CEA Benchmarking & Energy Star Certification 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A retail strip mall benchmarks at a site EUI of 55 kBtu/sq ft/yr. The national median for retail is 70 kBtu/sq ft/yr. What does this suggest?
- The building is performing better than the national median (Correct answer)
- The building is underperforming and needs immediate retrofit
- The building qualifies automatically for ENERGY STAR certification
- The EUI is too low to be credible and should be re-entered
Correct answer: The building is performing better than the national median
A site EUI of 55 vs. a national median of 70 kBtu/sq ft/yr means the building uses roughly 21% less energy per square foot than the median, indicating above-average efficiency.
Question 2: Which section of ASHRAE Standard 100 directly supports the benchmarking process required in many municipal energy disclosure ordinances?
- Section 5 – Energy Use Classification and Benchmarking (Correct answer)
- Section 8 – Lighting Power Density Limits
- Section 11 – On-Site Renewable Energy Credits
- Section 3 – Definitions and Measurement Boundaries
Correct answer: Section 5 – Energy Use Classification and Benchmarking
ASHRAE 100 Section 5 establishes energy use classification and benchmarking methodology that aligns with Portfolio Manager and local ordinance requirements.
Question 3: A university wants to benchmark its entire campus in Portfolio Manager. How should shared metering across multiple buildings be handled?
- Use Portfolio Manager's campus aggregation feature to aggregate meters and allocate energy to individual buildings (Correct answer)
- Enter the total campus energy under the largest building
- Estimate each building's share using square footage ratios without sub-metering
- Only benchmark individually metered buildings and exclude shared-meter buildings
Correct answer: Use Portfolio Manager's campus aggregation feature to aggregate meters and allocate energy to individual buildings
Portfolio Manager's campus feature allows a parent campus account with aggregate meters, and individual buildings can be allocated proportional energy shares.
Question 4: What is the relationship between ENERGY STAR score and greenhouse gas emissions for a typical commercial building?
- Higher ENERGY STAR scores generally correspond to lower GHG emissions per square foot (Correct answer)
- ENERGY STAR scores are independent of emissions because they measure energy not carbon
- Buildings with 100% renewable energy always score 100 regardless of energy use
- GHG intensity must be calculated separately; Portfolio Manager does not link it to scores
Correct answer: Higher ENERGY STAR scores generally correspond to lower GHG emissions per square foot
Because source energy includes the carbon intensity of the grid, higher scores (lower source EUI) generally correlate with lower GHG emissions per square foot.
Question 5: Under EPA's ENERGY STAR program, what is the 'National Median Source EUI' used for?
- As the 50th percentile baseline from which the 1–100 scoring scale is calibrated (Correct answer)
- As the legal minimum standard a building must meet to avoid penalties
- As the target EUI that certified buildings must achieve
- As the average of the top 25% most efficient buildings in each property type
Correct answer: As the 50th percentile baseline from which the 1–100 scoring scale is calibrated
The national median source EUI anchors the 50th percentile of the scoring distribution, against which all benchmarked buildings are ranked.
Question 6: An energy analyst discovers that a hotel's Portfolio Manager score dropped by 10 points after correctly entering 'number of rooms' for the first time. What most likely explains this?
- More rooms increased the intensity metric denominator, revealing previously hidden inefficiency (Correct answer)
- Adding rooms increased the building's source energy total
- Portfolio Manager penalizes large hotels with lower scores
- The room count triggered a weather normalization recalculation error
Correct answer: More rooms increased the intensity metric denominator, revealing previously hidden inefficiency
Entering accurate room counts provides more use-detail context; if the prior score was inflated by missing inputs, the corrected score reflects true operational intensity.
Question 7: Which Portfolio Manager feature allows automated monthly utility data uploads without manual entry?
- Web Services API integration with utility providers or energy management software (Correct answer)
- Batch CSV upload via the Portfolio Manager desktop client
- Automated FTP push from smart meters directly to EPA servers
- ENERGY STAR Connect mobile app with optical meter reading
Correct answer: Web Services API integration with utility providers or energy management software
Portfolio Manager's Web Services API enables automated data exchange between utility billing systems or EMIS platforms and Portfolio Manager accounts.
CEA Benchmarking & Energy Star Certification 5
A retail strip mall benchmarks at a site EUI of 55 kBtu/sq ft/yr.
The national median for retail is 70 kBtu/sq ft/yr.
What does this suggest?