ENERGY STAR Information
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ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices. Results are already adding up. Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved enough energy in 2006 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 25 million cars — all while saving $14 billion on their utility bills. |
For the Home
Energy efficient choices can save families about a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort. ENERGY STAR helps you make the energy efficient choice.
• If looking for new household products, look for ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR. They meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the EPA and US Department of Energy.
• If looking for a new home, look for one that has earned the ENERGY STAR.
• If looking to make larger improvements to your home, EPA offers tools and resources to help you plan and undertake projects to reduce your energy bills and improve home comfort.
For Business
Because a strategic approach to energy management can produce twice the savings — for the bottom line and the environment — as typical approaches, EPA’s ENERGY STAR partnership offers a proven energy management strategy that helps in measuring current energy performance, setting goals, tracking savings, and rewarding improvements.
EPA provides an innovative energy performance rating system which businesses have already used for more than 30,000 buildings across the country. EPA also recognizes top performing buildings with the ENERGY STAR.
How the Rating System Works
The national energy performance rating is a type of external benchmark that helps energy managers assess how efficiently their buildings use energy, relative to similar buildings nationwide. The rating system’s 1–100 scale allows everyone to quickly understand how a building is performing — a rating of 50 indicates average energy performance, while a rating of 75 or better indicates top performance.
EPA, in conjunction with stakeholders, developed the energy rating as a screening tool; it does not by itself explain why a building performs a certain way, or how to change the building’s performance. It does, however, help organizations assess performance and identify those buildings that offer the best opportunities for improvement and recognition.
How is the rating calculated?
Based on the information you entered about your building, such as its size, location, number of occupants, number of PCs, etc., the rating system estimates how much energy the building would use if it were the best performing, the worst performing, and every level in between. The system then compares the actual energy data you entered to the estimate to determine where your building ranks relative to its peers.
All of the calculations are based on source energy. The use of source energy is the most equitable way to compare building energy performance, and also correlates best with environmental impact and energy cost.
To estimate how much energy your building would use at each level of performance, EPA conducts statistical analysis on the data gathered by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration during its quadrennial Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). For each type of building for which EPA offers a rating, EPA goes through a rigorous process that involves:
• Ensuring the quality and quantity of the data will support a rating
• Creating a statistical model that correlates the energy data to the operational characteristics for each building to identify the key drivers of energy use
• Testing the model with real buildings
Your building’s actual source energy data is weather normalized; this enables EPA to assess your building’s performance relative to the typical weather for your region, without bias for the specific weather patterns in the rating year.
For more information regarding ENERGY STAR, please visit www.energystar.gov.
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