The square footage to enter in Portfolio Manager is not the same as the figure shown by the Dept. of Finance, nor is it your REBNY rentable square footage? 

ENERGY STAR uses Gross Square Footage as the measure of building floor area. This is generally larger than the building area listed with the Department of Finance, because it includes all enclosed space above and below grade. Reporting based on the Department of Finance figure will generally lower your ENERGY STAR score. 

Gross Square Footage is also not the same as the building Rentable Square Footage as calculated by REBNY. Using the REBNY square footage in Portfolio Manager is not the correct approach and will artificially increase your ENERGY STAR score. 

Parking Garages covered by the building electric meter should be included in Portfolio Manager as a separate space type with its own floor area, in addition to the building gross square footage. 

If your building has data center and/or trading floor space, there are new requirements for how to treat this space in Portfolio Manager that could dramatically change your ENERGY STAR score?

ENERGY STAR modified its definition and approach to data center space in June 2010. Since then, data center space has been defined as an area that provides “sophisticated computing and server functions which typically include high density computing equipment, dedicated cooling systems, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and raised floors.” Server rooms without separate cooling systems, computer training areas, telecom closets, print/copy rooms, and other areas that may have formerly been classified as data centers but do not meet the current definition should be re-classified and included in the total gross floor area input for the building’s main space type (e.g., Office). New data center sub-metering requirements kick in starting in June 2011 as well. 

For ConEd steam customers, it may be beneficial to wait until March 21st to submit your data?

ENERGY STAR is updating its source energy conversion factor for district steam, effective March 21st. The impact of this calculation change will be to lower the source energy use of all buildings that purchase steam as one of their energy types. Steam energy will drop by approximately 17%, which may increase the building’s ENERGY STAR score by one or several points, depending on the steam proportion of the building’s total energy consumption. This change will be retroactive, so the ENERGY STAR score for calendar year 2010 to be reported to the City may increase as of March 21st for buildings using steam as an energy source. 

If you are using the NYSERDA Focus CRE benchmarking tool, you don’t have to enter your data directly into Portfolio Manager?

NYSERDA’s Focus CRE benchmarking tool is separate from ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, but it provides the building’s ENERGY STAR score and is linked in the background with Portfolio Manager. Buildings that are using the Focus CRE tool can gain access to their data in Portfolio Manager by requesting that the Focus CRE program share access into the building’s Portfolio Manager account. Close attention should be paid to the data that populates into Portfolio Manager to ensure that it was transferred correctly. 

Servidyne customers are ready to submit their data with a few clicks in the right places?

If Servidyne is tracking your building in Portfolio Manager for you on a monthly basis, or has provided PE verification and assisted you in applying for the ENERGY STAR Label, you are pretty much ready to go! The process will be to log in to Portfolio Manager through a special link at www.nyc.gov/ggbp (the link will be available sometime in February), enter the building lot number in the notes section of Portfolio Manager, select the report template called “NYC LL84 2010 Compliance Report,” and click the “Release Data” button. Or contact your Servidyne representative and we can do this for you!