The EPA's Commercial Building ENERGY STAR program has been evolving and expanding since its creation in 1992. The ENERGY STAR program rates buildings based on energy use, building size and occupancy, and compares them to other buildings of a similar type nationwide with adjustments made for variations in weather. It has been over 20 years since the program was created and there are still certain building types that are ineligible for a score. However, thanks to new survey data and an upcoming update to the comparative, national benchmarking program a major new category of building type will be able to apply for ENERGY STAR certification: Hotels. Those already familiar with ENERGY STAR will know that ‘Hotel’ is already a space use type in Portfolio Manager. In the past (as recently as 2011) Hotels were able to receive ENERGY STAR awards. However Hotel scoring proved problematic and the EPA placed this ENERGY STAR segment on the sidelines so they could dive into the particulars of Hotel space use attributes. At current time Hotels can receive an ENERGY STAR score but are not eligible for an actual ENERGY STAR award. Updated Hotel scoring is scheduled to launch in August 2018 and after that qualifying Hotels will be able to again apply for an award. This update comes thanks to a 2012 survey conducted by the US Energy Information Agency. The survey data was used to attempt to better normalize the scoring for the Hotel building type and improve upon the previous 2003 survey. By using more recent data, a larger sample, and by picking key items to factor in such as rooms, workers, refrigeration and food preparation the EPA has been able to create a better comparative database for Hotel scores. The models created using this data allow for scoring to be more equitable across hotel size and amenity type. These models, when implemented, helped to eliminate biases that existed in past scoring models that unfairly disqualified certain properties. In order to gain an award Hotels will have to provide all the same information as the Standard Office building certification. This includes standard building information such as gross square footage, year built, and building type as well as 12 months of electric and gas usage data and occupancy. The main difference will be the entry of space use, which will contain different items than the Standard Office space use type (i.e. Number of rooms, Hours per day Guests onsite, type of laundry facility, and more). Contact Maximum Energy Professionals to set up your Hotel's building profile today. MEP has a long history with the EPA's ENERGY STAR program and was named ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year in 2016 and 2017. MEP has benchmarked and award certified 100’s of Hotels in the past. Start benchmarking and monitoring your buildings' energy performance today and you'll be ready when the Hotel Certification category is again available in August 2018. This Blog article has been posted by Maximum Energy Professionals “MEP”, a mechanical engineering firm located in Torrance, CA. For information on Sustainability Services including: ENERGY STAR utility benchmarking and award certification, California AB802 Compliance, City of Los Angeles EBEWE Compliance, our Utility Data Management Software dashboard, ASHRAE energy audits, LEED, and energy conservation/green Mechanical-Electrical-Plumbing systems and equipment design, please give us a call at 310-782-1410 or visit our website at www.mep-llc.com.
