SPEP™ Benchmarking provides the basis for empowering building owners to take steps toward minimizing energy use and maximizing the economic benefits of energy conservation measures. Benchmarking requirements are different in each state (see Public Building Requirements). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides a tool to track buildings’ annual energy and water consumption. The output of this tool is the EPA energy performance rating, which indicates how efficiently buildings use energy on a 1 to 100 scale. A rating of 50 indicates average energy performance while a rating of 75 or better indicates top performance.
What are the Benefits of Benchmarking?
Applied across a portfolio of buildings, benchmarking provides the foundation for superior energy management decisions, ranging from identifying the top performers to prioritizing the best candidates for upgrades.
Monitor Changes
Scoring a building over a period of time can help evaluate the effectiveness of changes in equipment or management.
Proactive Energy Management
Having a building’s energy consumption data summarized and documented helps answer questions about energy use from upper management, prospective purchasers, tenants, lenders or investors.
Get Positive Publicity
Documentation of a building’s improved energy efficiency or reduced energy consumption over time provides a basis to communicate an environmentally-friendly image to interested parties.