Energy Star demystification

The Issue

Energy Star is a leading energy efficiency benchmark and certification program run by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that provides buildings with a score between 0-100 (100 being the best). Any building that scores above 75 is eligible to be recognized and certified for their energy efficiency achievement. When this building received a score of 47 for the 2018 year, the property team wanted to understand why their score was so low and how they could impact it.

NUMBER OF PROJECTS SELECTED

TOTAL SIMULATED SAVINGS

15.9%

ENERGY STAR IMPROVEMENT

47 to 71

What Did We Do

Bractlet’s onboarding process includes an audit of current buildings’ details entered into EnergyStar’s Portfolio Manager. Bractlet’s platform also integrates with utility providers for automatic intake and analysis of utility bills while syncing with Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager via API connections. This process led to the discovery of data entered incorrectly into Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager. The building contained a subterranean parking garage whose energy consumption was part of the main meter and not properly accounted for within Energy Star. Through the Bractlet platform this information was updated within Portfolio Manager. In addition to identifying information problems, Bractlet’s Intelligence Engine (TM) identified and analyzed a series of energy-saving projects that contained both system optimizations and capital measures, including a chiller retrofit. The Bractlet platform and Digital Energy Twin(TM) quantified the impact these projects would ultimately have on the customer’s EnergyStar score.

Results.

The customer implemented a number of projects to optimize and upgrade their systems. Using the Bractlet Intelligence Platform, they were able to ensure the projects performed as expected. In one case, the building engineer decided to override an automate control because he didn’t “trust” it. The system caught this issue and the Bractlet customer success team used data analysis and visualization tools in the Bractlet Intelligence Platform to show the algorithm working as intended.

With projects implemented to date, the customer improved their EnergyStar score from 47 to 71 (50% increase) and has a roadmap to surpass a score of 75 and attain certification.

The combination of Bractlet’s building expertise, simulation technology, and understanding of the benchmarking products available yielded a uniquely tailored set of recommendations for the client. Rather than resorting to a “guess and check” approach to implementing energy-saving measures over a year-long period, Bractlet’s technology provided them with concrete project options and predicted improvements to their Energy Star score, putting the client on a path to achieve Energy Star certification.

PROJECTS SELECTED

15.9%

TOTAL SIMULATED SAVINGS

6.8

PAYBACK [YEARS]

41 to 71

ENERGY STAR IMPROVEMENT