The EPA’s Canadian-adapted ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager recently went live. ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is a no-cost environmental management tool that tracks building energy performance, which could be a trigger to encourage investments in energy retrofits and support tenant engagement efforts. Moreover, the improved tool creates the only standard national platform for benchmarking buildings in Canada. With the adapted and updated Portfolio Manager, Canadian building owners and managers will have access to accurate and equitable energy use data and assessments for the commercial and institutional buildings sector. Canadian data is based on a statistically valid and nationally representative reference database. It is expected that the standard national energy benchmarking system will lead to energy information transparency and ultimately to improvements in Canadian building energy efficiency. Commercial office buildings and K-12 schools are receiving new 1-100 Canadian energy performance scores, allowing those sectors to make comparisons with other Canadian buildings rather than their U.S. peers. Other types of Canadian buildings that previously received a U.S. 1 – 100 ENERGY STAR score will no longer receive a score. Instead they will receive a Canadian energy use intensity (EUI) score to get a sense of their performance against other Canadian buildings. Canadian users are encouraged to verify that their building data is accurate, including their postal code, province, country and energy consumption data.
Backgrounder: Natural Resources Canada consulted with key Canadian buildings sector stakeholders to respond to the need to develop a national building energy benchmarking tool. In 2009 as a part of this consultation process, the federal/provincial Council of Energy Minister’s, now the Energy and Mines Ministers’ Conference, endorsed the concept of a building benchmarking tool for Canada. For more information, consult the report: Building Energy Benchmarking: Recommendation and Work Outline for a System for Canada.
