Overview
The California Energy Commission Disclosure Summary Sheet accompanies and describes three disclosure documents generated by the EPA's ENERGY STAR® measurement and verification tool, Portfolio Manager: the Statement of Energy Performance, the Data Checklist, and the Facility Summary. The disclosures, required by Public Resources Code, Section 25402.10, are standardized documents designed to provide insight into the energy use of a building, under the space utilization and operational characteristics of the building during the past 12 months. The disclosures include metrics for overall building energy use, as well as a detailed description of the conditions the building owner inputs to Portfolio Manager to generate the metrics.
Overall Building Metrics
Two metrics are used to report overall building energy use, the ENERGY STAR® Energy Performance Score and the Energy Use Intensity.
The ENERGY STAR Energy Performance Score compares a building to a statistically representative national sample of similar buildings. A score of 75 indicates that the building's energy consumption is less than the energy use consumption of 75 percent of similar buildings nationwide. ENERGY STAR cannot score all buildings, and not all buildings in California will receive a score. Energy Use Intensity is a unit of measurement that describes a building's energy use. It represents the energy consumed by a building relative to its size.
Statement of Energy Performance
The Statement of Energy Performance is a standard report generated by Portfolio Manager that describes a building's energy performance in a format that is both understandable and easy to use in business transactions. The Statement includes the name and location of the building; the age, size, and rating, if any, of the building; and summaries of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The Statement has a space for a licensed architect or engineer to certify the accuracy of the data used to benchmark. Energy Commission regulations do not require this certification for disclosures.
Data Checklist
The Data Checklist is a standard report generated by Portfolio Manager that summarizes a property's physical and operating characteristics. The Checklist allows review of the way the space is being used (for example, open office), as well as the hours of occupancy. The Checklist verifies that the rating, if any, shown in the Statement of Energy Performance is applicable to the real-world operation of the building. The Checklist also summarizes the conventional and renewable energy being used within the building by fuel type. There is a space for a licensed professional to certify the data. Energy Commission regulations do not require this certification for disclosures.
Facility Summary
The Facility Summary summarizes the data presented in the Statement of Energy Performance and the Data Checklist. It also compares the energy use of the building as it is currently operated against previous performance (if available), along with the score required for the optional ENERGY STAR label, and the average national energy use for a building with similar characteristics. There is also a brief section devoted to cost and greenhouse gas emissions associated with these energy uses.
Unscored Buildings
Many conditions may cause a building to not receive a score. This does not mean that the building has better or worse energy efficiency than comparable buildings.
Evaluating Unscored Buildings
Evaluating the Energy Use Intensity metric for an unscored building against the median for the building's space type is another way to gauge relative energy use. The following table gives median Energy Use Intensity values for space types in California. Energy Use Intensity is expressed in units of thousands of source British thermal units (BTUs) per square foot that are consumed in a year. A detailed discussion of source and site energy use can be found on the Portfolio Manager website.
The table below compares energy use of an unscored building to the median energy use of a California building for that set of space types. The table does not account for variations affecting building energy use such as occupancy, worker density, computer equipment, or climate. The space types significantly impacted by climate are indicated with an asterisk below.
Building Space Type | Median EUI |
kBTU | |
square foot-yr | |
Education - Day Care or Preschool | 66* |
Education - Elementary School | 92* |
Education - Middle/Secondary School | 119* |
Education - Vocational or Trade School | 83* |
Convenience Store | 923 |
Liquor Store | 456 |
Small Grocery | 483* |
Specialty/Ethnic Grocery | 457 |
Supermarkets | 544 |
Clinic/Outpatient | 223 |
Hospital | 484 |
Medical Laboratory | 253 |
Medical Office | 158 |
Nursing Home | 221 |
Data Processing/Computer Center | 611 |
Laboratory/R&D Facility | 571 |
Software Development | 248 |
Lodging - Hotel | 176* |
Lodging - Motel | 154* |
Lodging - Resort | 276* |
Office/Bank | 186 |
Insurance/Real Estate | 149 |
Light Manufacturing | 129* |
Fire/Police Station | 183 |
Public Assembly - Health/Fitness | 310 |
Public Assembly - Library/Museum | 174 |
Public Assembly - Movie Theater | 235 |
Public Assembly - Other | 299 |
Religious | 66* |
Theater | 133 |
Fast Food Restaurant | 1148 |
Table Service Restaurant | 749 |
Other Restaurant | 712 |
Bar | 367 |
Auto Sales | 221 |
Department/Variety Store | 208 |
Enclosed Mall | 259 |
Other Retail | 148* |
Big Box Retail | 193* |
Strip Mall | 147 |
Gas Station | 94 |
Gas/Convenience Store | 1162* |
Other Services | 158 |
Conditioned Warehouse | 98 |
Unconditioned Warehouse | 51 |
Refrigerated Warehouse | 289 |
All Other | 287* |
Other Rating Systems and Standards
National and regional organizations provide checklists and standards for energy use disclosure that provide a high level of detailed information on building operations. Examples include, but are not limited to, the ASTM Standard E2797-11, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 100, ASHRAE Building Energy Quotient (beQ), and the California Commissioning Collaborative (CCC) Existing Building Commissioning Toolkit.
Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 20, div. 2, ch. 4, art. 9, app A
Note: Authority cited: Sections 25213, 25218(e) and 25402.10, Public Resources Code. Reference: Section 25402.10, Public Resources Code.