Institute for Market Transformation

1776 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 815

Washington, DC 20036

Comments of the Institute for Market Transformation on the Dept. of Energy’s Energy Efficiency 

and Sustainable Design Standards for New Federal Buildings:

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Docket No. EE‐RM/STD‐02‐112

Sept. 1, 2010

The Institute for Market Transformation respectfully submits these comments on the Department of 

Energy’s notice of proposed rulemaking on Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Design Standards for New 

Federal Buildings.

Benchmarking the energy performance of new and existing buildings is an important tool that 

encourages energy efficiency in buildings. Benchmarking – the act of measuring building energy 

performance against comparable data points – yields contextualized energy data that building operators 

can use to identify opportunities for performance improvements, set energy improvement goals and track 

building performance over time. In existing buildings, benchmarking is a critical first step that often 

informs future decisions related to energy audits, performance assurance measures like retro 

commissioning, and retrofits. Benchmarking new buildings can help building designers, engineers and 

operators identify gaps between predicted and actual energy performance.

The Institute for Market Transformation recommends the following measures related to benchmarking 

federal buildings:

I. Use Energy Star Portfolio Manager for the continuous benchmarking of existing federal 

buildings

Portfolio Manager is a nonresidential building energy benchmarking tool for existing buildings 

administered by the ENERGY STAR division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It was 

introduced in 2000 and has since become the most widely used voluntary commercial benchmarking tool

in the U.S. marketplace. Cumulatively, nearly 15 billion square feet of nonresidential floor space has been 

benchmarked by private building operators and state and local governments using Portfolio Manager 

since its introduction.

1 That figure accounts for roughly 20 percent of the total U.S. building stock of 

nonresidential government and privately owned buildings (excluding high-rise multifamily buildings).

2

Portfolio Manager is free to use. It generates an operational rating that measures a building’s actual

energy performance, scoring buildings on a numeric “1” to “100” scale relative to the energy efficiency of 

peer buildings nationwide. Peer building data is derived from the Commercial Building Energy 

Consumption Survey (CBECS) administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information 

Administration. A “50” on the scale represents median energy efficiency in the building stock, while a 

 

1

From the report ENERGY STAR Snapshot: Measuring Progress in the Commercial and Industrial Sectors, Spring 

2010

2 According to McKinsey & Co. report Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy, U.S. nonresidential 

government and privately owned buildings total 78.2 billion square feet
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“75” represents a building that performs better than 75 percent of peer buildings. Buildings that score a 

“75” or higher are eligible for recognition through the Energy Star program. Portfolio Manager requires 

several nontechnical data points to generate benchmark scores, including 12 consecutive months of utility 

bills, which are normalized for factors such as climate and occupancy.

II. Use Energy Star Target Finder to benchmark the predicted energy performance of new 

buildings

Target Finder is a nonresidential benchmarking tool for new buildings and large renovations administered 

by EPA ENERGY STAR. It was launched in 2004 and uses the same “1” to “100” scale and comparison 

methodologies as Portfolio Manager. The Target Finder benchmarking score represents estimated energy

performance based on inputs from independent energy modeling rather than measured performance.

Benchmarking new federal buildings with Target Finder and monitoring the ongoing performance of 

federal buildings with Portfolio Manager has tremendous value. Since the rating scales of the tools are 

aligned, federal building operators can quickly and easily assess the performance potential of a building 

against its performance in operation, helping identify opportunities for improvement.

III. Require COMNET procedures for building energy modeling

The Commercial Energy Services Network (COMNET), an initiative of the Residential Energy Services 

Network (RESNET), is a new technical procedures manual that aligns the predicted energy performance 

of buildings generated by energy models more closely with the actual performance of buildings. Energy 

models predict the energy performance of buildings under ideal circumstances. They are used for 

compliance with building energy codes under several model codes and recognized by the federal 

government for compliance with incentives for building energy performance improvements. But in many 

cases, because our understanding of building operations is limited and because of deficiencies in the 

modeling process, the correlation between the modeled and actual energy performance of buildings is 

poor.

COMNET will help fix this gap and make model-based Target Finder benchmark scores more accurate by 

requiring energy modeling inputs to reflect actual building operating characteristics with more accuracy. 

COMNET establishes rigorous and standardized rules to account for “unregulated” building energy loads 

in the modeling process, such as commercial refrigeration, small appliances and elevators, which will 

make models more accurate. Currently, there is no standard process to evaluate unregulated loads in 

energy models. COMNET also helps modeling software automatically generate reference buildings –

hypothetical buildings that must be constructed in the modeling process to establish a comparative

baseline of the energy performance of a subject building – reducing the potential for modeling errors and 

lowering the cost of modeling for clients. 

IV. Align federal government building energy benchmarking with other federal benchmarking 

guidance and benchmarking practices in the private sector 

Benchmarking procedures used by the federal government should be consistent with current and previous 

federal guidance on benchmarking. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 directs the U.S. 

General Services Administration to sign leases in buildings with superior Energy Star benchmark scores. 

Additionally, the Guiding Principles of Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable 

Buildings directs the federal government to leverage the Energy Star Target Finder and Portfolio Manager 

tools in building energy benchmarking. Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, 

Energy, and Economic Performance, requires federal agencies to comply with the Guiding Principles.
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Federal benchmarking procedures should also align with established practices in the private sector to 

avoid confusion. Building energy benchmarking regulations enacted in states and local jurisdictions 

require the use of Portfolio Manager and Target Finder, and these regulations are set to have a significant 

impact on U.S. property markets. In New York City alone, roughly 22,000 buildings totaling nearly 2.6 

billion square feet of floor space must be benchmarked using Portfolio Manager by 2012. In the cities of 

Austin and Seattle, a combined 9,000 commercial buildings and more than 7,000 multifamily buildings 

will be affected by new benchmarking regulations requiring the use of Portfolio Manager. Many new 

commercial buildings in Washington, DC, will soon be required to generate Target Finder benchmarking 

scores. Similar policies have been enacted in the states of California and Washington, and legislation 

leveraging Portfolio Manager is pending in several other jurisdictions. Portfolio Manager scores are also 

required under existing building certification platforms of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED 

program, the most popular green building certification program in the nation.

V. The federal government must lead the way on building energy benchmarking

The federal government is the nation’s largest landlord and tenant. It owns nearly 450,000 buildings 

totaling more than 3 billion square feet of floor space, and it leases an additional 57,000 buildings 

comprising 374 million square feet of floor space.3 The federal government has taken many positive steps 

related to building energy benchmarking and must continue to show leadership on building energy 

measurement and transparency to the private sector. By making the right decisions related to 

benchmarking procedures, federal benchmarking efforts can leverage current benchmarking momentum 

in the private sector and motivate rapid market transformation. Choosing benchmarking procedures that 

are not aligned with private sector efforts and previous federal benchmarking guidance, or choosing not to 

benchmark at all, will send the wrong signals to the market and impede benchmarking progress. 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this proposed rulemaking.

Sincerely,

Cliff Majersik

Executive Director, Institute for Market Transformation

 

3

Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings Memorandum of Understanding. Access at: 

http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/Guiding_Principles.pdf