parking)

Monthly Energy Use by Type

Monthly Energy Use by Type is a reporting metric that returns 12 values, one for each month in the specified year, of a fuel use summed across all meters of that specific fuel type. The values are “calendarized” as they are on the chart on the Energy Tab. This metric allows you to retrieve calendarized monthly fuel-specific metrics for multiple properties at once. Select this metric in Reporting, from the “Select Information and Metrics” modal, on the “Energy Use by Fuel Source” tab. The data will appear on a separate tab in your final report.

These are the specific monthly metrics available:
  • Electricity Use - Grid - Monthly
  • Electricity Use - Onsite Renewables - Monthly
    • Note: includes both Onsite solar/wind used onsite
  • Natural Gas
  • Fuel Oil #1 Use - Monthly
  • Fuel Oil #2 Use - Monthly
  • Fuel Oil #4 Use - Monthly
  • Fuel Oil #5 & 6 Use - Monthly
  • Diesel Use - Monthly
  • Kerosene Use - Monthly
  • Propane Use - Monthly
  • District Steam Use - Monthly
  • District Hot Water Use - Monthly
  • District Chilled Water Use - Monthly
  • Coal - Anthracite Use - Monthly
  • Coal - Bituminous Use - Monthly
  • Coke Use - Monthly
  • Wood Use - Monthly
  • Other Use - Monthly

Months in Use

Months in Use is the total number of months that your property is open for standard activities.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Months Main Indoor Ice Rink in Use

Number of months per year when the main indoor ice rink(s) used for indoor hockey, ringette, public or figure skating is present. Months Main Indoor Ice Rink in Use does not apply to curling sheets. The main indoor ice rink refers to the ice rink with the maximum months of use.

Movie Theater

Movie theater refers to buildings used for public or private film screenings.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to seating areas, lobbies, concession stands, restrooms, administrative/office space, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Multifamily Housing

Multifamily Housing refers to residential properties that contain two or more residential living units. These properties may include low-rise buildings (1-4 stories), mid-rise buildings (5-9 stories), or high-rise buildings (10+ stories). Multifamily housing may consist of a single building or multiple co-located buildings that act as a single property or campus (such as a garden apartment community). Occupants of these buildings may include tenants, cooperators, and/or individual owners.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to living units (occupied and unoccupied units), interior common areas (e.g. lobbies, offices, community rooms, restrooms, common kitchens, fitness rooms, indoor pools), hallways, stairwells, elevator shafts, connecting corridors between buildings, storage areas, and mechanical space such as a boiler room. GFA should include all buildings that are part of the multifamily property, including any separate management offices or other buildings that may not contain living units. Open air stairwells, breezeways, and other similar areas that are not fully-enclosed should not be included in the GFA.

To be eligible for an ENERGY STAR score and certification in the US:
  • 2 units or more per building
  • 20 units or more per property/campus
  • At least 80% occupancy
  • Communities of single-family homes are not eligible. If your property is a mix of multifamily and single-family homes, the property would still be eligible as long as the single-family homes are less than 25% of the total GFA. Combine the single-family home GFA with the Multifamily property use.
To be eligible for an ENERGY STAR score and certification in Canada:
  • 2 units or more per building
  • Each building in the property must be either:
    • 4 or more storeys above ground, or
    • have a horizontal footprint greater than 600 m2 measured between exterior walls and firewalls
  • A common entrance for each building in the property
  • At least 80% occupancy
  • If buildings on a property do not meet the above definitions, they must be excluded from certification.

Multifamily Housing - Number of Residential Living Units in a High-Rise Building (10 or more Stories)

The count of all individual private apartments/ condominiums (both occupied and unoccupied) located in an individual building that is 10 or more stories in height. See this FAQ for more information.

Multifamily Housing - Number of Residential Living Units in a Low-rise Building (1-4 Stories)

The count of all individual private apartments/ condominiums (both occupied and unoccupied) located in an individual building that is 1 to 4 stories in height. See this FAQ for more information.

Multifamily Housing - Number of Residential Living Units in a Mid-Rise Building (5-9 Stories)

The count of all individual private apartments/ condominiums (both occupied and unoccupied) located in an individual building that is 5 to 9 stories in height. See this FAQ for more information.

Museum

Museum refers to buildings that display collections to outside visitors for public viewing and enjoyment and for informational/educational purposes.

Gross Floor Area (GFA) should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to public collection display areas, meeting rooms, restrooms, classrooms, gift shops, food service areas, administrative/office space, mechanical rooms, storage areas for collections, libraries, elevator shafts, stairwells and movie theatre space inside the museum. Do not include any outside space in the GFA, such as outdoor exhibits, open-air theaters, walkways, and landscaped areas.

My Permissions to Property

My Properties vs. Other People's Properties

"My Properties" are the properties for which you are the Property Data Administrator. "Other People’s Properties" are the properties in your portfolio that other people have shared with you. You can have varying levels of administrative rights on these properties (Full Access, Read Only, Custom Access, or Exchange Data).
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National Median

The National Median is an extremely useful benchmark: 50% of properties perform below the median, and 50% perform above the median. It represents the middle of the national population. Most property types in Portfolio Manager get their National Median from the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). There are 5 exceptions where the National Median is not based on CBECS data: Data Centers, Hospitals, Multifamily, Senior Living Community, and Wastewater Treatment Plants. CBECS does not have a National Median for these 5 property types. Their Medians are based on their survey data. National Median Site and Source EUI values can be found in the Table of National Median values.

The exact way the National Median is determined depends on the property:
  • If your property has an ENERGY STAR score - The National Median Source EUI is the Source EUI that will give your specific property an ENERGY STAR score of 50. This means the National Median is normalized to account for your property's weather, business activity, and fuel mix. Using the National Median Source EUI, Portfolio Manager computes other National Median metrics like National Median Site EUI, National Median Energy Cost, and National Median (Location-Based) GHG Emissions.
    • If your property has multiple scorable property types – the National Median is a calculated average based on the proportions of the National Medians of each property type (as calculated above).
    • If your property has both scorable and non-scorable property types (Office & Restaurant) - the National Median is based only on the scorable property type.
  • If your property does not have an ENERGY STAR score - The National Median is the Source EUI from CBECS, normalized for your property's specific fuel mix, but not normalization for either weather or business operations. Using the National Median Source EUI, Portfolio Manager computes other National Median metrics like National Median Site EUI, National Median Energy Cost, and National Median GHG Emissions.
    • If a property has multiple non-scorable property types (Social Hall 70%, Food Service 30%) – the National Median for comparison is the “Portfolio Manager-Calculated Property Type” (which is the property type that is over 51% of the GFA, in this example it would be Social Hall).
    • If your property doesn’t have a single property type that is 51% or more - your National Median for comparison is the “Mixed Use” property type from CBECS.

Natural Gas Use - Monthly

“Natural Gas Use-Monthly” is a reporting metric that returns 12 values, one for each month in the specified year, of natural gas use summed across all gas meters. The values are “calendarized” as they are on the chart on the Energy Tab. This metric allows you to retrieve calendarized monthly gas metrics for multiple properties at once. Select this metric in Reporting, from the “Select Information and Metrics” modal, on the “Energy Use by Fuel Source” tab. The data will appear on a separate tab in your final report.

Non-Refrigerated Warehouse

Non-Refrigerated Warehouse refers to unrefrigerated buildings that are used to store goods, manufactured products, merchandise or raw materials. Buildings that are used primarily for assembling, modifying, manufacturing, or growing goods, products, merchandise or raw material should be classified as Manufacturing Facility.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to storage rooms, administrative office offices, lobbies, stairways, restrooms, equipment storage areas, and elevator shafts. This should not include exterior/outdoor loading bays or docks.

Notes

Notes is a free text field in which you may enter any remarks or details about the property.

Number of Bedrooms

The Number of Bedrooms should reflect the total number of bedrooms located in each individual apartment unit at the property.

For example, if you have 100 apartments broken out as follows, your Number of Bedrooms would be 175:

  • 25 are 3 bedrooms (25 * 3 = 75)
  • 25 are 2 bedrooms (25 * 2 = 50)
  • 25 are 1 bedroom   (25 * 1 = 25)
  • 25 are studios        (25 * 1 = 25)

Note:

  • Efficiency and studio apartments count as one (1) bedroom.
  • A junior one bedroom (a unit with a separate space for sleeping and usually separated by a half wall or temporary wall) count as one (1) bedroom.
  • Don't include in-unit common areas (ex: living rooms) being used as bedrooms by tenants.
  • Count what you have today, including any additions/modifications to the original unit(s).

Number of Buildings

Number of Buildings indicates the total number of buildings that are located on a multi-building property. You enter this value into Portfolio Manager whenever you create a multi-building property.

Please note that this value is not the number of buildings that have been individually benchmarked on a multi-building property. For example, you may operate a large university campus with 85 buildings. When you benchmark your property you indicate that there are 85 buildings, but you may only have building-level data to track 4 individual buildings on your campus. In this case, the Number of Buildings is still listed as 85, as you entered it.

Number of Cash Registers

Number of Cash Registers is the total number of cash registers. Cash registers are defined as physical machines that are used primarily for conducting transactions and indicating to customers the amounts of individual sales; they record and total receipts, may automatically calculate the change due, and often include a money drawer from which to make change. Do not include handheld point of sale devices.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Commercial Refrigeration/Freezer Units

Number of Commercial Refrigeration/Freezer Units is the total Number of Open or Closed Refrigeration/Freezer Units and the total Number of Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezer Units.
  • The Number of Open or Closed Refrigeration/Freezer Units is the count of open or closed cases that are used for the sale or storage of perishable goods. This includes display-type refrigerated open or closed cases and cabinets as well as display-type freezer units typically found on a sales floor. Each case or cabinet section, typically 4 to 12 feet in length, should be considered 1 unit. Closed cases generally have multiple doors –count the cases, not the doors. Include those cases located inside and immediately adjacent to the building. These units may be portable or permanent, and may have doors, plastic strips, or other flexible cover. This count should not include vending machines. *Guidance for large closed refrigeration units: Some closed cases can be up to 30 feet long. If your closed case is longer than 12 feet, you may count each 12 feet as 1 case. For example, if your case is 30 feet long, you may count it as 2.5 cases (30/12 = 2.5).
  • The Number of Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezer Units is the total count of walk-in units at the property. The Number of Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezer Units is the total count of walk-in units at the property. Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezers are large enough for a person to actually walk into. They may or may not have a door, plastic strips, or other flexible covers.
In addition, please note these specific property type considerations:
  • Hotels – May include Ice Makers in this count.
  • Worship Facility – This count should reflect commercial sized units that are often associated with food storage and preparation for community events. The count should include commercial sized units only, and should not include any residential-type units.

Number of Commercial Washing Machines

The Number of Commercial Washing Machines is a count of all commercial-type washing machines. Commercial units are designed with a large capacity for the commercial processing of linens and other laundry. This count should include washing machines only, and should not include any dryers. Do not include residential machines, such as coin-operated machines available for resident use.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Computers

The Number of Computers is the total number of desktop computers, laptops, Chromebooks/netbooks, and data servers at the property. This number should not include tablet computers, such as iPads, or any other types of office equipment.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

In addition, please note these specific property type considerations:
  • K-12 School – The count should only reflect computers that are owned by and charged at the school. It should not include any computers that are brought onsite by students or staff, or any computers regularly brought home by students.
  • Senior Living Community – The count should reflect computers used in administrative areas, computers in common areas available for residents and visitors, and wall-mounted computers in resident units for medical purposes. This count should not include any computers owned by residents that may be present in individual apartments or rooms. This is a count of computers only and should not include other electronic or medical equipment.

Number of Concert/Show Events Per Year

Number of Concert/Show Events per Year is the total number of concerts, shows, or similar events that occur each year. If the event, like a circus, spans multiple days, each showing should be counted as a separate event. Also, it may be possible to have multiple events at the same venue on the same day (e.g., afternoon and evening performances), in which case each event would be counted separately. Note that this is a count of concert and show type events and does not include sporting events or special/other events, which are counted separately.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Cooking Equipment Units

Number of cooking equipment units is the count of equipment used for cooking of food products. This count should include all conventional, convection, impinger, and retherm ovens, as well as fryers and grills. Smaller pieces of equipment such as toasters, microwaves, and rapid cook ovens should not be included in this count.

Number of Curling Sheets

Number of ice sheets specifically for the purpose of the game of curling.

Number of Energy Meters – Not Used to Compute Metrics

The total number of Energy Meters that are being tracked, but are not contributing to the property's total energy use. They might be submeters, or Parking meters that you want to track, but not include in the metrics for your property. These meters must be active and include usage for at least part of the Metric year to be counted.

Number of Energy Meters – Total

The total number of Energy Meters that are active for any part of the Metric year. The meters do not have to have 12-full months of energy data to be counted.

Number of Energy Meters - Used to Compute Metrics

The total number of Energy Meters that are being counted toward the property's total energy use. These meters must be active and include usage for at least part of the Metric year to be counted.

Number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Workers

The Number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Workers is the the unit of measure for workers where one unit is one full-time employee. It is computed as the total number of hours worked by all workers in a week divided by the standard hours worked by one full-time worker in a week. For example, if 10 employees each work 20 hours per week, then there are 5 FTEs (assuming the standard 40-hour week). Workers may include employees of the property, sub-contractors who are onsite regularly, and volunteers who perform regular onsite tasks to support facility operation. Workers should not include visitors to the property such as clients, customers, patients or spectators.

Number of Guest Meals Served Per Year

The Number of Guest Meals Served Per Year is a count of the guest meals that are prepared and served at this property each year – including room service, in-restaurant dining, and banquets/special events. Many hotels will refer to this metric as “food & beverage covers.”

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Indoor Ice Rinks

Number of indoor ice rinks used for indoor hockey, ringette, public or figure skating. This does not include curling sheets.

Number of IT Meters

The total number of IT Meters that are being tracked for this property. These meters must be active for at least part of the Metric year to be counted.

Number of Laundry Hookups in All Units

The Number of Laundry Hookups in All Units is a count of all laundry hookups located in individual apartment units. You should include all hookups that are available, even if the machine is inoperable or absent. For the purposes of counting hookups, each machine (individual washer, individual dryer, or combination/stacked unit) should be counted as one hookup.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Laundry Hookups in Common Area(s)

The Number of Laundry Hookups in Common Areas is a count of all laundry hookups located in common areas, which may be either pay-per-use or free machines. You should include all hookups that are available, even if the machine is inoperable or absent. For the purposes of counting hookups, each machine (individual washer, individual dryer, or combination/stacked unit) should be counted as one hookup.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Letters and Packages Per Year

The number of letters and packages per year is the typical sum of mail products (such as lettermail, flyers, packages, parcels etc.) processed for outbound delivery in this facility in a 12 month period.

Number of MRI Machines

The Number of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines is a count of the MRIs that are present at the property. You should only include MRIs that are permanently at the property, which may include machines present in a mobile trailer only if the mobile trailer is present for 10 or more months. Do not include any other imaging equipment (X-ray, CT Scan, etc.).

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Open or Closed Refrigeration/Freezer Units

The Number of Open or Closed Refrigeration/Freezer Units is the count of open or closed cases that are used for the sale or storage of perishable goods. This includes display-type refrigerated open or closed cases and cabinets as well as display-type freezer units typically found on a sales floor. Each case or cabinet section, typically 4 to 12 feet in length, should be considered 1 unit. Include those cases located inside and immediately adjacent to the building. These units may be portable or permanent, and may have doors, plastic strips, or other flexible cover. This count should not include vending machines or half -size/compact refrigerators.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of People

This is the total number of people living full time in a single-family home. Only include occupants who live in the home more than 9 months per year.

Number of People with Access to Property

Number of Residential Electronic Lift Systems

The Number of Residential Electronic Lift Systems is a count of all residential electronic lift systems at the property. A lift system is an assistive device that transfers residents between a bed and a chair, or other place, using hydraulic power. This count should include portable and permanent sling lifts, wheelchair lifts, and entry systems. Do not include manual lifts.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Residential Washing Machines

The Number of Residential Washing Machines is a count of all residential washing machines at the property. Residential Washing Machines are standard units that may be found in individual units or common laundry areas, such as coin-operated machines available for resident use. This count should include washing machines only, and should not include any dryers. Do not include commercial washing machines.

Number of Rooms

The Number of Rooms is the total number of rooms at the property, including occupied rooms, non-occupied rooms, rooms in the process of being renovated and rooms for permanent house/administrative use. This number will often be included in promotional and marketing materials.

In addition, please note these specific property type considerations:
  • Dormitory – This count reflects individual rooms, which may be occupied by more than one student.
  • Hotel – This count reflects guest rooms.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Special/Other Events Per Year

Number of Special/Other Events per Year is the total number of specialty events that occur each year. These events do not require the use of the entire venue and include weddings, banquets, conferences or meetings. If the event spans multiple days, each day the event is held should be counted as a separate event. Also, it may be possible to have multiple events at the same venue on the same day (e.g., afternoon and evening performances), in which case each event would be counted separately. Note that this is a count of specialty events only and does not include sporting events or concert events, which are counted separately.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Sporting Events Per Year

Number of Sporting Events per Year is the total number of sporting events that occur each year. Each event should be counted only once. Also, it may be possible to have multiple events at the same venue on the same day (e.g., afternoon and evening games), in which case each event would be counted separately. Note that this is a count of sporting events only and does not include concert events or special/other events, which are counted separately.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Staffed Beds

The Number of Staffed Beds is the average number of beds regularly available (set up and staffed) for use by inpatients. This count does not include newborn bassinets, labor room, post anesthesia, or postoperative recovery room beds, psychiatric holding beds, and beds that are used only as holding facilities for patients prior to their transfer to another hospital/inpatient facility.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number Of Sterilization Units

A sterilization unit is defined as equipment dedicated to inactivate or remove all living organisms (including vegetative and spore forms) as well as viruses. Sterilization units include steam sterilizers such as autoclaves, cold sterilizers, gaseous autoclaves, and ultraviolet autoclaves and sterilizers. Special washing machines and dryers are not sterilization units. Please count the number of working autoclaves and sterilizers in the building and enter the total number for the Number of Sterilization Units use detail.

Number of Surgical Operating Beds

The Number of Surgical Operating Beds is a count of beds where outpatient surgical procedures, similar to those which would be conducted in a hospital, are performed. These beds are located in dedicated operating rooms and do not include chairs in exam rooms which might occasionally be used for minor surgical procedures. If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezer Units

The Number of Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezer Units is the total count of walk-in units at the property. Walk-in Refrigeration/Freezers are large enough for a person to actually walk into. They may or may not have a door, plastic strips, or other flexible covers.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Number of Warming/Heating Equipment Units

Number of warming/heating equipment units is the count of pieces of equipment used to continuously hold food products at a warm temperature. This includes heated merchandiser cases, warming drawers, and hot dog rollers. This equipment should be operational and warming food for a majority of the time the store is open to the public.

Number of Water Meters – Not Used to Compute Metrics

The total number of Water Meters that are active for any part of the Metric year.

Number of Water Meters – Total

The total number of Water Meters that are active for any part of the Metric year. The meters do not have to have 12-full months of water data to be counted.

Number of Water Meters - Used to Compute Metrics

The total number of Water Meters that are being counted toward the property's total water use. These meters must be active for at least part of the Metric year to be counted.

Number of Workers on Main Shift

The Number of Workers on Main Shift should reflect the total number of workers present during the primary shift. This is not a total count of workers, but rather a count of workers who are present at the same time. For example, if there are two daily eight hour shifts of 100 workers each, the Number of Workers on Main Shift value is 100. Number of Workers on Main Shift may include employees of the property, sub-contractors who are onsite regularly, and volunteers who perform regular onsite tasks. Number of Workers should not include visitors to the buildings such as clients, customers, or patients.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

In terms of metrics, each property type has its own metric for The Number of Workers on Main Shift, and many have Worker Density as well, which is the Number of Workers on Main Shift divided by 1,000. For example:
  • Office - Number of Workers on Main Shift
  • Office - Worker Density (Number per 1,000 sq ft)

Nutrient Removal

Nutrient removal is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – There is a nutrient removal process(es). Nutrient removal is considered to be any process included for the purpose of removing nutrients (i.e., nitrogen, phosphorus). This may include biological nitrification, biological denitrification, phosphorus removal, or recirculating sand filters. This same question about nutrient removal is asked in EPA’s Community Watershed Needs Survey.
  • No – There is not nutrient removal at the plant
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Occupancy

Occupancy is the percentage of your property’s Gross Floor Area (GFA) that is occupied and operational. This is a measure of the building’s occupancy/use, it is not connected to a building’s “Maximum Occupancy.”

The value you enter for occupancy will not affect your ENERGY STAR Score or any other metrics. Your Score is based on your specific Use Details (Number of Workers, Computers, etc) and you need to update your Use Details to accurately reflect the activity at your property.

Your occupancy could affect your eligibility for ENERGY STAR certification. We have the following occupancy requirements:
  • Office/Bank/Courthouse/Financial Office – at least 55%
  • Hotel - at least 60%
  • Multifamily – at least 80%
If you are not seeking certification for one of the above property types, you may not find Occupancy very useful (though it is required, so enter your best guess and move on).Examples to help you determine your occupancy:
  • Office: Occupancy is a measure of the tenant spaces that are leased. If you have a 10-story building, and on average one floor is vacant, and the other 9 floors fully leased and occupied, then the occupancy would be 90%. If you have people working on all floors/areas of your building, then you are 100% occupied. You do not need to count empty cubicles or the number of employees who enter a property.
  • Hotel: Occupancy is a measure of the rooms that are sold. If you have a hotel with 100 rooms, and on average 10 rooms per night are vacant, then the occupancy is 90%.
  • Multifamily: Occupancy is a measure of the units that are leased. If you have a 100 apartments, and 5 are vacant for the year, then the occupancy is 95%.
  • Worship Facility: Occupancy is the percentage of the building that is operational, regardless of how many people are in the building. Most of the time, this will be 100%.
There is only one Occupancy rate for each property as a whole. You enter Occupancy when you first create the property, and you can change it on the Details tab. You cannot track occupancy changes over time.

Here are instructions for what to do when your occupancy fluctuates.

Office

Office refers to buildings used to conduct commercial or governmental business activities. This includes administrative and professional offices.

Gross Floor Area (GFA) should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to offices, conference rooms and auditoriums, break rooms, restrooms, kitchens, lobbies, fitness areas, basements, storage areas, stairways, and elevator shafts.

If you have restaurants, retail, or services (dry cleaners) within the Office, you should most likely include this square footage and energy in the Office Property Use. There are 4 exceptions to this rule when you should create a separate Property Use:
  • If it is a Property Use Type that can get an ENERGY STAR Score (note: Retail can only get a score if it is greater than 5,000 square feet)
  • If it accounts for more than 25% of the property's GFA
  • If it is a vacant/unoccupied Office
  • If the Hours of Operation differ by more than 10 hours from the main Property Use
More on this rule.

Onsite Laundry Facility

Onsite Laundry Facility is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The property contains an onsite laundry facility to provide commercial laundry services. Sometimes these laundry facilities will launder not only linens associated with the property itself, but also laundry for other similar facilities (e.g. a central laundry plant at one hotel that serves several hotels in the city).
  • No – The property does not contain an on-site laundry facility.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Onsite Renewable Systems

Onsite Renewable Systems are electric generation systems located at your property that produce Green Power. You can track two types of Onsite Renewable Systems in Portfolio Manager: solar and wind. Each unit of electricity (kWh) produced by your Onsite Renewable System comes with a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC), which quantifies the environmental benefit. RECs can be sold separately. That is, you may use the electricity in your building, but sell the RECs to someone else. If you sell the RECs, you can no longer claim you are using Green Power. To help you understand the energy generation and environmental benefit of your system we offer a number of metrics:
  • Electricity Use – Generated from Onsite Renewable System is the total amount of energy produced from your onsite solar/wind. This total amount can be broken into two parts:
    • Electricity Use – Generated from Onsite Renewable Systems and Used Onsite is the portion of the energy that was produced from your solar/wind system that was used at your property. It does not include energy exported to the Grid. If you retained all the RECs for this energy, then this metric will be equal to your “Green Power – Onsite.”
    • Electricity Use – Generated from Onsite Renewable Systems and Exported is the portion of the energy that was produced from your solar/wind systems that you exported back to the grid (you did not use). If you get a "net-metered" bill this amount is needed to determine your actual consumption. This exported energy does not contribute to your annual energy consumption, or any other metrics.
  • Electricity Use - Grid Purchase and Generated from Onsite Renewable Systems is the combined total of all the electricity that your property used, including both grid purchases and the electricity that you generated and used onsite.
  • Percent of Total Electricity Generated from Onsite Renewable Systems is the percentage of your total electricity use that is supplied by your onsite renewable system, regardless of REC ownership. For example, if your building used 100 kWh this year and 60 kWh came from your onsite renewable system, and 40 kWh were purchased from the grid, then your Percent Electricity Sourced from Onsite Renewable Systems is 60% (60/100). This is not affected by any renewable energy that you exported.
  • Percent of RECs Retained is the percentage of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) that you kept/(own) compared to the total quantity of RECs associated with the onsite renewable energy you generated. It does not include RECs that you traded in REC Arbitrage.
  • Green Power – Onsite is the total electricity generated and used from your onsite renewable system, for which you own the RECs. Energy use from these systems is considered "green," meaning it benefits your GHG Emissions (specifically “Avoided Emissions” because you've "avoided" the emissions from grid electricity). If you sell the RECs through REC arbitrage, then you will see the benefit in your "Green Power-Offsite."
  • Avoided Emissions – Onsite Green Power estimates the emissions benefits of the reduction in grid-supplied electricity due to your onsite green power use. It is calculated as the amount of Onsite Green Power you consume multiplied by the non-baseload (marginal) emissions factor of your eGRID subregion.

Open Parking Lot Size

Open Parking Lot is a paved area that is lit and used for parking vehicles. Open Parking Lots refer specifically to open areas, which may include small shading covers but do not include any full structures with roofs. Parking lot size may include the area of parking spots, lanes, and driveways. If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Operational Target

Other

Other refers to buildings that do not fall within the available property use categories in Portfolio Manager. Before selecting Other, it is highly recommended that you review the full list of property uses available for selection to ensure that there is not a suitable category for your property.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to space devoted to your main business activity, administrative offices, employee break rooms, bathrooms, stairways, and elevator shafts.

Other - Education

Other – Education refers to buildings used for religious, community, or other educational purposes not described in the available property uses in Portfolio Manager (i.e. educational purposes other than adult education, college/university, K-12 school, pre-school/daycare and vocational schools).

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to classrooms, administrative space, conference rooms, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, cafeterias, auditoriums, laboratory classrooms, stairways, elevator shafts, and storage areas.

Other - Entertainment/Public Assembly

Other-Entertainment/Public Assembly refers to buildings whose primary use is for entertainment or public gatherings and that do not meet the definition of any other property use defined in Portfolio Manager.

Gross floor area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to entertainment areas, administrative areas, and supporting areas such as storage rooms, hallways, restrooms, stairways, and maintenance areas.

Other - Lodging/Residential

Other – Lodging/Residential refers to buildings used for residential purposes other than those described in the available property uses in Portfolio Manager (i.e. residential other than multifamily residential, single-family home, senior living community, residence hall/dormitory, barracks, prison/incarceration, or hotel).

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to living areas, common areas, administrative space, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, waiting areas, cafeterias, stairways, atriums, elevator shafts, and storage areas.

Other - Mall

Other-Mall refers to buildings containing a collection of stores whose purpose is the sale of goods, but which do not fit into the enclosed mall, lifestyle center, or strip mall property types.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to retail stores, offices, food courts, restaurants, storage areas, staff break rooms, walkways, stairwells, and mechanical areas.

Other - Public Services

Other – Public Services refers to buildings used by public-sector organizations to provide public services other than those described in the available property uses in Portfolio Manager (i.e. services other than offices, courthouses, drinking water treatment and distribution plants, fire stations, libraries, mailing centers or post offices, police stations, prisons or incarceration facilities, social or meeting halls, transportation terminals or stations, or wastewater treatment plants).

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to administrative space, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, waiting areas, cafeterias, stairways, atriums, elevator shafts, landscaping sheds, and storage areas.

Other - Recreation

Other-Recreation refers to buildings primarily used for recreation that do not meet the definition of any other property use defined in Portfolio Manager.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to recreational areas and supporting activities such as mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Other - Restaurant/Bar

Other – Restaurant/Bar refers to buildings used for preparation and sale of ready-to-eat food and beverages, but which does not fit into the fast food restaurant, restaurant, or bar/nightclub property types.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to kitchens, sales areas, dining areas, staff break rooms, and storage areas. Gross Floor Area should not include any outdoor/exterior seating areas, but the energy use of these outdoor areas should be reported on your energy meters.

Other - Services

Other - Services refers to buildings in which primarily services are offered, but which does not fit into the Personal Services or Repair Services property types. Examples include kennels, photo processing shops, etc.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to sales floors, offices, storage areas, staff break rooms, walkways, and stairwells.

Other - Specialty Hospital

Other - Specialty Hospitals refers to long-term acute care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, including Cancer Centers and Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals/Facilities.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s) on the campus including but not limited to medical offices, patient rooms, laboratories, lobbies, atriums, cafeterias, rest rooms, stairways, corridors connecting buildings, storage areas, elevator shafts.

Other - Stadium

Other-Stadium refers to buildings primarily used for sporting events that do not meet the definition of any other property use defined in Portfolio Manager.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to areas for athletic activity and spectator seating and supporting activities such as mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Other - Technology/Science

Other – Technology/Science refers to buildings used for science and technology related services other than Laboratories and Data Centers.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including but not limited to areas with the main business activity, production areas, administrative offices, employee break areas, stairways, atriums, elevator shafts, and storage areas.

Other - Utility

Other – Utility applies to buildings used by a utility for some purpose other than general office or energy/power generation. This may include utility transfer stations or maintenance facilities. Note that an administrative office occupied by a utility should be entered as Office, and a power or energy generation plant should be entered as Energy/Power Station.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including administrative space, maintenance and equipment areas, generator rooms, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, meeting rooms, stairways, elevator shafts, and storage areas. This should not include any exterior spaces associated with utility operations.

Outpatient Rehabilitation/Physical Therapy

Outpatient Rehabilitation/Physical Therapy offices refers to buildings used to provide diagnosis and treatment for rehabilitation and physical therapy.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s) including offices, exam rooms, waiting rooms, indoor pool areas, atriums, employee break rooms and kitchens, rest rooms, elevator shafts, stairways, mechanical rooms, and storage areas.

Owned By

Owned By is the designation for the primary ownership of your property. There are three options:
  • Non-profit – This is intended for community-based not-for-profit organizations, including religious organizations.
  • For- profit – This is intended for either public or private entities that operate for a profit.
  • Government – These are government-owned facilities, which may include local, state, or Federal facilities (including Veteran’s Administration and military facilities).
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.
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P

Parent Property

Parking

Parking refers to buildings and lots used for parking vehicles. This includes open parking lots, partially enclosed parking structures, and completely enclosed (or underground) parking structures. Parking structures may be free standing or physically connected to the property. Individual private garages in Multifamily Housing are not considered Parking.

For parking Gross Floor Area (GFA) include all square footage in the garage such as ramps, offices, storage rooms, mechanical rooms, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Parking Metrics (which are all time weighted) include:
  • Parking – Gross Floor Area is the Parking GFA for the Partially Enclosed and Completely Enclosed Parking Garages. When the property is a Parking Garage, this is the value used for the Property GFA.
  • Parking – Open Parking Lot
  • Parking – Partially Enclosed Parking Garage
  • Parking – Completely Enclosed Parking Garage
If your property is a Parking Garage (meaning you only have one property type which is Parking), then what you see on the Details tab will be slightly different than the metrics you’ll see in reporting. This is done for clarity in this special case.
  • Instead of Property GFA (Buildings), you’ll see Property GFA (Parking Structure) because the “building” is the Parking structure in this case.
  • Instead of Property GFA (Parking), you’ll see Property GFA (Open Parking Lots)

Partial Building

Partially Enclosed Parking Garage

Partially Enclosed Parking Garage is the total area of any parking structure that is not fully enclosed. This includes parking garages where each level is covered at the top, but the sides are partially or fully open – that is, structures that have partial walls or no walls at all. Partially Enclosed Parking Garages have lights on 24 hours/day.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

People with Access to Property

Percent Electricity

The percentage of the property's total energy that is electricity. It is calculated as Electricity Site Energy/Total Site Energy.

Percent That Can Be Cooled

Percent That Can Be Cooled is the total percentage of your property that can be cooled by mechanical equipment. This includes all types of cooling from central air to individual window units. You enter this percent rounded to the nearest tenth. Use rounding when necessary.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Percent That Can Be Heated

Percent That Can Be Heated is the total percentage of your property that can be heated by mechanical equipment.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Percent Used for Cold Storage

The total percentage of your property that is enclosed insulated storage space intended for the cooling or freezing of goods, merchandise, raw materials, or manufactured products in buildings (or portions of buildings), at or less than 50 degrees F (10 degrees C). This typically includes large cold storage areas, but the area associated with small walk-in refrigeration/freezer units may also be included in this space. This percentage is exclusive of the Percent that Can Be Cooled; so combined they should equal no more than 100%. You enter this percentage to the single digit. Do not use rounding.

Performing Arts

Performing Arts refers to buildings used for public or private artistic or musical performances.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including seating, stage and backstage areas, food service areas, retail areas, rehearsal studios, administrative/office space, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Permissions

When you share a property, you determine the specific information that is shared and the specific actions that can be performed on the property. There are four permission levels:
  • Read Only Access is the ability to view all information about your property, but not make any additions or changes. For example, the person could view your energy usage but could not make corrections or add new energy bills. Read Only Access does NOT come with the ability to share the property with other people (Share Forward). If you want someone to be able to "Share Forward" but have Read Only Access to your meters and other information, you can make this selection under Custom Access.
  • Full Access is the ability to view and edit your property. With Full Access, a person can do all of the same things you can, except delete the property. Full Access automatically comes with the ability to "Share Forward," which means the person with whom you share can also share that property with others. If you want someone to have Full Access to all the property data, but NOT be able to "Share Forward," then you need to share with Custom Access.
  • Custom Access allows you to select more granular permissions for each person you are sharing with. First, you select None, Read Only, or Full Access for each type of data (Property, Meters, Goals, Recognition). By default, all selections are set to Read Only. If you want someone to be able to add meter bill data, add new meters (or delete meters, edit information about your meters, or change the associations for your meter), then you need to select "Full Access" for Property Information. Choosing “None” will suppress access to that specific tab, but annual metrics for the property are still accessible via Reporting. After you set permissions for viewing and editing your data, you decide whether you want to give "Share Forward" rights, meaning the ability to share the property with others.
    • Note that when you grant "Share Forward," the person cannot share with more permissions than they have. For example, if you select Read Only for every type of data (Property, meters, and certification) then the person can Share Forward, but can only grant Read Access, not Full Access, to your data.
  • Exchange Data allows you to select an organization (which is registered to use web services) to exchange data with your Portfolio Manager account. You will be able to specify specific permissions regarding whether the organization will be able to view or modify Property, Building, and Meter information. Choosing “None” will suppress access to that specific tab, but annual metrics for the property are still accessible via Reporting. You will also decide if you want to grant "Share Forward" rights, meaning the ability to share the property with others.
    • Note: When sharing to exchange data, you may also be required to provide additional information to the organization so that they can process your request to exchange data with Portfolio Manager.

Personal Services (Health/Beauty, Dry Cleaning, etc.)

Personal Services refers to buildings used to sell services rather than physical goods. Examples include dry cleaners, salons, spas, etc.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including sales floors, offices, storage areas, staff break rooms, walkways, and stairwells.

Plant Design Flow Rate

Plant Design Flow Rate is the capacity for which a water or wastewater treatment facility has been designed. It must be entered in Million Gallons per Day (MGD).

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Plant Flow Rate Meter

A plant flow rate meter applies to Wastewater Treatment Plants and Drinking Water Treatment and Distribution Plants. This meter is used to track the flow of water going through the plant. You can update the flow rate regularly using weekly, monthly, or quarterly entries to the Flow Rate Meter.

Police Station

Police Station applies to buildings used for federal, state, or local police forces and their associated office space.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including offices, temporary holding cells, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, atriums, conference rooms and auditoriums, fitness areas for staff, storage areas, stairways, and elevator shafts.

Portfolio Manager-Estimated Energy Metrics

EPA's best practice for benchmarking buildings is to submeter and exclude parking and pools. However, if submetering is not possible, Portfolio Manager calculates an estimate for this energy use and subtracts it before calculating the score. These “Portfolio Manager-Estimated Energy” metrics are exposed to help users better understand energy use for all property types who include parking and pool energy. For full disclosure, we've also included Portfolio Manager-calculated Energy Estimates for Data Centers.
  • Parking - these metrics can be found in the "Property Use Details" metrics folder
    • Parking - Portfolio Manager-Estimated Site Energy (kBtu)
    • Parking - Portfolio Manager-Estimated Source Energy (kBtu)
  • Heated Swimming Pool - these metrics can be found in the "Property Use Details" metrics folder
    • Heated Swimming Pool - Portfolio Manager-Estimated Site Energy (kBtu)
    • Heated Swimming Pool - Portfolio Manager-Estimated Source Energy (kBtu)
  • Data Centers - these metrics can be found in the "Data Center" metrics folder
    • Data Center - Portfolio Manager-Estimated Site Energy (kBtu)
    • Data Center - Portfolio Manager-Estimated Site Energy (kWh)
    • Data Center - Portfolio Manager-Estimated Source Energy (kBtu)

Portfolio Manager ID

Power Generation Plant

Precision Controls for Temperature and Humidity

Precision Controls for Temperature and Humidity is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes - Precision Controls for Temperature and Humidity (such as ASHRAE Class of Control A or AA) are in place to preserve collections for general museums, art galleries, libraries, and archives. The ASHRAE standard can be found in the ASHRAE Handbook -- HVAC Applications Chapter: Museums, Galleries, Archives, and Libraries Table on Temperature and Relative Humidity Specifications for Collections.
  • No - There are no Precision Controls in place.

Pre-school/Daycare

Pre-school/Daycare applies to buildings primarily used for educational programs or daytime supervision/recreation for young children. This can also include "before care" and "after care" programs. An elementary school with pre-kindergarten, "before care," or "after care" programs should benchmark as K-12 School. Daycare centers in private homes are not eligible for a score.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including classrooms, administrative space, conference rooms, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, cafeterias, gymnasiums, auditoriums, stairways, elevator shafts, and storage areas.

Primary Business or Service

The primary category that your business falls into. If more than two apply, pick the best one.

Primary Function

Prison/Incarceration

Prison/Incarceration refers to federal, state, local, or private-sector buildings used for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of crimes.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including holding cells, cafeterias, administrative spaces, kitchens, lobbies, atriums, conference rooms and auditoriums, fitness areas, storage areas, stairways, and elevator shafts.

Professional Engineer (PE/P.Eng)

Progress and Goals Report

The Progress & Goals Report is a comparison table of a building’s energy use, including baseline, current, property’s set target, and national median. This report may be needed when applying for a grant or responding to a competition.

Property Access

Property Access defines the administrative permissions that you or someone else have regarding a particular property. If you are the Property Data Administrator then you have full “property access.” When you share a property you can specify the property access as: Full Access, Read Only, Custom, or Exchange Data.

Property Data Administrator

The Property Data Administrator is the person who owns the account where the property was initially entered. We didn't call this person the "Property Owner" to avoid confusion with the person who "owns" the lease or deed to the building.

Property Data Administrator - Account ID

Property Data Administrator - Account ID is the unique identifier for the Property Data Administrator’s account (the person or account who currently “owns” the property record).

Property Gross Floor Area Metrics

Your property’s Gross Floor Area (GFA) is tracked in four different metrics:
  • Property GFA – Self-Reported is the number you enter when you first create a property. It can be edited on the Details tab, under “Basic Information.” This value does not change over time, and it is not time weighted. If you edit it, it deletes the previous value without saving a record of what it had been.
  • Property GFA - Calculated (Buildings) is the sum of the GFA of all the Property Uses that you entered on the Details tab, excluding parking. This is the GFA used to calculate your Energy Use Intensity (EUI), or energy per square foot. This number should match your “Property GFA – Self-Reported.” If you have Property Uses that change square footage frequently (like office space going vacant), this is a good check to make sure all of your Property Uses add up to the right number. This value is time weighted. There are two exceptions to this rule:
    • If your property is a Parking Garage – then the “Buildings” GFA is the sum of the partially and completely enclosed garages. See Parking for more details on Parking metrics.
    • If your property only consists of an outdoor swimming pool – then you have no "building," and Portfolio Manager will use the GFA of the pool for your building.
  • Property GFA - Calculated (Buildings and Parking) is the sum of the GFA of all the Property Uses that you entered on the Details tab plus all three types of parking GFA. This value is time weighted.
  • Property GFA - Calculated (Parking) is the sum of the three individual parking GFAs (Open Parking Lots, Partially Enclosed Garages and Completely Enclosed Garages). This value is time weighted.

Property IDs

Property IDs are unique identifiers for your property that can be used by EPA, you, or other organizations to track and manage your property. There are four main types of Property IDs:
  • Portfolio Manager Property IDs - This is a unique ID assigned by EPA to each property.
  • Portfolio Manager Parent Property IDs - If your property is a campus of buildings and you benchmark one or more "child" buildings individually, then each child building will be associated to its parent through this ID.
  • Custom IDs - A custom ID is an ID that you can set, for example, it could be an ID associated with your company or an ID for a campaign in which you are participating. When you enter a Custom ID, you can enter both a name for the ID and its actual value. For example: (Company ABC Inventory ID, 01234). When you search for these custom IDs in reports, you will see them only as Custom ID 1, Custom ID 2, and Custom ID 3, because Custom ID 1 could be different for different properties in your portfolio.
  • Standard IDs - A standard ID is a special type of ID with a set name that is available within Portfolio Manager. These are IDs associated with local legislation, national campaigns, or other large benchmarking activities. For example, New York City uses the Borough Block and Lot (BBL) number to track buildings in their jurisdiction. To enter a standard ID you can select the ID name from our dropdown list and then enter the value. See Standard ID for a full list.

Property Manager

Property Primary Contact

Property Relationships

Property relationships describe the connection between two buildings. When you benchmark a campus (collection of buildings) you can track information for the entire campus, as well as for individual buildings on the campus. If you choose to track at both of these levels, then you have a "parent-child" relationship:
  • Parent Property – The "parent" is the entire campus or complex. That is, the parent is the multi-building property for which you have also chosen to benchmark individual buildings separately. For example, a high school has 2 buildings: the main classroom building and a separate gymnasium. When you enter the high school you will designate it as a multi-building property with two buildings. If you choose to enter and track the classroom building and gymnasium individually, then your high school property is called the "parent property" while the classroom building and gymnasium are "children" properties.
  • Child Property – The "child" buildings are the individual buildings on a campus. In the example above, the two "child" buildings are the main school and the gymnasium. As a best practice, we recommend that you separately benchmark the parent property and the individual child buildings, if you have separate meters for them.

Note: A Child building can have 2 parents. But a building cannot be both a parent and a child (no nesting of campuses).

Property Type

The property type indicates the single, primary use of your property. However, there are two different property types:
  • Property Type - Self-Selected – This is the primary property type that you select. You select the type with which you most closely identify and you can change it at any time (on the Details tab, under Basic Information).
  • Property Type - Portfolio Manager-Calculated – Portfolio Manager calculates a property type based on the property uses that you have entered. This is the property type that accounts for more than 50% of your property. For example, if you enter a property that has an Office that accounts for 60% of your Gross Floor Area (GFA) and a Retail store for 40%, the "Portfolio Manager-Calculated" Property Type will be "Office." This property type is used to determine your peer group for comparison to the National Median. If no individual property type accounts for more than 50%, then it will be designated as Mixed Use.

Property Types at your Property

There are several metrics to show the Property Types in a single Property:
  • List of All Property Types at Property – is a comma delimited list of all the property types for a single property, in alphabetical order.
  • Largest Property Use Type – is the name of the Property Type (ex: Office) that has the largest Gross Floor Area (GFA) for that property.
  • Largest Property Use Type – Gross Floor Area (ft²) – is the GFA for the largest Property Type.
  • 2nd Largest Property Use Type – is the name of the Property Type (ex: Office) that has the second largest GFA for that property.
  • 2nd Largest Property Use – Gross Floor Area (ft²) – is the GFA for the second largest Property Type.
  • 3rd Largest Property Use Type – is the name of the Property Type (ex: Office) that has the third largest GFA for that property.
  • 3rd Largest Property Use Type – Gross Floor Area (ft²) – is the GFA for the third largest Property Type.

Property Use Details

Property Use Details is a term referring to the business activity at your property, such as Weekly Operating Hours, Number of Workers, and Number of Computers. Each Property Type will have a different set of applicable Property Use Details (for example, Schools will have Student Seating Capacity and Retail Stores will have Number of Cash Registers). View the complete list of definitions for each Property Use Detail by Property Type.
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R

Race Track

Race Track refers to buildings used primarily to hold racing events such as vehicle races, track/field races, horse races, and/or dog-races.

Gross Floor Area should include all spectator viewing areas, concourse space on which workers or guests can walk, concession areas, retail stores, restaurants, administrative/office areas, employee break rooms, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells. The footprint of the race track itself should also be included in the gross floor area, along with the footprint of any staging areas.

Read Only Access

Read Only Access is the ability to view all information about your property, but not make any additions or changes. For example, the person could view your energy consumption information but could not make corrections or add new energy bills. Read Only Access does NOT come with the ability to share the property with other people (Share Forward). If you want someone to be able to "Share Forward" but have Read Only Access to your meters and other information, you can make this selection under Custom Access.

Also see Permissions.

Reason(s) For No Score

Reason(s) for no Score is a metric that provides a short explanation for why a property does not display a score, such as "Property has no energy meters," "Meters with gaps/overlaps in meter entries" or "Property Type cannot get a score as a campus." There could be multiple reasons, and they will be listed in a comma delimited list. If a property has a score, this metric will be N/A.

Recycled

Recycled refers to materials (most commonly paper, glass, plastic and aluminum) that have been collected and manufactured into new products.

Refrigerated Warehouse

Refrigerated Warehouse refers to refrigerated buildings that are used to store or redistribute perishable goods or merchandise under refrigeration at temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Buildings that are used primarily for assembling, modifying, manufacturing, or growing goods, products, merchandise or raw material should be classified as Manufacturing Facility.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), which includes temperature-controlled areas, administrative offices, lobbies, stairways, restrooms, equipment storage areas, and elevator shafts. This should not include exterior/outdoor loading bays or docks.

Regional Power Grid

Registered Architect

Renewable Energy Certificate (REC)

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are the tradable, legal rights to the environmental benefits of green power. These rights can be sold separately from the actual electricity (kWh).  In order for power to be considered "green," and to see the benefits of green power in your greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) metrics, you must own the RECs.

You can obtain RECs in 3 ways:
  1. You generate onsite green power (solar or wind energy). For each meter entry, you must specify the REC ownership as: Owned, Arbitrage*, or Sold.
    • You only see the benefits of green power in your GHG metrics if you retain ownership of the RECs. Your source energy use intensity and ENERGY STAR score will benefit from onsite green power, regardless of REC ownership.
    • *REC arbitrage is when you sell the RECs that are associated with your onsite system and purchase other RECs as replacements. In this case, you cannot claim that your onsite system electricity generation is green. You may, however, claim the benefit of offsite green power associated with the replacement RECs you purchased.
  2. You purchase green power from your utility. This is considered offsite green power.
  3. You purchase RECs independent of your physical electricity. These purchases are typically made at a corporate level and are often not traceable to individual buildings. You cannot currently track these unbundled RECs at the portfolio level, but you may enter these purchases as offsite green power if you are able to attribute them to individual properties.

Repair Services (Vehicle, Shoe, Locksmith, etc.)

Repair Services refers to buildings in which some type of repair service is provided. Examples include vehicle service or repair shops, shoe repair, jewelry repair, locksmiths, etc.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including sales floors, repair areas, workshops, offices, parts storage areas, waiting rooms, staff break rooms, hallways, and stairwells.

Report Contacts

The various ENERGY STAR Reports includes several important contacts:
  • Primary Contact is the main point of contact for the property. This is the person who people would contact with questions about the property.
  • Property Owner is the organization who owns the property/building.
  • Licensed Professional is the person who validates the property information that appears on the report. For ENERGY STAR certification, the Licensed Professional is required to be either a Professional Engineer (PE/P.Eng) or a Registered Architect. For more information, see the glossary term for Licensed Professional.

Residence Hall/Dormitory

Residence Hall/Dormitory refers to buildings associated with educational institutions or military facilities which offer multiple accommodations for long-term residents.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including bedrooms, common areas, food service facilities, laundry facilities, meeting spaces, exercise rooms, health club/spas, lobbies, elevator shafts, storage areas, and stairways.

Residential Care Facility

Residential Care Facilities refers to buildings that provide rehabilitative and restorative care to patients on a long-term or permanent basis. Residential Care Facilities treat mental health issues, substance abuse, and rehabilitation for injury, illness, and disabilities. This property type is intended for facilities that offer long-term residential care to residents of all ages who may be in need of assistance with activities of daily living. If a facility is designed to provide nursing and assistance to seniors only, then the Senior Living Community property type should be used.

Gross Floor Area should include all fully-enclosed space within the exterior walls of the building(s) including individual rooms or units, wellness centers, exam rooms, community rooms, small shops or service areas for residents and visitors (e.g. hair salons, convenience stores), staff offices, lobbies, atriums, cafeterias, kitchens, storage areas, hallways, basements, stairways, corridors between buildings, and elevator shafts. Open air stairwells, breezeways, and other similar areas that are not fully-enclosed should not be included in the gross floor area.

Residential Population Type

The Resident Population Type describes the specific resident population, if any, to which the multifamily housing property is marketed and/or dedicated. Select the type of housing that applies to the majority (more than 50%) of the residents.

The following options are available:
  • No specific resident population: The property is not inhabited by any dedicated population.
  • Dedicated Student: Privately owned, off-campus housing -- not affiliated with a college or university -- that is primarily occupied by undergraduate or graduate students.
  • Dedicated Military: Off-base housing primarily occupied by persons serving in or employed by the military.
  • Dedicated Senior/Independent Living: Housing that is restricted to the elderly that also provides limited programs of assistance with domestic activities (meals, housekeeping, activities, transportation, etc.). Typically, a unit in an Independent Living Community resembles a standard market unit, though the community may offer amenities or communal dining facilities not typical in multifamily apartment buildings.

    Independent Living Communities generally are not licensed and generally do not provide assistance with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) or healthcare, such as the management of medications and assistance with bathing, dressing, toileting, ambulating, eating and other similar activities.
  • Dedicated Special Accessibility Needs: Residents living in the property are covered by the American Disabilities Act.
  • Other Dedicated housing (please specify): - Use this selection to indicate another type of dedicated resident population.
Please note that Portfolio Manager contains separate property use designations for Senior Living Communities, Residence Halls/Dormitories, and Barracks. Please refer to the definitions for these property uses to benchmark a property that is used for nursing/assisted living or as a student or military residence hall.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Restaurant

Restaurant refers to buildings used for preparation and sale of ready-to-eat food and beverages, but which do not fit in the fast food property type. Examples include fast casual, casual, and fine dining restaurants.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including kitchens, sales areas, dining areas, offices, staff break rooms, and storage areas. Gross Floor Area should not include any outdoor/exterior seating areas, but the energy use of these outdoor areas should be reported on your energy meters.

Retail Store

Retail Store refers to individual stores used to conduct the retail sale of non-food consumer goods such as Department Stores, Discount Stores, Drug Stores, Dollar Stores, Hardware Stores, and Apparel/Specialty Stores (e.g., books, clothing, office products, sporting goods, toys, home goods, and electronics). Buildings containing multiple stores should be classified as enclosed mall, lifestyle center, or strip mall.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including sales areas, storage areas, offices staff break rooms, elevators, and stairwells.

To receive an ENERGY STAR score, a Retail Store must be a single store that is at least 5,000 square feet (464.5 m2) and has an exterior entrance to the public.

Retail configurations eligible to receive an ENERGY STAR score/certification include:
  • free standing stores
  • individual stores in an open-air or strip mall
  • anchor stores in enclosed malls
Retail configurations NOT eligible to receive an ENERGY STAR score/certification include:
  • enclosed malls
  • individual stores located within enclosed malls (except those with an exterior entrance)
  • lifestyle centers
  • strip malls
  • individual stores that are part of a larger non-mall building (i.e. office or hotel)
Restaurants are not eligible to earn an ENERGY STAR score as Retail. Supermarkets are eligible for an ENERGY STAR score under the Supermarket property type. Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters are eligible for an ENERGY STAR score under the Warehouse Club/Supercenter property type. Convenience stores are eligible for an ENERGY STAR score under the Convenience Store with Gas Station and Convenience Store without Gas Station property types. Vehicle Dealerships are eligible for an ENERGY STAR score under the Vehicle Dealerships property type.

Roller Rink

Roller Rink refers to buildings used primarily for roller-skating, inline skating/rollerblading, or skateboarding.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including the rink space, concession areas, locker rooms, retail areas, administrative/office areas, employee break rooms, mechanical rooms, and storage areas.
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S

School District

School District represents the administrative school district in which your property is located.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Scorecard

The Scorecard is a visual representation of a building’s score. It is only available for buildings which can get a score. This report would be useful to hang in a building lobby for public disclosure purposes.

Seating Capacity

Seating Capacity is the maximum total seating capacity of the main worship area(s) in a Worship Facility. If there are multiple seating configurations, please identify the maximum number that the facility can hold. This number should reflect permanent seating capacity as the facility is typically used. Note that if there is no seating at this type of worship facility, this number should reflect the number of worshipers than can be accommodated in the main worship area(s).

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Self-Storage Facility

Self-Storage Facility refers to buildings that are used for private storage. Typically, a single Self Storage Facility will contain a variety of individual units that are rented out for the purpose of storing personal belongings.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including individual storage units, administrative offices, security and maintenance areas, mechanical rooms, hallways, stairways, and elevator shafts. This should not include exterior/outdoor loading bays or docks.

Senior Living Community

Senior Living Community refers to buildings that house and provide care and assistance for elderly residents, specifically homes (skilled nursing facilities) and assisted living facilities. It is NOT intended for retirement or other senior communities that offer only independent living – a community with only independent living should benchmark as a Multifamily property (see below for further details).

Gross Floor Area should include all fully-enclosed space within the exterior walls of the building(s) including individual rooms or units, wellness centers, exam rooms, community rooms, small shops or service areas for residents and visitors (e.g. hair salons, convenience stores), staff offices, lobbies, atriums, cafeterias, kitchens, storage areas, hallways, basements, stairways, corridors between buildings, and elevator shafts. Open air stairwells, breezeways, and other similar areas that are not fully-enclosed should not be included in the gross floor area.

It is common for Senior Living Communities to include a mix of different living options, including both independent living, assisted living, and/or skilled nursing. In these situations, benchmarking guidance depends on the percent of living units designated as skilled nursing/assisted living:
  • If more than 50% of the units in a community are skilled nursing and/or assisted living, the entire property should be benchmarked as a Senior Living Community. You can use one property use to characterize all activities at the community, including any independent living that may be present.
  • If 50% or more of the units are independent living, the property should be benchmarked using both the Senior Living Community and Multifamily property uses. In this situation, the floor area of hallways and units for assisted living and any community areas specifically used to assist residents (e.g. nursing stations, exam rooms, physical therapy rooms, etc.) should be benchmarked with the Senior Living Community property use. The floor area of hallways and units for independent living along with any open common areas that are used by residents of both the independent and the nursing/assisted living units (e.g. game rooms or restaurants) should be benchmarked with the Multifamily property use.

Service and Product Provider (SPP)

Service and Product Providers are ENERGY STAR partners that offer energy services and products to help you benchmark and improve your property. These companies follow the ENERGY STAR approach to energy management and building design. They bring expertise and achievement to building owners/managers seeking to benchmark and earn ENERGY STAR certification for their properties.

Shared by Contact

The "Shared by Contact" is the account that shared a particular property.

Shared by Contact - Account ID

Shared by Contact - Account ID is the unique identifier for the account that “Shared” a particular property.

Share Forward

"Share Forward" refers to the process of sharing a property that has been shared with you. In order to do this, you need to have "Share Forward" permissions.

Single Building

Single-Family Home

Single-Family Homes are standalone buildings, or an individual structure that shares one or more exterior vertical wall with other buildings, such as a duplex or townhome. Single-Family Homes have their own lot and provide living space for one household or family.

Gross Floor Area should include all finished space within the home, including living areas, bedrooms, and finished basements and attics; finished Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on the same energy meter should also be included. Do not include unfinished basements, unfinished attics, or garages.

Single Store

Single Store is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The property is a single store.
  • No – The property contains two or more stores.
The purpose of this question is to determine if the store is eligible for the ENERGY STAR score and certification. The ENERGY STAR score for retail is valid for single stores only. A “Single Store” could be attached to other stores (ex: an anchor store in a mall, or a big box retail store in a strip mall). But a combination of small retail stores inside a mall or office building is not a “Single Store.” See this FAQ for more.

Site Energy

Site Energy is available in a number of different formats:
  • Site Energy – The annual amount of all the energy your property consumes on-site, regardless of the source. It includes energy purchased from the grid or in bulk (which are the amounts on utility bills), as well as renewable energy generated and consumed on-site such as from solar and wind (excess renewable energy generated on-site and sold to the utility is excluded from site energy use). Site Energy can be used to understand how the energy use for an individual property has changed over time.
  • Site EUI – The Site Energy Use divided by the property square foot.
  • Weather Normalized Site Energy –The energy use your property would have consumed during 30-year average weather conditions. For example, if 2012 was a very hot year, then your Weather Normalized Site Energy may be lower than your Site Energy Use, because you would have used less energy if it had not been so hot. It can be helpful to use this weather normalized value to understand changes in energy when accounting for changes in weather. Weather Normalized Site EUI is also available (i.e. Weather Normalized Site Energy divided by property size or by flow through a water/wastewater treatment plant).
  • Site Energy (Adjusted to Current Time Period) – This metric is only available for properties that have an ENERGY STAR score. For a given 12-month period, this metric reflects the Site Energy the property would be expected to have if its operations were the same as in the current time period. For example, if you are looking at the period ending December 2008, this metric would tell you the amount of Site Energy you would have used in 2008 if your operating conditions (weather, hours, occupants) had been the same as they are for your current time period. Much like looking at financial investments in the dollars for a specific year, this adjusted value will help you understand the change in energy when accounting for changes in operation. Adjusted Site EUI is also available (i.e. Adjusted Site Energy divided by property size or by flow through a water/wastewater treatment plant).
  • Design Site Energy –The estimated energy associated with a design project. These estimated values are entered as annual totals for each energy type, so that a design project can be evaluated and compared with the Design Target and/or later with the property’s operational Site Energy. The Design Site EUI is also available (i.e. Design Site Energy divided by property size or by flow through a water/wastewater treatment plant).
  • Water/Wastewater Site EUI – For Water and Wastewater treatment plants, this is the Site Energy Use divided by the total average flow through the plant.
Finally, please note that you should take care when using Site Energy to compare properties that use multiple fuel types. In this case, EPA recommends using Source Energy because it also includes losses that take place during generation, transmission, and distribution of the energy used at the building. Learn More.

Site Energy (Adjusted to Current Time Period)

Site Energy Use

Site EUI

Size of Electronic Scoreboards

The size of Electronic Scoreboards is a measure of the total area occupied by electronic signage used for scoring and related announcements, measured in square feet. This includes any electronic signage inside a venue concourse, as well as the jumbotron and other areas used to promote the event and its sponsors, and to make other announcements.

Social/Meeting Hall

Social/Meeting hall refers to buildings primarily used for public or private gatherings. This may include community group meetings, seminars, workshops, or performances. Please note that there is another property use available, Convention Center, for large exhibition and conference facilities.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including meeting rooms, auditoriums, food service areas, lobbies, administrative/office space, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells.

Source Energy

Source Energy Use is the total amount of raw fuel that is required to operate your property. Source EUI (Energy Use Intensity) is Source Energy divided by the property's Gross Floor Area. In addition to what the property consumes on-site, source energy includes losses that take place during generation, transmission, and distribution of the energy, thereby enabling a complete assessment of energy consumption resulting from building operations. For this reason, Source EUI is the best way to quantify the energy performance of commercial buildings. Use it to understand the complete energy impact of your property, and to compare the energy performance of properties across your portfolio. Learn More

Source Energy is available in a number of different formats:

  • Source Energy Use – The total amount of all the raw fuel required to operate your property, including losses that take place during generation, transmission, and distribution of the energy.
    • Source EUI – The Source Energy Use divided by the property square foot.
    • Water/Wastewater Source EUI – For Water and Wastewater treatment plants, this metric is the Source Energy Use divided by the total average flow through the plant.
  • Weather Normalized Source Energy –The source energy use your property would have consumed during 30-year average weather conditions. For example, if 2012 was a very hot year, then your Weather Normalized Source Energy may be lower than your Source Energy Use, because you would have used less energy if it had not been so hot. It can be helpful to use this weather normalized value to understand changes in energy when accounting for changes in weather. Weather Normalized Source EUI is also available (i.e. Weather Normalized Source Energy divided by property size or by flow through a water/wastewater treatment plant).

  • Source Energy (Adjusted to Current Time Period) – This metric is only available for properties that have an ENERGY STAR score. For a given 12-month period, this metric reflects the Source Energy Use the property would be expected to have if its operations were the same as in the current time period. For example, if you are looking at the period ending December 2008, this metric would tell you the amount of Source Energy you would have used in 2008 if your operating conditions (weather, hours, occupants) had been the same as they are for your current time period. Much like looking at financial investments in the dollars for a specific year, this adjusted value will help you understand the change in energy when accounting for changes in operation. Adjusted Source EUI is also available (i.e. Adjusted Source Energy divided by property size or by flow through a water/wastewater treatment plant).

  • Design Source Energy –The estimated source energy associated with a design project. These estimated values are entered as annual totals for each energy type, so that a design project can be evaluated and compared with the Design Target and/or later with the property’s operational Source Energy. Design Source EUI is also available (i.e. Design Source Energy divided by property size or by flow through a water/wastewater treatment plant).

Source Energy (Adjusted to Current Time Period)

Source Energy Use

Source EUI

Spectator Seating Capacity

Number of spectator seats used specifically for watching hockey, ringette, public or figure skating, including spectator benches and seating but excluding viewing areas and standing room.

Stadium (Closed)

Stadium (Closed) refers to structures with a permanent or retractable roof which are used primarily for professional or collegiate sports and entertainment events. Examples of events held in closed stadiums include baseball and football games, and concerts. Closed Stadiums usually have capacities of 25,000 seats or more and are often characterized by multiple concourses and concession areas.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including concourse space on which workers or guests can walk, concession areas, retail stores, restaurants, administrative/office areas, employee break rooms, kitchens, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells. The footprint of the playing field should also be included in the gross floor area.

Stadium (Open)

Stadium (Open) refers to structures used primarily for professional or collegiate sports and entertainment events in which the playing field is not covered and is exposed to the outside. Examples of events held in open stadiums include baseball, football, and soccer games, and concerts. Open Stadiums usually have capacities of 5,000 seats or more and are often characterized by multiple concourses and concession areas.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including concourse space on which workers or guests can walk, concession areas, retail stores, restaurants, administrative/office areas, employee break rooms, kitchens, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells. The footprint of the playing field should also be included in the gross floor area.

Standard ID

A Standard ID is a special type of Property ID with a set name. These IDs are associated with local legislation, national campaigns, or other large benchmarking activities. These are open fields with no formatting, so please be careful when entering.

Standard IDs are broken into 4 categories. The City, County and State Standard IDs are limited to one each per property.
  • Standard ID - City/Town
  • Standard ID - County/District
  • Standard ID - State/Province
  • Other
See this FAQ for a full list of Standard IDs.

Start and End Bill Dates

The Start Date and End Date correspond to each bill you receive for the meter. Many utilities use the same date for the End Date of one cycle and the Start Date of the next cycle.
  • The Start Date is the date (XX/XX/XXXX) of the first day of the billing cycle.
  • The End Date is the date (XX/XX/XXXX) of the last day of the billing cycle.

Statement of Energy Design Intent (SEDI)

The Statement of Energy Design Intent (SEDI) is a report that provides an overview of your design metrics. It is also used for Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR applications. The SEDI is available from both the Design Tab and outside of Portfolio Manager in Target Finder. Sample SEDI.

Statement of Energy Performance (SEP)

The Statement of Energy Performance (SEP) is a one-page report summarizing the energy consumption for a property. A Verifying Professional can sign and stamp it to verify the validity of the data, if needed. The SEP is not needed for applying for ENERGY STAR certification. Some localities may require it as part of local legislation. Sample SEP.

Strip Mall

Strip mall refers to buildings comprising more than one retail store, restaurant, or other business, in an open-air configuration where each establishment has an exterior entrance to the public and there are no internal walkways.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including retail stores, offices, restaurants, storage areas, staff break rooms, and stairwells. Do not include any exterior spaces such as vehicle parking areas.

Note that individual stores within strip malls may be eligible to receive an ENERGY STAR score if they are over 5,000 square feet in size and have an exterior entrance to the public.

Student Seating Capacity

Student Seating Capacity is the maximum number of students for which a school was designed. This should include the seating capacity of the entire school. If portable classrooms have been added to your school, include the capacity of these classrooms, as they expand the overall capacity of your school.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Supermarket/Grocery Store

Supermarket/Grocery Store refers to buildings used for the retail sale of primarily food and beverage products, and which may include small amounts of preparation and sale of ready-to-eat food. Buildings where the primary business is the onsite preparation and sale of ready-to-eat food should use one of the Restaurant property types.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including the sales floor, offices, storage areas, kitchens, staff break rooms, and stairwells.

Supplemental Heating

Supplemental Heating is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The parking garage has a heating system to pre-heat ventilation air and/or maintain a minimum temperature during winter months.
  • No – The parking garage does not include any heating system.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Surgery Center Floor Area

Surgery Center Floor Area is the total size of the surgery center within a Medical Office building. It includes both clinical and nonclinical spaces such as operating rooms, pre/post operative recovery rooms, waiting rooms, and administration.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.
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T

Target Values

Target Values are the metrics associated with an established target (goal) for your property. In addition to your regular target metrics, there are also design target metrics for properties in the design phase:
  • Target – This is the target for comparison relative to actual operation. Once your target is established, metrics such as Target Site EUI, Target Source EUI, Target GHG Emissions, and Target Energy Cost are calculated for your target conditions. This will enable you to compare your actual energy use with your target and track your progress. You can set your target in one of three ways:
    • Target ENERGY STAR Score
    • Target % Better than Median Source EUI
    • Target % Better than Baseline Source EUI

  • Design Target – This is the target for comparison relative to your design plans (estimated design energy and design property use details). Once your design target is established metrics such as Design Target Site EUI, Design Target Source EUI, and Design Target GHG Emissions are calculated for your target conditions. This will enable you to compare your design energy use with your design target, and determine whether your planned design meets your design target goals. You can set your design target in one of two ways:
    • Target ENERGY STAR Score
    • Target % Better than Median Source EUI

Temporary Data flag

Temporary Data Flag is a Yes/No flag that indicates whether temporary values have been applied to any of the Property Use Details (such as hours, workers, or computers).
  • Yes - One or more temporary values were used in the Property Use Details.
  • No – There are no temporary values for any Property Use Details.
You can view this metric for all properties in a report, or for each individual Property Use Type (Office, Retail, K-12 School).

Temp Title

Temp Text

Tenant Module - Bulb Wattage:

The wattage of the individual bulb/lamp installed in the fixture. If you have fixtures that contain multiple bulbs/lamps (e.g., two or more fluorescent [T5, T8] bulbs or LED tubes), only enter the wattage of a single lamp/bulb.

Tenant Module - Conference Room Large Screen Displays

Tenant Module - Conference Room Large Screen Displays: Any monitors / TVs with a diagonal display of 49 inches or greater.

Tenant Module - Daylight Sensor:

A daylight sensor in a lighting system either reduces (dims) or turns off the lights in response to available daylight. If the amount of daylight changes, the electric lighting responds accordingly. Daylight systems are used in spaces where ample amounts of daylight exist like personal and open plan offices.

Tenant Module - Fixture Name:

Identifying information that will help users keep track of the fixtures, e.g., 'Manufacturer ABC 2x4 Recessed Troffer'.

Tenant Module - Fixture Wattage:

The wattage of the entire fixture. Note this is only applicable to integrated LED Fixtures with no replaceable bulb/lamp.

Tenant Module - GFAs

There are three different Gross Floor Area (GFA) numbers that we track:
  • Tenant Space (Property) GFA -This is the GFA you entered when you first created the Tenant Space (or "property") in Portfolio Manager. It should be a measure of the "usable square feet" of this Tenant Space.
  • Tenant Floor/Suite GFA -This is the GFA of each individual floor/suite within the Tenant Space. It should be a measure of the "usable square feet." Each floor must be entered separately (unless there is an open staircase to connect 2 floors). The sum of all your “Tenant Floor/Suite GFAs” must equal the Tenant Space (Property) GFA. If you have a Data Center in your Tenant Space, you should not include its GFA in your Tenant Floor/Suites GFA.
  • Building GFA - This is the GFA for the entire building in which the Tenant Space is located.

Tenant Module - Heating Fuel:

The fuel that is used in the building's central heating system.

Tenant Module - Laptop Computers

Tenant Module - Laptop Computers: The total number of laptops at the property. This number should not include tablet computers, such as iPads, or any other types of office equipment. If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Tenant Module - Lighting Energy Use Intensity:

The amount of energy used by lighting equipment per square foot of space.

Tenant Module - Light Source:

This is the type of lighting technology that is installed. LED Fixture should only be used if it is an integrated fixture that does not have replacement bulbs/lamps. Fixtures that use replacement lamps should select either fluorescent tube or LED Bulb or TLED.

Tenant Module - Motion Sensor:

There are two types of motion sensors; occupancy and vacancy. An occupancy sensor is a sensor that turns lights on automatically when an occupant enters, and off when they leave. A vacancy sensor is a sensor that turns lights off automatically when occupants leave, but requires manual activation of lights.

Tenant Module - Number of Bulbs:

For fixtures with replacement bulbs, this is the total number of bulbs installed in the fixture. For example, a recessed troffer with two LED or fluorescent tube lamps would be entered as two. A single reflector in a recessed can would be entered as one.

Tenant Module - Number of ENERGY STAR Certified Products

Tenant Module - Number of ENERGY STAR Certified Products is the number of each product category that are ENERGY STAR certified. If you do not know if the product is currently ENERGY STAR certified, you can look it up in the ENERGY STAR Product Finder. The number of ENERGY STAR Certified products is a subset of the Total Number of products. If 100% of your computers are ENERGY STAR certified, then the Total Number of computers will equal the Number of ENERGY STAR certified computers.

Tenant Module - Number of ENERGY STAR Certified Unknown

Tenant Module - Number of ENERGY STAR Certified Unknown: If you don't know how many ENERGY STAR certified products you have, you may check this box.

Tenant Module - Number of Workers on Main Shift

The Number of Workers on Main Shift should reflect the total number of workers present during the primary shift. This is not a total count of workers, but rather a count of workers who are present at the same time. For example, if there are two daily eight hour shifts of 100 workers each, the Number of Workers on Main Shift value is 100. Number of Workers on Main Shift may include employees of the property, sub-contractors who are onsite regularly, and volunteers who perform regular onsite tasks. Number of Workers should not include visitors to the buildings such as clients, customers, or patients. If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Tenant Module - Percentage of Exterior Walls which are Glass

A good-faith approximation of the percentage of the total area of exterior windows within the total exterior wall area of the tenant space for a particular floor/suite. Estimates can follow the visual guidelines in EIA's A6 "Showcard". Other options to calculate this value include taking rough dimensions, using existing interior elevations (architectural drawings) of the space, enlisting your architect (as applicable) to perform the calculations (a rapid task if computer-aided design drawings are available), or judging proportions from photographs of the exterior walls.

This is a required field (indicated with a red asterisk). The dropdown is populated with the following options: 0-1%; 2-10%; 11-25%; 26-50%; 51-75% and 76-100%.

Tenant Module - Procurement Policy:

Tenant Recognition requires that the applicant have a written policy, specifying procurement of energy efficient products for the space, is in effect (the list of ENERGY STAR qualified products - including office equipment, appliances, electronics, and more - can be found at energystar.gov/products). The policy may be specific to the tenant space or adopted at a higher level of the organization leasing the space (e.g., corporate-wide). The policy must contain the following, or substantially similar language: [Tenant Organization] shall procure ENERGY STAR certified products whenever applicable.

Tenant Module - Required Meters

One or more meters must be in place to measure and track, on at least a monthly basis, all energy loads for which the tenant has full operational control. This will typically include lighting and plug loads only, as the tenant is not required to meter HVAC supplied from a central system. Metering of HVAC load is required only if the tenant has full operational control of the HVAC equipment (e.g., a rooftop unit that services only the eligible space). Each meter must be certified by its manufacturer to be +/- 2% accurate. Meters must be permanently installed - data loggers or other tracking devices that are for temporary use do not satisfy this criterion.

a. Meters must be installed before the application can be completed so that the LP reviewing the application may verify that the meters are in place.
  1. Individual energy loads do not have to be separately metered, except in the case of a data center. If a data center is present in the space, it must be metered separately. Acceptable data center metering includes any metering configuration that allows separate tracking of IT energy use and/or total data center energy use. Note that a data center (as opposed to a server closet, computer training area, telecom closet, or print/copy room) is intended for sophisticated computing and server functions which typically include:
    • High density computing equipment (such as server racks used for data storage and processing)
    • Dedicated power and cooling systems
    • A constant power load of 75 kW or more
    • Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)
    • Raised floors.

  2. Other energy loads subject to the metering criterion may be metered separately or by a single meter.


b. The tenant must provide the LP with documentation that each meter in the space is manufacturer certified to be +/-2% accurate. Tenant organizations may need to contact the meter manufacturer directly in order to obtain this information.

Tenant Module - Servers:

This is the number of Servers in a Server Closet. Do not include Servers in a true Data Center.

Tenant Module - Tenant Floor/Suite Usable Floor Area

All areas within the demising walls reserved for the exclusive use of the tenant, within a particular floor/suite.

Tenant Module - Thermostat Set back

Thermostats are set back if they are programmed to adjust at night and on weekends to a lower temperature in the heating months and a higher temperature in the cooling months.

Tenant Module - Total Number

Tenant Module - Total Number (of each product) is the number of each product that you have in your tenant suite. For example, how many computers are there in this tenant suite? The Number of ENERGY STAR Certified products is a subset of this number.

Tenant Module - Total Number of Conditioned Floors in Building:

The total number of floors in the building including basement levels (regardless of who occupies them) that are heated and cooled.

Tenant Module - Total number of fixtures:

The total number of fixtures of this type found in the Tenant Space. A single fixture with multiple bulbs/lamps should be entered as "1".

Tenant Module - Tuning:

Tuning in lighting means modulating light output of the installed lighting system for different light levels. Personal tuning is where a certain space might be dimmed to reduce the lighting in one workstation versus another workstation. Tuning can be at the personal or system level and relates to optimizing the light levels suitable to the occupants compared to what was originally installed.

Tenant Module - Weekly Operating Hours

Your Weekly Operating Hours are the total number of hours per week where the majority of workers are present. For example, if the majority of workers are in your building from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm M-F, then your Weekly operating hours should be 50 (10 hrs * 5 days per week). If your hours vary seasonally (ex: 1/2 day Fridays in the summer), use the schedule that is followed most often. If you have 2 shifts of workers, add the hours for both shifts. Do NOT count these hours:
-When the property is occupied only by maintenance, security, the cleaning crew, or other support personnel.
-HVAC startup or shutdown time.

Tenant Module - Year Building Was Built:

This is the year in which your property was constructed. If your property has undergone a complete renovation that included gutting and rebuilding the interior, then you can indicate the date of this renovation as the year built.

Tertiary Care

Tertiary Care is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The hospital provides medical care beyond the standard secondary level. Examples of tertiary care include: Level I trauma centers, highly specialized medical care such as organ transplant centers or prenatal/neonatal intensive care centers.
  • No – The hospital does not provide tertiary medical care.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Test Environment

Test Property

The “Test” designation is a way for you to indicate that a property is not a real building. Test properties can be used to try out new features in Portfolio Manager without touching your real data, or to train others on how to use Portfolio Manager. You can mark a property as a “Test” building on the Details tab, under Basic Information, by setting the Construction Status to "Test."

Third Party Certification

Third Party Certifications (e.g. LEED, Green Globes) may be tracked within Portfolio Manager on the Goals tab. This field includes a list of any third-party certifications that have been selected.

Third Party Certification Date Achieved

The date a property achieves third-party green building certification. If more than one third-party certification is achieved, then all dates will be displayed when this metric is selected for a report.

Third Party Certification Date Anticipated

The date a property is expected to achieve third-party green building certification. If more than one third-party certification is expected, then all dates will be displayed when this metric is selected for a report.

Time Weighted

Metrics in Portfolio Manager are calculated based on your energy data and Property Use Details (hours of operation, number of computers, etc.) over a specific 12-month period. However, Property Use Details can change over the course of the 12 months, so we time-weight them so they are appropriately attributed. For example, say you have 100 computers for the first half of the year, but increased it to 150 computers for the second half of the year. The “time weighted” value for Number of Computers is 125.5 for the year.

Because we use time-weighted metrics, you may see a value that doesn't look familiar (you never actually had 125 computers) or values with decimals for Use Details that can't possibly have a decimal (22.5 Workers).

Total Cost

Total Cost should include all costs that are included in your bill, such as: energy (water/waste) costs, taxes, supply/generation charges, delivery cost, distribution/transmission components, demand charges, combined benefit charges, etc. However, Total Cost is optional and does not affect any of your energy use metrics.

Total Emissions

Total Ice Rink Surface Area for All Rinks

The indoor ice rink surface area is the total area covered by ice of all the ice rinks used for indoor hockey, ringette, public or figure skating and can be estimated by multiplying the length of the ice surface with the width of the ice surface and adding together the calculated area for each ice rink in the facility. This surface area does not include curling sheets.

Total Number of Residential (Living) Units

The Total Number of Residential Living Units is a count of all individual residential living units or apartments, including both occupied and unoccupied units.

In addition, please note these specific property type considerations:
  • Multifamily Housing – The Total Number of Residential Living Units should count all individual private apartments/condominiums. There are three additional Property Use Details, which break this total into three different categories, according to building height. If your property has only one building, or if all buildings are of the same height, then you should enter “zero” for the other two categories. Portfolio Manager requires that the sum of these three values equal your Total Number of Residential Living Units:
    • Number of Residential Living Units in a Low-rise (1-4 stories) – This includes all units located in an individual building that is 1 to 4 stories in height.
    • Number of Residential Living Units in a Mid-rise (5-9 stories) –This includes all units located in an individual building that is 5 to 9 stories in height.
    • Number of Residential Living Units in a High-rise (10 or more stories) – This includes all units located in an individual building that is 10 or more stories in height.
  • Senior Living Communities - For communities where residents have individual rooms that open onto central corridors, each room is considered a single unit, even if there are two or more beds per room. For communities with apartment-type living units each apartment is considered a single unit. Do not count individual rooms within apartments or townhouses.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Total Number of Weekly Ice Resurfacing for All Rinks

Total number of floods in a week using ice resurfacing machines after typical ice rink use for all indoor hockey, ringette, public or figure skating ice rinks in the facility. This does not include curling sheet resurfacing or pebbling. For multiple rinks, sum the total number of weekly resurfacing for all rinks.

Total Waste (Disposed & Diverted)

Total Waste (Disposed & Diverted) is the grand total of all the waste and materials that you are tracking. It includes everything that was either disposed, composted, recycled, or donated/reused.

Transportation Terminal/Station

Transportation Terminal/Station applies to buildings used primarily for accessing public or private transportation. This includes train stations, bus stations, airports, and seaports. These terminals include areas for ticket purchases, and embarkation/disembarkation, and may also include public waiting areas with restaurants and other concessions.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including boarding areas, waiting areas, administrative space, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, restaurants, cafeterias, stairways, atria, elevator shafts, and storage areas. This should not include any exterior spaces associated with the terminals, such as drop-off areas, outdoor platforms, or outdoor loading docks/bays.

Type of Laundry Facility

Type of Laundry Facility indicates the type of laundry that is processed within an onsite laundry facility. This is intended to reflect commercial processing of laundry associated with property operations, not individual pay-per-use machines that may be operated by guests/visitors. You may select one of the following for types:
  • No laundry facility
  • Linens only (e.g., bed/table linens
  • Terry only (e.g., towels, bathrobes)
  • Both linens and terry
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.
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U

U.S. Federal Campus

A U.S. government designation associated with a campus or installation owned or leased by the federal government. This designation is used to identify groups of buildings typically in the same geographic location. It could be the name of a federal campus, or it could be an alphanumeric sequence, like the Installation or Sub-Installation Identifier from the US Federal Real Property Profile, the federal government’s centralized real property database.

UPS System Redundancy

UPS System Redundancy describes the redundant capacity of the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) in a Data Center. Redundant UPS components are typically required in a Data Center to have backup UPS systems in the event of a UPS failure (not a power outage). The specific level of redundancy will depend on your particular Data Center.

UPS System Redundancy is not required, nor is it used in any metric calculations.

UPS System Redundancy is reported relative to N, where N stands for the number of UPS modules that are required to power the facility at full IT load:
  • N
  • N+1
  • N+2
  • 2N
  • Greater than 2N
  • None of the above
If there is no UPS system, indicate the redundancy for the PDU Meters that support the IT load. If there are multiple systems operating at different levels of redundancy, choose the option that applies to the majority of the IT load.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Urgent Care/Clinic/Other Outpatient

Urgent Care Center/Clinic/Other Outpatient Office refers to buildings used to treat patients, usually on an unscheduled, walk-in basis, who have an injury or illness that requires immediate care but is not serious enough to warrant a visit to an emergency department.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s) including offices, exam rooms, waiting rooms, atriums, employee break rooms and kitchens, rest rooms, elevator shafts, stairways, mechanical rooms, and storage areas.

Use Details

Use Details is shorthand for Property Use Details.

Utility Provider

An organization which provides water and/or power, such as electricity or natural gas, to customers. Utilities are allowed certain monopoly rights due to the practical need to service entire geographic areas with one system, but they are regulated by state, county and/or city public utility commissions under state laws.
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V

Vacancy

Vacancy refers to a portion of the building that is not in use. This is not a few empty cubicles but rather a suite or entire floor that is not leased or occupied. When more than 10% of your property is vacant, you are required to create a separate “Vacant Space” property use for the following property types:
  • Office
  • Medical Office
  • Bank
  • Courthouse
  • Financial Office
A Vacant Space should be entered with:
  • The property type that corresponds to what would be there when occupied (Office, Medical Office, etc).
  • Weekly Operating Hours = 0
  • Workers on Main Shift = 0
  • Number of Computers = 0
  • Percent Heated and Percent Cooled = Report conditioning as it occurs in the vacant space
Vacancy is different from Occupancy which is the percentage of your property’s Gross Floor Area that is occupied and operational.

Vehicle Dealership

Vehicle Dealership refers to buildings used for the sale of new or used light-, medium- and heavy-duty cars and trucks.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including sales floors, offices, conference rooms, vehicle service areas, parts storage areas, waiting rooms, staff break rooms, restrooms, hallways, and stairwells. Gross Floor Area should not include any exterior spaces such as vehicle parking areas.

Verification Information

If you are required to comply with a state or local benchmarking law or other third-party program, you may also be required to have your data and information verified. You can enter the name, title, organization, phone, email, postal code, and professional credentials of the person who verified the benchmarking report, as well as the period being verified, and the date the data was verified. Visit your local or state website to determine whether it requires verification.

Veterinary Office

A Veterinary Office refers to buildings used for the medical care and treatment of animals.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s) including offices, exam rooms, waiting rooms, atriums, employee break rooms and kitchens, rest rooms, elevator shafts, stairways, mechanical rooms, and storage areas.

Views

Portfolio “Views” is the dashboard on the My Portfolio page which displays a set of metrics for each property in your portfolio. You can use Portfolio Views to see the metrics most important to you at a glance. Each "View" has 4 metrics: 1 timeframe and 3 metrics of your choosing. You can create multiple Views to quickly see different sets of metrics, such as an Energy, Water, Waste, and Emissions “Views“.
Views work similar to Reporting where you refresh (recalculate) the metrics as needed. If you’ve just entered last month’s bills, you’ll probably want to refresh. But if you refreshed yesterday we don’t want to slow you down by automatically refreshing because it can take a bit of time depending on the size of your portfolio.
More details on Portfolio Views:
  • You can only refresh one View at a time.
  • The list of metrics that you can choose is the same list you find in Reporting when creating a Report template.
  • After 90 days, we’ll delete the calculated metrics, and you will need to “refresh” to recalculate the metrics again.
  • Child properties are displayed in the list under their parent properties. If you expand the carrot next to the parent property you will see the child properties.
  • You can sort the table by any of the metrics. (Child properties will be sorted with their parent.)
  • You can download the entire list of properties and metrics to Excel.

Vocational School

Vocational School refers to buildings primarily designed to teach skilled trades to students, including trade and technical schools. Typically vocational schools are commonly post-secondary education, consisting of 1-2 years of technical/trade training.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including classrooms, administrative space, conference rooms, kitchens used by staff, lobbies, cafeterias, gymnasiums, auditoriums, laboratory classrooms, stairways, elevator shafts, and storage areas.
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W

Waste/Waste Use/Waste Tracking

Portfolio Manager tracks 29 different types of Waste/Materials, everything from basic trash to cooking grease to appliances.

You can track each of these 29 Waste/Materials according to one of four different “Waste Management Methods”:
  1. Recycled
  2. Composted
  3. Donated/Reused
  4. Disposed. You can further categorize Disposed Waste (trash) according to one of four “Disposed Waste Destinations:”
    • Landfill
    • Incineration
    • Waste to energy
    • Other/Unknown
You may also track the waste or material according to whether it is picked up on a regular basis (like trash or recycling), or on an “intermittent” or one-time only basis (like a one-time donation of your old office furniture).

Waste Diversion

Waste Diversion is the sum of your Recycled, Composted, and Donated/Reused materials. Your Waste Diversion Rate is the percentage of your total Waste Materials that get Recycled, Composted, or Donated/Reused. For example, if you generate 100 pounds of waste per year and 75 pounds get recycled, composted, and/or donated, then your Waste Diversion Rate is 75% (75 pounds Diverted Waste ÷ 100 pounds of Total Waste= .75 = 75%)

Waste Management Method

The Waste Management Method is one of 4 options for what you can do with your waste and materials: In Reporting, there are metrics for each subtotal above, and a total across all four methods (“Total Waste (Disposed and Diverted)”).

Waste Material Type

Waste Material Type refers to one of 29 different types of materials (bottles, trash, batteries, food scraps, etc) that can be tracked individually.

Waste Meter Type

The Waste Meter type is a combination of one of the four Waste Management Methods (Disposed, Recycled, Composted, Donated/Reused) and one of the 29 Waste Material Types. For example, “Disposed – Trash” or “Donated – Furniture.” The total number of Waste Meter Types is not 4 * 29 because some of the Waste Material Types cannot be composted (ex: batteries), recycled (ex: food scraps), or donated (ex: mixed paper). All of the 29 Waste Material Types can be Disposed.

Waste to Energy

Waste to Energy is a form of energy recovery where waste materials are treated (mostly burned) to generate energy. Most Waste to Energy processes produce electricity and/or heat directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels. An example of a Waste to Energy process is an incinerator that produces and captures electricity from the burning trash. A landfill that captures the Landfill gases, such as methane, to be used as energy is not considered Waste to Energy.

Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater Treatment Plant refers to facilities designed to treat municipal wastewater. The level of treatment at a plant will vary based on the BOD limits and the specific processes involved. This property use is intended for primary, secondary, and advanced treatment facilities with or without nutrient removal. Treatment processes may include biological, chemical, and physical treatment. This property use does not apply to drinking water treatment and distribution facilities.

Gross Floor Area should include all interior areas including treatment areas, administrative offices, stairways, hallways and mechanical rooms. The Gross Floor Area should not include any exterior portions of the facility, such as retention or settling ponds.

Although not typically used for normalization at plants, Gross Floor Area is a required system input for all properties.

To receive an ENERGY STAR score, your Wastewater Treatment Plant must have a daily flow of at least 0.6 Million Gallons per Day (MGD).

Water/Wastewater Site EUI

Water/Wastewater Source EUI

Water Cost (All Water Sources)

The water cost is the annual cost associated with a given 12-month period. Water cost is available for each water type and also as an aggregated value across all water types.

Water Score

EPA's 1-100 Water Score for Multifamily Housing, to be released in October 2017, is a measure of how efficiently your property is using water, compared to similar properties, when normalized for climate and operational characteristics.

The Water Score for Multifamily Housing is based on data from the 2012 Fannie Mae Multifamily Market Research Energy and Water Survey. EPA's ENERGY STAR and WaterSense programs collaborated to create the 1-100 score.

The 1-100 scale is set so that 1 represents the worst performing buildings and 100 represents the best performing buildings. A score of 50 indicates that a building is performing at the national median, taking into account its size, location, and operating parameters.

Certification for superior water performance is not currently available.

EPA's 1-100 Water Score is currently only available for Multifamily Housing properties.

Water Use

Within Portfolio Manager you can track four water sources:
  • Municipally Supplied Potable Water – Water that is of sufficient quality for human consumption and that is obtained from public water systems that are classified, permitted, and approved for human consumption.
  • Municipally Supplied Reclaimed Water – Wastewater treatment plant effluent purchased from a public water system, which has been diverted for beneficial uses, such as irrigation, that substitute the use of an existing freshwater source.
  • Well Water - Water that is obtained from wells, bore wells, and other groundwater sources, and water from natural freshwater sources that are not municipally supplied (including surface water sources such as lakes or streams)
  • Other Water Sources – Water that is obtained from:
    • rainwater or stormwater harvested onsite
    • sump pump water harvesting
    • gray water
    • air-cooling condensate
    • reject water from water purification systems
    • water reclaimed onsite
    • water derived from other water reuse strategies
    • any other water source not fitting one of the above categories.
Each of these water sources can be tracked in one of three types of meters: Indoor, Outdoor, or Mixed (a meter that includes both Indoor & Outdoor).
  • Municipally Supplied Potable Water – Indoor Use
  • Municipally Supplied Potable Water – Outdoor Use
  • Municipally Supplied Potable Water – Mixed Indoor/Outdoor Use
  • Municipally Supplied Reclaimed Water – Indoor Use
  • Municipally Supplied Reclaimed Water – Outdoor Use
  • Municipally Supplied Reclaimed Water – Mixed Indoor/Outdoor Use
  • Well Water – Indoor Use
  • Well Water – Outdoor Use
  • Well Water – Mixed Indoor/Outdoor Use
  • Other Water Sources – Indoor Use
  • Other Water Sources – Outdoor Use
  • Other Water Sources – Mixed Indoor/Outdoor Use
These are also metrics which add up subtotals of water use for each water source and each meter type:
  • Water Use (All Water Sources) – sum of all water meters
  • Indoor Water Use (All Water Sources) - sum of all Indoor water meters
  • Outdoor Water Use (All Water Sources) - sum of all Outdoor water meters
  • Municipally Supplied Potable Water - Total Use (All Meter Types) - sum of all Municipally Supplied Potable Water meters
  • Municipally Supplied Reclaimed Water -Total Use (All Meter Types) - sum of all Municipally Supplied Reclaimed Water meters
  • Well Water - Total Use (All Meter Types) - sum of all Well Water meters
  • Other Water Sources - Total Use (All Meter Types) - sum of all Other Water meters
There are 2 water intensity metrics:
  • Water Use Intensity (All Water Source) – all water sources divided by the building sq. ft. (not including parking or irrigated area)
  • Indoor Water Use Intensity (All Water Sources) - all indoor water meters divided by the building sq. ft. (not including parking or irrigated area)

Weather Normalized Metrics

Weather-normalized metrics are adjusted for the actual weather in your area. They are helpful to use when comparing a building's energy use over time. For example, if this summer was hotter than usual and last summer was cooler than usual, your metrics will be adjusted so you can compare the two years. This year we will expect the building will use more energy than normal for cooling, and last year we will expect the building will use less energy than normal for cooling. There are weather normalized metrics for Site Energy, Source Energy, Site EUI, Source EUI, and for each individual fuel type. For more information, see our Climate and Weather Technical Reference.

Weather Normalized Site Energy

Weather Normalized Source Energy

Weather Station

The weather station is the monitoring station that EPA assigns within Portfolio Manager to determine reference weather conditions at your property. The station is identified by both its name and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ID. EPA obtains all of the data for these stations from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). For more information on how we account for weather in metrics, please refer to our weather calculation methodology document.

Web Services

Web services describes the application programming interface (API) used to exchange data with Portfolio Manager. Organizations that exchange data use web services to regularly sync your data with Portfolio Manager and export your metrics out of Portfolio Manager. There are two “environments” in which organizations that exchange data can use web services:
  • Test environment – The test environment is open to anyone and is used by developers who are testing the web services API.
  • Live environment – After receiving approval from EPA, organizations can use web services to exchange data directly with actual Portfolio Manager accounts.
More information about web services.

Weekday Operation

Weekday Operation is a count of the number of weekdays (Monday through Friday) that a Worship Facility is open. Because most Worship Facilities include weekend activities, this count reflects weekdays only, so the maximum number is 5 days. The count should include all week days when the Worship Facility is open for religious services, choir practice, administrative use, committee meetings, classes, or other activities.

If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Weekend Operation

Weekend Operation is entered as either Yes or No.
  • Yes – The property includes regular activities on the weekend beyond the scope of maintenance, cleaning, and security personnel. Weekend activity could include any time when the property is used for classes, performances, or other school or community activities. The Yes selection is appropriate for any property that is open one or both days of the weekend during one or more seasons of the year.
  • No – The property does not include regular activities on the weekend beyond the scope of maintenance, cleaning, and security personnel.
If your property is in the design phase, use your best estimate for the intended conditions when the property is fully operational.

Weekly Operating Hours

The Weekly Operating Hours is different depending on your property type:
  • Office, Financial Office, Warehouse and Distribution Center. Your Weekly Operating Hours are the total number of hours per week where the majority of workers are present. For example, if the majority of workers are in your building from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm M-F, then your Weekly operating hours should be 50 (10 hrs * 5 days per week).
    • If you have two or more tenants with hours that differ by more than 10%, then you should enter two separate Property Uses so that you can track them separately.
    • If you have two or more tenants with hours that differ by less than 10%, use the largest tenant’s hours (based on Gross Floor Area).
    • If your hours vary seasonally (ex: 1/2 day Fridays in the summer), use the schedule that is followed most often.
    • If you have 2 shifts of workers, add the hours for both shifts.
    • Do NOT count these hours:
      • When the property is occupied only by maintenance, security, or other support personnel.
      • When the HVAC system is working (for example startup or shutdown time)
      • When only the cleaning crew is present
      • Weekends unless your organization treats them similar to weekdays (ex. regular shifts of main employees, meetings scheduled, support operations like reception etc. running similar to weekdays)
  • Properties that serve or sell to the Public (retail stores, medical office, bank branch, courthouse, library, health club, etc). Your Weekly Operating Hours should be the hours that you are open to the public.
  • Worship Facility. Your Weekly Operating Hours should reflect hours when the facility is typically open for operation, which may include worship services, choir practice, administrative use, committee meetings, classes, or other activities.

Wholesale Club/Supercenter

Wholesale Club/Supercenter refers to buildings used to conduct the retail sale of a wide variety of merchandise, typically in bulk quantities. Merchandise may include food, clothing, office supplies, furniture, electronics, books, sporting goods, toys, and hardware.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within the building(s), including the sales floor, offices, storage areas, kitchens, staff break rooms, elevators, and stairwells.

Worship Facility

Worship Facility refers to buildings that are used as places of worship. This includes churches, temples, mosques, synagogues, meetinghouses, or any other buildings that primarily function as a place of religious worship.

Gross Floor Area should include all areas inside the building that includes the primary worship area, including food preparation, community rooms, classrooms, and supporting areas such as restrooms, storage areas, hallways, and elevator shafts.

The ENERGY STAR score for Worship Facilities applies to buildings that function as the primary place of worship and not to other buildings that may be associated with a religious organization, such as living quarters, schools, or buildings used primarily for other community activities. To receive an ENERGY STAR score, a Worship facility must have at least 25 seats, but cannot have more than 4,000.
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Y

Year Built

This is the year in which your property was constructed. If your property has undergone a complete renovation that included gutting and rebuilding the interior, then you can indicate the date of this renovation as the year built. The year built is not used to calculate the ENERGY STAR Score; it is simply for property information. If you don't know the exact year the property was built, enter an estimate.

Year Ending Date

The Year Ending Date is the last day of a 12-month period (called a Metric Year) which a set of metrics are based on. A Metric Year starts on the first day of one month, and ends 12 months later on the last day of the last month (ex: 6/1/2013 – 5/31/2014). There are 12 possible Year Ending Dates in each calendar year (Jan 31, Feb 28, Mar 31, etc). All Metrics in Portfolio Manager are calculated based on 12 full calendar months of data. The 12-month period associated with a given metric is often represented by the Year Ending Date which is the last day of the 12-month period. For example, if your Year Ending Date is 12/31/2012, your metrics would be based on the calendar year of 2012.

Your Property’s Buildings

When you enter a new property, there are 3 options to explain Your Property’s Buildings:
  • Partial Building - This could be a single floor or suite in a building. A partial building can benchmark and get a score, but partial buildings are not eligible for certification.
  • Single Building - This is a free-standing building.
  • Multi-Building Campus - This is the “Parent” Property for a campus or collection of “child” buildings. For example, a college campus with 10 individual buildings, or an office park with 4 towers. You can optionally add one (or all) of the individual “child” buildings as separate properties. You may find it useful to benchmark at the campus level if you have a group of buildings that are centrally located and managed. There are five property types where a score and certification are available for a campus as a whole (hotel, hospital, K-12 school, multifamily housing, and senior living community).
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Z

Zoo

Zoo refers to buildings used primarily to provide habitat to live animals and which may include public or private viewing and educational programs.

Gross Floor Area should include all space within all fully enclosed buildings, including, habitats, visitor viewing areas, theaters, classrooms, food service areas, retail stores, veterinary offices, exhibit space, administrative/office space, mechanical rooms, storage areas, elevator shafts, and stairwells. Areas not in fully enclosed buildings, such as outdoor habitats, open-air theaters, walkways, and landscaped areas should not be included in the Gross Floor Area.
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