Water Scores! New in E-STAR Portfolio Manager

Over the years the EPA has rolled out many new additions to Portfolio Manager. By adding new ways to track the materials and energy used in a building, Portfolio Manager is enabling building owners and operators to better picture how their building is performing and allowing them to monitor trends in their resource usage. The newest addition to Portfolio Manager's metrics was recently rolled out in the form of 1-100 Water Scores.

Users were already able to track their water usage in Portfolio Manager, but this most recent update adds an actual score similar to the 1-100 score for energy usage. This will allow Portfolio Manager users to see how their building's water usage measures up compared to similar properties nationwide rather than just relative to their historic usage.

Currently, the score is only available for multifamily property types based on data from the Fannie Mae Energy and Water Market Research Survey. Properties must also have 20 or more units to be eligible to receive a score. The following items must be provided to receive an ENERGY STAR score:

• 12 months of whole-property water use data
• Property Location
• Gross floor area
• Number of units
• Total number of bedrooms
• Irrigated area (square footage of vegetated parts of the property that are watered)

2017 saw the release of many new metrics and ways to track the resources used on building sites. Water scores join other metrics like energy demand tracking and waste tracking as 2017 Portfolio Manager additions. You can expect to see more changes to Portfolio Manager in the coming year. The EPA is currently working on score types for different properties and other changes to the ENERGY STAR resource.

Contact Maximum Energy Professionals to get your building profile set up 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 benchmarks and certifies 100’s of buildings each year. Start benchmarking and monitoring your buildings' energy and water performance to optimize your 2018 resource footprint.

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.