About 40 percent of the commercial square footage in the U.S. is using Energy Star's Portfolio Manager. Is there a particular facility type that most often uses Portfolio Manager? Is there a facility type Energy Star would like to see increase their usage of Portfolio Manager?
Offices account for one quarter of all buildings in Portfolio Manager, followed by K-12 schools (23%) and retail stores (19%). EPA would like to see warehouses increase their usage of Portfolio Manager. Although they may not be top of mind for many organizations, warehouses cumulatively account for a lot of our country's greenhouse gas emissions. Clearly they're not highly energy intensive spaces, with the exception of refrigerated warehouses, but they do account for a large amount of total square footage. We see great opportunity for increasing energy efficiency in this sector through operational improvements, such as zoned lighting systems.
Hotels are another type of building that we'd like to see getting more use out of Portfolio Manager. Reducing energy use by 10 percent across the lodging industry would save $745 million per year. Hotel owners and operators are uniquely situated to not only establish energy-efficient practices in their guest rooms and common areas, but also to educate their guests about practices that they can take home with them after their stay. That's a win-win situation we'd love to help foster.
Answers by Mike Zatz, Chief of the Market Sectors Group for Energy Star Commercial and Industrial Branch
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