' _aN learN M°reat energystar.gov ENERGY STAR® is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program helping businesses and individuals fight climate change through superior energy efficiency. PORTFOLIO MANAGER UPGRADE PROJECT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Why is EPA's ENERGY STAR upgrading Portfolio Manager? In June 2013, EPA will launch a comprehensive upgrade for its popular Portfolio Manager tool. Originally released in 2000, Portfolio Manager has experienced tremendous growth in users and capabilities. This tool, currently in use by more than 40,000 individual accounts to measure, track, assess, and report on the energy and water performance of more than 250,000 commercial buildings, is being completely upgraded to: • Improve usability with more intuitive navigation; • Increase system speed and performance; • Modernize web services, and • Optimize the database architecture. Will data I'm currently entering into Portfolio Manager be transferred into the upgraded system? Yes. All the information entered by users into Portfolio Manager will be automatically transferred to the upgraded tool. There is no reason to wait to begin benchmarking your buildings, or to halt updating data for already benchmarked buildings. Continued tracking of your energy and other data provides valuable information for managing energy at your property. Prior to the launch of the upgraded Portfolio Manager tool there will be a short downtime. However, users will be given ample notice before Portfolio Manager is offline while all of the data is transitioned to the new Portfolio Manager. Will all of my historical data and the metrics that I have used to track trends over time remain the same? All of your historical data will remain unchanged, however some calculated metrics may differ slightly after the upgrade. EPA is not changing the algorithms used to compute key metrics like the ENERGY STAR score. However, various reference values used to compute site energy, source energy, and emissions will be updated with the most recent data. These updates to the reference data may result in small changes to metric values. What are a few of the enhancements that I can anticipate in the upgraded Portfolio Manager? EPA will hold quarterly webinars and will show different aspects of the upgraded tool as features are built. Examples of planned enhancements include: "Add a property" and "add a meter" wizards to simplify data entry; ------- ' _aN learN M°reat energystar.gov ENERGY STAR® is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program helping businesses and individuals fight climate change through superior energy efficiency. • Easier-to-generate reports, including greater flexibility to download characteristics and metrics for buildings and/or portfolios into MS Excel; • More options for "sharing" properties with other users; and • Added checks, alerts, and tips to help users ensure data accuracy. Will additional building types be incorporated into the upgrade? The building types for which ENERGY STAR scores are currently available will not change. However, the upgraded Portfolio Manager will include 86 function types for selection, such as stadiums, convention centers, and more. The new function types will be treated in the same way that "Other" is currently treated in Portfolio Manager. The expanded list of function types will offer users more specific and accurate categorization for comparison. The full list of available function types is available at www.enerqvstar.gov/pmupqrade Will there be any new features for campuses? Yes. Campuses will now be classified as properties with multiple buildings. This shift has several benefits: • More metrics will be available including Weather Normalized EUI; • Reporting interface will seamlessly included properties with multiple buildings; • Complex meter configurations can be assigned for buildings on a campus; and • Web services will be available to add and edit campus information. Will the process for applying for the ENERGY STAR certification change? Yes, in the upgraded Portfolio Manager, it will be much easier to follow the steps to applying for ENERGY STAR certification with a checklist on the side bar that shows what steps have already been completed. The application process for ENERGY STAR certification will be more automated, featuring prominent notifications with the opportunity to fix errors before submitting the application. Finally, applicants will now upload a PDF for submittal to EPA rather than mailing a hard copy. There will be more updates on the status of submitted applications, so it's clear where the application is in the review process, and those notifications will conveniently appear in the notifications box. ------- LEARN MORE AT energystar.gov ENERGY STAR® is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program helping businesses and individuals fight climate change through superior energy efficiency. What kind of water tracking features will be available? Is Automated Benchmarking Services (ABS) available for water tracking? Water will be tracked by water source in the upgraded Portfolio Manager. The four water sources to choose from are: 1. Municipally supplied potable water 2. Municipally supplied reclaimed water 3. Other (including wells or other sources of water brought from off-site) 4. Alternative water generated on-site (e.g. graywater, rainwater, stormwater, air handler condensate) Automated benchmarking services (ABS) are currently available for water, and will continue to be available when the upgraded Portfolio Manager goes live. For preview of ABS water- tracking functionality visit the following website: https://www.energvstar.gov/istar/has/index.cfm?fuseaction=absdemo.showDemolnfo How will the Portfolio Manager upgrade affect Automated Benchmarking Services? As part of the Portfolio Manager upgrade project, automated benchmarking services (ABS) will also receive a new underlying architecture and technology set. This will include a move from SOAP- to REST-based services, easier schema definitions, quicker responses, simplified integration, and more granular services. With the move from SOAP to REST-based web services, there will be no backwards compatibility and ABS providers will not be able to use the current SOAP-based webservices once the upgrade launches. EPA has held multiple webinars with ABS providers to discuss planned changes (see recordings at www.energystar.gov/ABS) and will continue to host ABS upgrade webinars on a regular basis. Beta ABS web services and schema definitions will be shared with ABS providers this September 2012, allowing ABS providers 9 months to build their integration. For ABS upgrade information, visit the following website: https://www.energystar.gov/istar/has/index.cfm?fuseaction=absdemo.showDemolnfo Will the Portfolio Manager upgrade also impact Target Finder? Yes, Target Finder will now be integrated with Portfolio Manager. For example, it will be possible to save Target Finder results in Portfolio Manager to enable users to easily set energy targets and receive an EPA energy performance score for projects during the design process, and then transition to benchmarking actual energy performance upon project completion. ------- LEARN MORE AT energystar.gov ENERGY STAR® is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program helping businesses and individuals fight climate change through superior energy efficiency. Will Portfolio Manager continue to use 2003 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) data as the reference population for the 1-100 energy performance score systems? EPA has used published data from CBECS 2003 to create the ENERGY STAR energy performance scales housed in Portfolio Manager. The Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration is in the process of designing the survey questionnaire which will be used to collect 2012 energy and building attribute data from buildings across the nation. In the interim, users of the ENERGY STAR energy performance scales should have confidence that: • The ENERGY STAR scales remain the best representation of commercial building energy performance in the market. • CBECS 2003 continues to be the best source of industry data. • EPA will monitor the progress of CBECS 2012 and continually evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the ENERGY STAR energy performance scales. • EPA will work to develop alternative methodologies if deemed necessary or beneficial. Currently, four of the 15 space types eligible to receive an ENERGY STAR score in Portfolio Manager were developed using non-CBECS data. Does Portfolio Manager offer an accurate measure for energy performance of international sites? International buildings can, and do, use Portfolio Manager to effectively benchmark energy performance. International buildings are entered as they would be if they were located in the United States. A few important notes follow: • Tracking changes in energy and cost over time can be accomplished effectively for any building, no matter the location. • Weather normalization depends on accurate weather data, and for some countries, EPA only has access to data from one to two weather stations. When entering a building, select the closest city to you that is available in Portfolio Manager. The closer your building is to the city you select, the more accurate the weather normalization. • If the building receives a 1-100 score, it is being compared against U.S. building stock. Source energy conversion factors and greenhouse gas emissions factors are U.S. factors. ------- ' _aN learN M°reat energystar.gov ENERGY STAR® is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program helping businesses and individuals fight climate change through superior energy efficiency. What is the status of EPA's partnership with Natural Resources Canada to expand Portfolio Manager to commercial buildings in Canada? EPA and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) signed a formal agreement in September 2011 to expand Portfolio Manager to Canadian buildings. Currently, Canadian buildings are benchmarked against similar buildings in the U.S., but they will be benchmarked against similar Canadian buildings and will have Canadian-specific source energy and greenhouse gas emission factors when the upgraded Portfolio Manager is launched in spring of 2013. As part of working with the Canadian government, EPA will add a large number of Canadian weather stations to allow Portfolio Manager to more accurately normalize energy consumption for weather conditions in Canadian locations. Currently there are data for only six Canadian weather stations incorporated in Portfolio Manager, for the major Canadian cities. Initially, Canadian-specific energy performance scores will be available for Offices and K-12 schools, with NRCan intent to add more in the future. While 1-100 scores will be available for Canadian buildings, the ENERGY STAR certification will not be offered. Additionally, the tool will be translated into French for Canada. All users will have the option to use the tool in either English or French. Where can I get more details on planned changes to specific features? At this time, EPA is still developing final system requirements and specifications. Therefore, detailed information about the display and functionality on each page is not currently available. Please attend our quarterly webinars and check the Portfolio Manager Upgrade web page (www.energystar.gov/PMUpgrade) regularly to see the most detailed information available. To learn more about the Portfolio Manager upgrade project, visit www.enerqystar.qov/PMupqrade To learn more about how calculations, such as emissions, weather normalization, and the ENERGY STAR score, are currently performed in Portfolio Manager, visit: http://www.enerqystar.qov/index.cfm?c=evaluate performance .bus portfoliomanaqer docs ------- |