ENERGY STAR®
PortfolioManager
DataTrends
Water Use Tracking
Buildings Tracking Water Use
in Portfolio Manager




i:|
53,306 Properties

6.2 Billion ft2
As of June 2012
Organizations across the country are measuring and tracking the water use of over 50,000
buildings using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ENERGY STAR
Portfolio Manager. These buildings represent close to 20% of all buildings in Portfolio
Manager. EPA has prepared the DataTrends series to examine trends in energy and water
consumption in Portfolio Manager. This document presents the general trends seen in the
water data. To learn more, visit www.energystar.gov/DataTrends
Who is tracking water use?
Many different types of organizations are tracking water
consumption in a wide variety of buildings located in all 50
states. The most common types of buildings with water data are
Office, Retail, and K-12 School, followed closely by Banks and
Multifamily Housing. States and building types with the most
energy benchmarking also tend to have the most water tracking.
Water Use Tracking by State
Total Number of Buildings
Water Use Tracking by Building Type
Number of Buildings
All other types
13,742 (26%)
Medical Office
Residence 840(2%)
Hall/Dormitory
901 (2%)
Hospital
960 (2%)
Warehouse
(Unrefrigerated)
1,007(2%)
Hotel
1,572 (3%)S Multifamily
housing
2,802 (5%)
Office
13,144 (25%)
Retail
9,582 (18%)
Bank/Financial
Institution
3,094 (6%)
K-12 School
5,662 (11%)
Building owners and operators have the option to classify water
use in Portfolio Manager as Indoor, Outdoor, Other, or some
combination of the three. If separate meters are present for
indoor and outdoor water use, Portfolio Manager can track these
independently and can also provide a total water use metric.
Close to 60% of users are tracking indoor water use only, while
just over 40% track a combination of indoor and outdoor use.
Other combinations are rare. The remainder of this document
focuses on trends in indoor water consumption.
Category of Water Use Tracked
Number of Buildings
Indoor Only_
31,280 (59%)
Indoor and
Outdoor
21,396 (40%)
Outdoor Only
480 (0.9%)
Other
Combinations
150 (0.3%)
EPA's WaterSense program seeks to protect the future of our nation's water supply by offering people a simple
way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services. WaterSense and ENERGY STAR
are working together to bring water efficiency solutions to the commercial sector,
Up to 200 buildings
201-500 buildings
501-1,000 buildings
I 1,001-1,500 buildings
I More than 1,500 buildings

-------
How does indoor water use vary
among buildings?
How does indoor water use relate to
business activity?
There is a wide variation in water use among buildings in
Portfolio Manager. Total water use and water use intensity
(WUI) in gallons per square foot vary greatly based on the type
of building. As expected, the buildings in which people live as
well as work, such as Senior Care, Hotels, Hospitals, Multifamily
Housing, and Residence Halls have the highest WUI.
Median Water Use Intensity
ST- 70
c
ra 60
5
> 50
t/5
J 40
•E 30
20
10
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ i
/V ^
V
V



&
Each individual building type displays a range of WUI values.
This variation may result from differences in business activity,
climate, or equipment and operation. The following figure shows
the full range of values observed for School, Office, and
Hospital. The range in variation for Hospitals is quite large, while
less variation is seen in Schools and Offices.
Range of Water Use Intensity
20%
15% -
Z 10% -
ai
a.
School
Office
Hospital
° ^ ^
Indoor Water Use Intensity (gal/ft2)
WUI offers an easy method of comparing water use in different
types of buildings. However, when looking at the range within an
individual type it is instructive to consider water relative to key
measures of business activity. The following graphs explore the
variation in indoor water use for Hospitals, Offices, and Hotels in
the context of their main business activity. For example, the
median Hospital uses 315 gallons of water per bed each day.
Hospital Use Per Bed
Portfolio Manager Median =
315 gal/bed/day
3
CO
0)
n
E
3

O)
c
2
"5
CO
95th percentile = 1,061
5th percentile -43
nnmiflm
n frw Pi i

Gallons per Bed per Day
( ] Office Use Per Worker
1,200
1,000
800
600
400 -
200
0
II
Portfolio Manager Median =
13 gal/worker/day
bhtt
95th percentile = 85
5th percentile = 2

lW^MnrnflMn-rn-
80
70 ¦
60 ¦
50
40 ¦
30 ¦
20
10
0
^ "5s
Gallons per Worker per Day
Hotel Use Per Room
Portfolio Manager Median :
102 gal/room/day
® J?
Jl lllhii
	
95th percentile = 320
5th percentile = 23
Jl
Pn rfl 1111 	
Gallons per Room per Day
Note: Number and floor area of buildings tracking water use includes cumulative data through mid-year 2012. Water use and
business activity includes buildings benchmarked between 2006 and 2012. The data is self reported and has been filtered to
exclude outliers, incomplete records, and test facilities. Portfolio Manager is not a randomly selected sample and is not the basis
of the ENERGY STAR score. To learn more, visit: www, eneravstar. gov/Data Trends.
October 2012
Un'ted States
Environmental Protection
^'^1	Agency

-------