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ENERGY STAR Services

1.

Optimize Your Building for ENERGY STAR

EOS Labs is an ENERGY STAR Service Partner. We know how to achieve certification in all building types that are currently eligible.

2.

Increase Building Value with Energy Efficiency

The typical ENERGY STAR building offers 35% energy savings for tenants, achieving higher occupancy and rental rates.

3.

Permanent Energy Efficiency Improvement

Our consultants focus on long-term energy efficiency, making sure your ENERGY STAR Certification is renewed successfully each year.

Why
EOS Labs

Every consultant on our team has at least 10 years of experience in design, construction, maintenance, sustainability, or facilities management.

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Buildings Served

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energy savings

Risk-Free Service!

  • Credentials
  • Professional Engineers - PE
  • Certified Energy Manager – CEM
  • LEED ACP(BD+)
  • PhD
  • ISO 9001 Auditor
  • RFMP and more

The ENERGY STAR program was created by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1992, with the main goal of helping homes and businesses save energy. Since its creation, the program has helped energy consumers save more than 5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to more than $500 billion in energy bills. The program has also achieved considerable environmental benefits in the building sector, avoiding 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

You have surely seen home appliances and equipment with the blue ENERGY STAR logo, which indicates that these products have been successfully tested for energy efficiency, among other performance metrics. However, there is also an ENERGY STAR Certification for Buildings: your property can qualify by being among the top 25% most efficient buildings, when compared with similar properties across the US

EOS Labs is an ENERGY STAR Service Partner, and we can help you improve energy efficiency across your entire building portfolio. Once you reach the performance level required for ENERGY STAR Certification, we can manage the application process for each of your eligible properties. Around 40% of Fortune 500 companies are currently partnering with ENERGY STAR as part of their energy efficiency strategy.

What Are the Benefits of an ENERGY STAR Certification?

Each building is unique, and the savings achieved by an energy efficiency project will vary depending on local electricity and fossil fuel prices. However, the following benefits are typical among office buildings that earn the ENERGY STAR Certification:

35% reduction in
energy usage

35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

$0.54/sq.ft. reduction in operating costs

Increased rental and occupancy rates

Depending on where your building is located, ENERGY STAR Certifications can help you qualify for local rebate programs or tax incentives. Having the certification is also useful if your building is located in a city with energy benchmarking mandates, since you can use the results provided by the EPA Portfolio Manager to create your reports.

ENERGY STAR Certifications can also help your buildings meet emissions reduction mandates. While improving their energy performance to the level required for a Certification, your buildings will reduce their carbon footprint.

ENERGY STAR Certification for Buildings: How to Qualify?

As a general requirement, your building must be among the top 25% most efficient properties of its type to earn the ENERGY STAR Certification. To demonstrate this, you must meet the following requirements:

  • Your building must be on the list of property types that are eligible for ENERGY STAR Certification.
  • You must use the EPA Portfolio Manager to benchmark your energy consumption, and obtain a score of 75 or higher on a scale of 1-100. You must submit energy data for at least 12 consecutive months, for all your active meters.
  • Meeting minimum occupancy requirements and indoor environmental quality standards: indoor air quality, thermal comfort and suitable lighting.
  • An ENERGY STAR Certification must be renewed annually, which means your building must sustain its energy performance level to remain certified.
  • ENERGY STAR Certifications are available for buildings in the US, Canada and US territories. Buildings owned by the US government in other locations are also eligible.

All applications must be signed off and submitted by a Professional Engineer (PE) or Registered Architect (RA). The Licensed Professional must conduct a site visit and verify your property use characteristics, energy consumption data, and compliance with indoor environmental criteria.

Applications for ENERGY STAR Certification are submitted online with the Portfolio Manager. The US EPA may ask additional questions depending on the information submitted, and EOS Labs can help you answer them. You will receive your application status through a notification.

How Does the ENERGY STAR Score Work?

The ENERGY STAR Score indicates the performance of your building, compared with similar properties across the US. The score is based on percentiles, which means a building with a score above 90 is among the top 10% most efficient, while a building with a score of 50 is right in the middle of the ranking.

The energy performance of your building is compared against the results of the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which is conducted by the US Energy Information Administration at four-year intervals. The EPA Portfolio Manager considers factors like square footage and local climate when calculating your score, to ensure a fair comparison among properties of the same type operating under different conditions.

Currently, the EPA Portfolio Manager can calculate ENERGY STAR Scores for the following 22 property types:

  • Bank branches
  • Barracks
  • Courthouses
  • Data Centers
  • Distribution centers
  • Financial offices
  • Hospitals (general medical & surgical)
  • Hotels
  • K-12 Schools
  • Medical Offices
  • Multifamily buildings
  • Non-refrigerated warehouses
  • Offices
  • Refrigerated warehouses
  • Residence halls/dormitories
  • Retail stores
  • Single-family homes
  • Senior living communities
  • Supermarkets/grocery stores
  • Wastewater treatment plants
  • Wholesale clubs/supercenters
  • Worship facilities

All these property types are eligible for ENERGY STAR Certification, with four exceptions: barracks, residence halls/dormitories, single-family homes, and wastewater treatment plants.

In 2021, the EPA Portfolio Manager was used to track the performance of over 280,000 commercial properties, with a total floor area of more than 27 billion square feet. By the end of the year, there were 39 local governments and four state governments using the tool as part of their energy benchmarking policies and building performance standards.

As an experienced ENERGY STAR Service Partner, EOS Labs can help you certify all eligible buildings in your portfolio. We can also help you improve energy efficiency in buildings that are not covered by the ENERGY STAR Certification or Score.

ENERGY STAR for New Constructions: Competitive Advantages

If you’re planning a new construction, we can help you design the building to earn ENERGY STAR Certification from the start. EOS Labs has experience certifying many types of buildings, and we can specify energy efficiency measures that will boost your score above 75.

ENERGY STAR Certifications can provide a competitive advantage for real estate developers:

Consider the results of the December 2022 Consumer Price Index Report: in the 12-month period ending in November 2022, electricity prices were up by 13.7% and natural gas prices were up by 15.5%. By renting commercial spaces in ENERGY STAR Certified buildings, companies can mitigate the impact of energy price hikes.

  • If a commercial building is certified, potential tenants will know that the property is among the 25% most efficient nationwide. Compared with an identical building that is not certified, your property offers them lower operating costs.
  • ENERGY STAR Certifications can help you increase occupancy and rental rates in new real estate projects, increasing your ROI and shortening your payback period.

Once per year, the US EPA publishes the list of cities with the most ENERGY STAR Certified buildings. The top 5 cities in the 2022 ranking were the following:

Los Angeles

648 buildings

Washington DC

498 buildings

Atlanta

342 buildings

San Francisco

332 buildings

Dallas

286 buildings

More than 39,000 US buildings have earned the ENERGY STAR Certification over time, and they have saved over $5 billion in energy bills. These properties have also cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 22 million metric tons, equivalent to annual emissions of 2.7 million homes.