The Myths & Realities of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®
The Myths & Realities of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®
The Myths & Realities of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®
The Myths & Realities of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® (ESPM) is the most popular building performance tracking platform in the world. Launched nearly 25 years ago by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ESPM has emerged as the de facto reporting platform for nearly every local energy & emissions benchmarking policy and building performance standard in North America.
As the possibility of long-term disruption of the ENERGY STAR program looms over the industry, it has never been more important to take action by contacting your local representatives (USGBC Template), lobbying the EPA (Letter to Lee Zeldin), donating to the cause (NRDC) and engaging in public comment.
Central to each of these efforts is the need to clearly articulate the value of ENERGY STAR and its specific programs, including ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®. Many great articles have been written about its significant public benefits, environmental impacts and return-on-investment. We must emphasize these successes as well as the lesser known benefits of ESPM, such as how it spurs innovation and fosters a healthy and competitive market.
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® (ESPM) is the most popular building performance tracking platform in the world. Launched nearly 25 years ago by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ESPM has emerged as the de facto reporting platform for nearly every local energy & emissions benchmarking policy and building performance standard in North America.
As the possibility of long-term disruption of the ENERGY STAR program looms over the industry, it has never been more important to take action by contacting your local representatives (USGBC Template), lobbying the EPA (Letter to Lee Zeldin), donating to the cause (NRDC) and engaging in public comment.
A worrisome trend has emerged of op-eds that give a perfunctory nod to the positive impacts of ESPM while arguing that the industry will be better off without it. While private market-driven solutions indeed provide significant value to the commercial real estate industry and offer important protections against political risk, these opinion pieces ring hollow and share a tone that is strikingly reminiscent of the HBO satire Silicon Valley.
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® (ESPM) is the most popular building performance tracking platform in the world. Launched nearly 25 years ago by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ESPM has emerged as the de facto reporting platform for nearly every local energy & emissions benchmarking policy and building performance standard in North America.
Integral to each of these efforts is the need to clearly articulate the value of ENERGY STAR and its specific programs. Many great articles have recently been written about ESPM’s significant public benefits, environmental impacts and return-on-investment. However, additional emphasis must be placed on how ENERGY STAR (and ESPM), as one of the most successful public-private partnerships in history, continues to spur innovation and foster a healthy and competitive market.
A worrisome trend has emerged of op-eds that give a perfunctory nod to the positive impacts of ESPM while arguing that the industry will be better off without it. While private market-driven solutions indeed provide significant value to the commercial real estate industry and offer important protections against political risk, these opinion pieces ring hollow and share a tone that is strikingly reminiscent of the HBO satire Silicon Valley.
ENERGY STAR
ENERGY STAR
$42bil Annual Energy Savings
790,000+ Jobs Supported
$7bil in public health benefits.
Standardized Data & Methods
Expanded Data Access
Incentivized Market Innovation
No Vendor Lock-in
Accurate Benchmarking
Significant Cost Savings
Portfolio Manager
Portfolio Manager
Standardized Data & Methods
Incentivized Market Innovation
Protection Against Lock-in
Standardized Data & Methods
Incentivized Market Innovation
Protection Against Lock-in
An Honest Communication
A worrisome trend has emerged of op-eds that give a perfunctory nod to the positive impacts of ESPM while arguing that the industry will be better off without it. While private alternatives provide significant value and offer important insurance against political disruption, ESPM serves its own purpose and provides many incomparable benefits. As such, these opinion pieces ring hollow and share a tone that is strikingly reminiscent of the HBO satire Silicon Valley.
Rather than discrediting ESPM in the name of progress, we must honestly communicate its benefits. Below, we dispel many of the myths and misconceptions that are currently being circulated as we highlight ESPM's significant market benefits.
Rather than discrediting ESPM in the name of progress, we must honestly communicate its benefits. Below, we dispel many of the myths and misconceptions that are currently being circulated as we highlight ESPM's significant market benefits.
Rather than discrediting ESPM in the name of progress, we must honestly communicate its benefits. Below, we dispel many of the myths and misconceptions that are currently being circulated as we highlight ESPM's significant market benefits.
MYTH #1: ESPM STIFLES MARKET INNOVATION
ESPM sets industry standards and provides the infrastructure to connect stakeholders within an ecosystem that incentivizes innovation and enables a marketplace of differentiated solutions.
As the most popular benchmarking platform in the world, ESPM supports a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders across real estate, engineering, utility, architecture, sustainability and regulatory industries. ESPM enables this ecosystem by providing critical infrastructure for data exchange between data providers, users and service providers. Specifically, ESPM infrastructure is leveraged by over 50 major energy utilities to sync data for over 100,000 properties, 105 service providers to provide data-driven solutions to over 200,000 properties, and over 50 state and local governments to administer their benchmarking and building performance policies.
MYTH #1: ESPM STIFLES MARKET INNOVATION
ESPM sets industry standards and provides the infrastructure to connect stakeholders within an ecosystem that incentivizes innovation and enables a marketplace of differentiated solutions.
As the most popular benchmarking platform in the world, ESPM supports a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders across real estate, engineering, utility, architecture, sustainability and regulatory industries. ESPM enables this ecosystem by providing critical infrastructure for data exchange between data providers, users and service providers. Specifically, ESPM infrastructure is leveraged by over 50 major energy utilities to sync data for over 100,000 properties, 105 service providers to provide data-driven solutions to over 200,000 properties, and over 50 state and local governments to administer their benchmarking and building performance policies.
MYTH #1: ESPM STIFLES MARKET INNOVATION
ESPM sets industry standards and provides the infrastructure to connect stakeholders within an ecosystem that incentivizes innovation and enables a marketplace of differentiated solutions.
As the most popular benchmarking platform in the world, ESPM supports a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders across real estate, engineering, utility, architecture, sustainability and regulatory industries. ESPM enables this ecosystem by providing critical infrastructure for data exchange between data providers, users and service providers. Specifically, ESPM infrastructure is leveraged by over 50 major energy utilities to sync data for over 100,000 properties, 105 service providers to provide data-driven solutions to over 200,000 properties, and over 50 state and local governments to administer their benchmarking and building performance policies.
330,000+
330,000+
330,000+
Active ESPM Properties
Active ESPM Properties
ESPM Properties
330,000+
Active ESPM Properties
105+
105+
105+
Service Providers
Service Providers
Service Providers
105+
Service Providers
50+
50+
50+
Utilities Integrated with ESPM
Utilities Integrated with ESPM
Integrated Utilities
50+
Utilities Integrated with ESPM
These interconnections minimize costs for property owners and have enabled ESPM to evolve into an industry-standard data platform that enables seamless data exchange between all market participants. Crucially, ESPM ensures that all organizations have equal access to its platform and web services. By maintaining free, open and equal data access, ESPM ensures standardization and interoperability across the industry.
ESPM Fosters Innovation & Competition
By standardizing and democratizing data, ESPM accelerates innovation by reducing the cost and effort for new solutions to enter the market. By intentionally limiting its scope to only support tracking basic data (e.g. property uses, use details, meters, and meter entries), ESPM provides users a valuable performance benchmark while incentivizing downstream innovation by third parties who can enrich these data to enable value-added applications across diverse domains.
In recent years, myriad new solutions have emerged that leverage ESPM to support organizations with more advanced investor reporting, climate disclosures, regulatory risk analysis, compliance tracking, decarbonization planning, etc. The ESPM ecosystem enables these innovative solutions to reach a primed market while benefiting property owners with an ever-expanding list of differentiated services.
By leveraging ESPM as a free, agnostic data repository, users can also protect themselves from expensive vendor lock-in and easily on-board other service providers in the ESPM ecosystem. This paradigm incentivizes incumbents to continually innovate to stay relevant.
ESPM supports a healthy and efficient market that incentivizes innovation and enables service providers who provide the most value to flourish.
These interconnections minimize costs for property owners and have enabled ESPM to evolve into an industry-standard data platform that enables seamless data exchange between all market participants. Crucially, ESPM ensures that all organizations have equal access to its platform and web services. By maintaining free, open and equal data access, ESPM ensures standardization and interoperability across the industry.
ESPM Fosters Innovation & Competition
By standardizing and democratizing data, ESPM accelerates innovation by reducing the cost and effort for new solutions to enter the market. By intentionally limiting its scope to only support tracking basic data (e.g. property uses, use details, meters, and meter entries), ESPM provides users a valuable performance benchmark while incentivizing downstream innovation by third parties who can enrich these data to enable value-added applications across diverse domains.
In recent years, myriad new solutions have emerged that leverage ESPM to support organizations with more advanced investor reporting, climate disclosures, regulatory risk analysis, compliance tracking, decarbonization planning, etc. The ESPM ecosystem enables these innovative solutions to reach a primed market while benefiting property owners with an ever-expanding list of differentiated services.
By leveraging ESPM as a free, agnostic data repository, users can also protect themselves from expensive vendor lock-in and easily on-board other service providers in the ESPM ecosystem. This paradigm incentivizes incumbents to continually innovate to stay relevant.
ESPM supports a healthy and efficient market that incentivizes innovation and enables service providers who provide the most value to flourish.
These interconnections minimize costs for property owners and have enabled ESPM to evolve into an industry-standard data platform that enables seamless data exchange between all market participants. Crucially, ESPM ensures that all organizations have equal access to its platform and web services. By maintaining free, open and equal data access, ESPM ensures standardization and interoperability across the industry.
ESPM Fosters Innovation & Competition
By standardizing and democratizing data, ESPM accelerates innovation by reducing the cost and effort for new solutions to enter the market. By intentionally limiting its scope to only support tracking basic data (e.g. property uses, use details, meters, and meter entries), ESPM provides users a valuable performance benchmark while incentivizing downstream innovation by third parties who can enrich these data to enable value-added applications across diverse domains.
In recent years, myriad new solutions have emerged that leverage ESPM to support organizations with more advanced investor reporting, climate disclosures, regulatory risk analysis, compliance tracking, decarbonization planning, etc. The ESPM ecosystem enables these innovative solutions to reach a primed market while benefiting property owners with an ever-expanding list of differentiated services.
By leveraging ESPM as a free, agnostic data repository, users can also protect themselves from expensive vendor lock-in and easily on-board other service providers in the ESPM ecosystem. This paradigm incentivizes incumbents to continually innovate to stay relevant.
ESPM supports a healthy and efficient market that incentivizes innovation and enables service providers who provide the most value to flourish.
These interconnections minimize costs for property owners and have enabled ESPM to evolve into an industry-standard data platform that enables seamless data exchange between all market participants. Crucially, ESPM ensures that all organizations have equal access to its platform and web services. By maintaining free, open and equal data access, ESPM ensures standardization and interoperability across the industry.
ESPM Fosters Innovation & Competition
By standardizing and democratizing data, ESPM accelerates innovation by reducing the cost and effort for new solutions to enter the market. By intentionally limiting its scope to only support tracking basic data (e.g. property uses, use details, meters, and meter entries), ESPM provides users a valuable performance benchmark while incentivizing downstream innovation by third parties who can enrich these data to enable value-added applications across diverse domains.
In recent years, myriad new solutions have emerged that leverage ESPM to support organizations with more advanced investor reporting, climate disclosures, regulatory risk analysis, compliance tracking, decarbonization planning, etc. The ESPM ecosystem enables these innovative solutions to reach a primed market while benefiting property owners with an ever-expanding list of differentiated services.
By leveraging ESPM as a free, agnostic data repository, users can also protect themselves from expensive vendor lock-in and easily on-board other service providers in the ESPM ecosystem. This paradigm incentivizes incumbents to continually innovate to stay relevant.
ESPM supports a healthy and efficient market that incentivizes innovation and enables service providers who provide the most value to flourish.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, property owners will face a fragmented market, higher costs, greater vendor lock-in, and fewer choices. New solutions will struggle to enter the market, and core features once taken for granted will no longer be freely available. So-called “freemium” models will require users to pay for any truly useful functionality.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, property owners will face a fragmented market, higher costs, greater vendor lock-in, and fewer choices. New solutions will struggle to enter the market, and core features once taken for granted will no longer be freely available. So-called “freemium” models will require users to pay for any truly useful functionality.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, property owners will face a fragmented market, higher costs, greater vendor lock-in, and fewer choices. New solutions will struggle to enter the market, and core features once taken for granted will no longer be freely available. So-called “freemium” models will require users to pay for any truly useful functionality.
MYTH #2: ESPM DOES NOT ADDRESS INDUSTRY NEEDS
ESPM advances the industry by expanding access to data and information, addressing persistent market gaps and providing an open forum for collaboration, education, support and recognition.
Each year, ESPM convenes public working groups to identify persistent industry challenges that remain unaddressed by the market. These sessions bring together industry leaders committed to strengthening the ESPM ecosystem for a diverse set of stakeholders (e.g. property owners, consultants, utilities, and service providers) and inform the development of new features, resources, and datasets for the benefit of the whole industry. This ensures that ESPM is built for industry, by industry.
MYTH #2: ESPM DOES NOT ADDRESS INDUSTRY NEEDS
ESPM advances the industry by expanding access to data and information, addressing persistent market gaps and providing an open forum for collaboration, education, support and recognition.
Each year, ESPM convenes public working groups to identify persistent industry challenges that remain unaddressed by the market. These sessions bring together industry leaders committed to strengthening the ESPM ecosystem for a diverse set of stakeholders (e.g. property owners, consultants, utilities, and service providers) and inform the development of new features, resources, and datasets for the benefit of the whole industry. This ensures that ESPM is built for industry, by industry.
MYTH #2: ESPM DOES NOT ADDRESS INDUSTRY NEEDS
ESPM advances the industry by expanding access to data and information, addressing persistent market gaps and providing an open forum for collaboration, education, support and recognition.
Each year, ESPM convenes public working groups to identify persistent industry challenges that remain unaddressed by the market. These sessions bring together industry leaders committed to strengthening the ESPM ecosystem for a diverse set of stakeholders (e.g. property owners, consultants, utilities, and service providers) and inform the development of new features, resources, and datasets for the benefit of the whole industry. This ensures that ESPM is built for industry, by industry.
MYTH #2: ESPM DOES NOT ADDRESS INDUSTRY NEEDS
ESPM advances the industry by expanding access to data and information, addressing persistent market gaps and providing an open forum for collaboration, education, support and recognition.
Each year, ESPM convenes public working groups to identify persistent industry challenges that remain unaddressed by the market. These sessions bring together industry leaders committed to strengthening the ESPM ecosystem for a diverse set of stakeholders (e.g. property owners, consultants, utilities, and service providers) and inform the development of new features, resources, and datasets for the benefit of the whole industry. This ensures that ESPM is built for industry, by industry.
EXAMPLE: In 2022/2023, through stakeholder engagements and feedback sessions, ESPM learned that most solution providers, including ESPM, were not strictly adhering to GHG Protocol methodologies when reporting green power and market-based emissions. As Building Performance Standards (BPS) policies began taking effect, it became important to enable more accurate reporting of these metrics. ESPM held a long, transparent process of developing new features to more accurately track and report green power and market-based emissions. These features were deployed in August 2024 and have significantly improved the accuracy of green power reporting. As an interesting parable, many leading non-ESPM solution providers continue to report values that are inconsistent with GHG Protocol methodologies.
EXAMPLE: In 2022/2023, through stakeholder engagements and feedback sessions, ESPM learned that most solution providers, including ESPM, were not strictly adhering to GHG Protocol methodologies when reporting green power and market-based emissions. As Building Performance Standards (BPS) policies began taking effect, it became important to enable more accurate reporting of these metrics. ESPM held a long, transparent process of developing new features to more accurately track and report green power and market-based emissions. These features were deployed in August 2024 and have significantly improved the accuracy of green power reporting. As an interesting parable, many leading non-ESPM solution providers continue to report values that are inconsistent with GHG Protocol methodologies.
EXAMPLE: In 2022/2023, through stakeholder engagements and feedback sessions, ESPM learned that most solution providers, including ESPM, were not strictly adhering to GHG Protocol methodologies when reporting green power and market-based emissions. As Building Performance Standards (BPS) policies began taking effect, it became important to enable more accurate reporting of these metrics. ESPM held a long, transparent process of developing new features to more accurately track and report green power and market-based emissions. These features were deployed in August 2024 and have significantly improved the accuracy of green power reporting. As an interesting parable, many leading non-ESPM solution providers continue to report values that are inconsistent with GHG Protocol methodologies.
To incentivize engagement, ESPM also recognizes stakeholders who achieve superior energy efficiency results and contribute to advancing the industry. In 2024, over 160 organizations earned the distinguished ‘ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence’ award and were invited to share best practices at the perennial Awards Celebration.
Through various industry engagements, ESPM serves as a neutral forum for identifying and addressing persistent market needs as well as spreading best practices. By giving everyone an equal voice, the ESPM ecosystem ensures that shared challenges are addressed while fostering a healthy, competitive market that rewards ongoing innovation and value creation.
ESPM Expands Access to Data & Information
ESPM plays a pivotal role in advancing widescale decarbonization efforts through its public advocacy, technical documentation and educational resources. The ENERGY STAR Data Access Network connects utilities, governments, and other stakeholders to develop and spread best practices for expanding access to energy consumption data. Similarly, the ESPM Utility Data Map helps users identify where they can obtain whole-building consumption data for benchmarking and the EPA Power Profiler lets users learn about their local energy grid and emissions profile. Expanding access to utility data directly benefits the real estate industry, including service providers, by enabling more data-driven solutions.
To incentivize engagement, ESPM also recognizes stakeholders who achieve superior energy efficiency results and contribute to advancing the industry. In 2024, over 160 organizations earned the distinguished ‘ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence’ award and were invited to share best practices at the perennial Awards Celebration.
Through various industry engagements, ESPM serves as a neutral forum for identifying and addressing persistent market needs as well as spreading best practices. By giving everyone an equal voice, the ESPM ecosystem ensures that shared challenges are addressed while fostering a healthy, competitive market that rewards ongoing innovation and value creation.
ESPM Expands Access to Data & Information
ESPM plays a pivotal role in advancing widescale decarbonization efforts through its public advocacy, technical documentation and educational resources. The ENERGY STAR Data Access Network connects utilities, governments, and other stakeholders to develop and spread best practices for expanding access to energy consumption data. Similarly, the ESPM Utility Data Map helps users identify where they can obtain whole-building consumption data for benchmarking and the EPA Power Profiler lets users learn about their local energy grid and emissions profile. Expanding access to utility data directly benefits the real estate industry, including service providers, by enabling more data-driven solutions.
To incentivize engagement, ESPM also recognizes stakeholders who achieve superior energy efficiency results and contribute to advancing the industry. In 2024, over 160 organizations earned the distinguished ‘ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence’ award and were invited to share best practices at the perennial Awards Celebration.
Through various industry engagements, ESPM serves as a neutral forum for identifying and addressing persistent market needs as well as spreading best practices. By giving everyone an equal voice, the ESPM ecosystem ensures that shared challenges are addressed while fostering a healthy, competitive market that rewards ongoing innovation and value creation.
ESPM Expands Access to Data & Information
ESPM plays a pivotal role in advancing widescale decarbonization efforts through its public advocacy, technical documentation and educational resources. The ENERGY STAR Data Access Network connects utilities, governments, and other stakeholders to develop and spread best practices for expanding access to energy consumption data. Similarly, the ESPM Utility Data Map helps users identify where they can obtain whole-building consumption data for benchmarking and the EPA Power Profiler lets users learn about their local energy grid and emissions profile. Expanding access to utility data directly benefits the real estate industry, including service providers, by enabling more data-driven solutions.
To incentivize engagement, ESPM also recognizes stakeholders who achieve superior energy efficiency results and contribute to advancing the industry. In 2024, over 160 organizations earned the distinguished ‘ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence’ award and were invited to share best practices at the perennial Awards Celebration.
Through various industry engagements, ESPM serves as a neutral forum for identifying and addressing persistent market needs as well as spreading best practices. By giving everyone an equal voice, the ESPM ecosystem ensures that shared challenges are addressed while fostering a healthy, competitive market that rewards ongoing innovation and value creation.
ESPM Expands Access to Data & Information
ESPM plays a pivotal role in advancing widescale decarbonization efforts through its public advocacy, technical documentation and educational resources. The ENERGY STAR Data Access Network connects utilities, governments, and other stakeholders to develop and spread best practices for expanding access to energy consumption data. Similarly, the ESPM Utility Data Map helps users identify where they can obtain whole-building consumption data for benchmarking and the EPA Power Profiler lets users learn about their local energy grid and emissions profile. Expanding access to utility data directly benefits the real estate industry, including service providers, by enabling more data-driven solutions.
ESPM also maintains a comprehensive glossary of industry terms and an ever-expanding library of technical reference documents that describe complex concepts such as source energy, emissions accounting, and much more. These efforts raise awareness of best practices and provide an unbiased resource that can be used to verify third-party methodologies. The ESPM ecosystem provides an ideal environment for educating industry newcomers as well as established leaders. Users can get started with training resources and test technical concepts in a live setting, for no cost, by leveraging the ESPM platform.
ESPM is continually expanding access to data and information to spur innovation, raise public awareness and develop the next generation of climate leaders.
ESPM is a Public (and Market) Resource
Through its unwavering commitment to transparency, ESPM empowers users and fosters a developer-friendly environment for service providers.
For users, ESPM maintains a number of public resources to stay informed about current features and upcoming changes. A comprehensive library of training resources and FAQs explains hundreds of platform concepts, while industry-leading customer support ensures users receive detailed responses to any inquiry. The support team is remarkably knowledgeable and goes to great lengths to provide clear, thorough answers on all aspects of ESPM.
For service providers, ESPM provides detailed technical documentation to integrate with ESPM web services and holds regular public webinars to prepare them for upcoming changes. ESPM also maintains an up-to-date public board of known issues and version release notes so that developers are aware of all aspects of the platform. These efforts significantly simplify integration and on-going maintenance.
ESPM’s transparency stems from its role as both an industry-standard technology and a vital public resource. It ensures that users and service providers have everything that they need to leverage ESPM data and sets a baseline for accountability across the industry.
ESPM also maintains a comprehensive glossary of industry terms and an ever-expanding library of technical reference documents that describe complex concepts such as source energy, emissions accounting, and much more. These efforts raise awareness of best practices and provide an unbiased resource that can be used to verify third-party methodologies. The ESPM ecosystem provides an ideal environment for educating industry newcomers as well as established leaders. Users can get started with training resources and test technical concepts in a live setting, for no cost, by leveraging the ESPM platform.
ESPM is continually expanding access to data and information to spur innovation, raise public awareness and develop the next generation of climate leaders.
ESPM is a Public Resource
Through its unwavering commitment to transparency, ESPM empowers users and fosters a developer-friendly environment for service providers.
For users, ESPM maintains a number of public resources to stay informed about current features and upcoming changes. A comprehensive library of training resources and FAQs explains hundreds of platform concepts, while industry-leading customer support ensures users receive detailed responses to any inquiry. The support team is remarkably knowledgeable and goes to great lengths to provide clear, thorough answers on all aspects of ESPM.
For service providers, ESPM provides detailed technical documentation to integrate with ESPM web services and holds regular public webinars to prepare them for upcoming changes. ESPM also maintains an up-to-date public board of known issues and version release notes so that developers are aware of all aspects of the platform. These efforts significantly simplify integration and on-going maintenance.
ESPM’s transparency stems from its role as both an industry-standard technology and a vital public resource. It ensures that users and service providers have everything that they need to leverage ESPM data and sets a baseline for accountability across the industry.
ESPM also maintains a comprehensive glossary of industry terms and an ever-expanding library of technical reference documents that describe complex concepts such as source energy, emissions accounting, and much more. These efforts raise awareness of best practices and provide an unbiased resource that can be used to verify third-party methodologies. The ESPM ecosystem provides an ideal environment for educating industry newcomers as well as established leaders. Users can get started with training resources and test technical concepts in a live setting, for no cost, by leveraging the ESPM platform.
ESPM is continually expanding access to data and information to spur innovation, raise public awareness and develop the next generation of climate leaders.
ESPM is a Public (and Market) Resource
Through its unwavering commitment to transparency, ESPM empowers users and fosters a developer-friendly environment for service providers.
For users, ESPM maintains a number of public resources to stay informed about current features and upcoming changes. A comprehensive library of training resources and FAQs explains hundreds of platform concepts, while industry-leading customer support ensures users receive detailed responses to any inquiry. The support team is remarkably knowledgeable and goes to great lengths to provide clear, thorough answers on all aspects of ESPM.
For service providers, ESPM provides detailed technical documentation to integrate with ESPM web services and holds regular public webinars to prepare them for upcoming changes. ESPM also maintains an up-to-date public board of known issues and version release notes so that developers are aware of all aspects of the platform. These efforts significantly simplify integration and on-going maintenance.
ESPM’s transparency stems from its role as both an industry-standard technology and a vital public resource. It ensures that users and service providers have everything that they need to leverage ESPM data and sets a baseline for accountability across the industry.
ESPM also maintains a comprehensive glossary of industry terms and an ever-expanding library of technical reference documents that describe complex concepts such as source energy, emissions accounting, and much more. These efforts raise awareness of best practices and provide an unbiased resource that can be used to verify third-party methodologies. The ESPM ecosystem provides an ideal environment for educating industry newcomers as well as established leaders. Users can get started with training resources and test technical concepts in a live setting, for no cost, by leveraging the ESPM platform.
ESPM is continually expanding access to data and information to spur innovation, raise public awareness and develop the next generation of climate leaders.
ESPM is a Public (and Market) Resource
Through its unwavering commitment to transparency, ESPM empowers users and fosters a developer-friendly environment for service providers.
For users, ESPM maintains a number of public resources to stay informed about current features and upcoming changes. A comprehensive library of training resources and FAQs explains hundreds of platform concepts, while industry-leading customer support ensures users receive detailed responses to any inquiry. The support team is remarkably knowledgeable and goes to great lengths to provide clear, thorough answers on all aspects of ESPM.
For service providers, ESPM provides detailed technical documentation to integrate with ESPM web services and holds regular public webinars to prepare them for upcoming changes. ESPM also maintains an up-to-date public board of known issues and version release notes so that developers are aware of all aspects of the platform. These efforts significantly simplify integration and on-going maintenance.
ESPM’s transparency stems from its role as both an industry-standard technology and a vital public resource. It ensures that users and service providers have everything that they need to leverage ESPM data and sets a baseline for accountability across the industry.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, access to utility data will be significantly restricted, and the quality of reported data across the industry will suffer. Public technical documentation and educational resources will vanish, and service providers will no longer be accountable to established reporting standards.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, access to utility data will be significantly restricted, and the quality of reported data across the industry will suffer. Public technical documentation and educational resources will vanish, and service providers will no longer be accountable to established reporting standards.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, access to utility data will be significantly restricted, and the quality of reported data across the industry will suffer. Public technical documentation and educational resources will vanish, and service providers will no longer be accountable to established reporting standards.
MYTH #3: ESPM Benchmarks are Inadequate
ESPM enables free, accurate and relevant performance benchmarks for all property types based on the most comprehensive and standardized data set in the world.
Public benchmarking policies and building performance standards have been in effect across North America since 2010. While the details of compliance and enforcement can vary, nearly every policy requires property owners to collect and report utility data via ESPM and have it periodically certified by a third-party.
ESPM minimizes compliance costs, ensures data quality and standardizes reporting. It also enables reported data to be aggregated across policies and jurisdictions. The Building Performance Database (BPD) is a free public resource that provides standardized performance data for over 300,000 properties. Data is sourced from each policy, providing the most comprehensive and accurate set of performance metrics for benchmarking in the world.
The BPD is the only dataset, public or private, that is primarily based on third-party verified values reported for regulatory compliance. Performance metrics are complemented by standardized building characteristics (e.g. property type, size and climate zone), thus enabling benchmarks to be constructed against multiple variables to maximize relevancy.
Through the BPD, ESPM enables accurate and relevant energy and emissions intensity performance benchmarks that can be applied based on property type, size, and climate zone.
The Energy Star Score Performance Benchmark
At the heart of ESPM is the eponymous Energy Star Score (Score), a statistically robust building performance benchmark based on the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which is administered across the United States every 4 years.
The Score is a highly advanced performance benchmark. Although its technical methodology is fully documented, due to its complexity, it is often misunderstood. Unlike most benchmarks, the Score accounts for weather and several operational parameters that are specific to each property type. For example, benchmarks for office buildings account for the number of computers, workers and weekly operating hours while for hotels they account for the number of guest rooms, workers and commercial refrigeration units.
Most benchmarks employ a normal distribution or simple regression to compare a building’s performance against a set of observed data. ESPM goes several steps further to create the most accurate and relevant comparison of building performance on the market.
Every few years, ESPM conducts a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of all CBECS data for each property type. The most sensitive building, operational and weather parameters are used to construct a regression equation that predicts the source EUI for a property. Next, a cumulative distribution function (based on a multi-parameter gamma distribution) is constructed for the efficiency ratio of all properties of a specific type (e.g. Offices, Hotels). A Score reflects the positioning of a property’s actual vs. predicted source EUI on the cumulative distribution function curve from 1 to 100%.
MYTH #3: ESPM Benchmarks are Inadequate
ESPM enables free, accurate and relevant performance benchmarks for all property types based on the most comprehensive and standardized data set in the world.
Public benchmarking policies and building performance standards have been in effect across North America since 2010. While the details of compliance and enforcement can vary, nearly every policy requires property owners to collect and report utility data via ESPM and have it periodically certified by a third-party.
ESPM minimizes compliance costs, ensures data quality and standardizes reporting. It also enables reported data to be aggregated across policies and jurisdictions. The Building Performance Database (BPD) is a free public resource that provides standardized performance data for over 300,000 properties. Data is sourced from each policy, providing the most comprehensive and accurate set of performance metrics for benchmarking in the world.
The BPD is the only dataset, public or private, that is primarily based on third-party verified values reported for regulatory compliance. Performance metrics are complemented by standardized building characteristics (e.g. property type, size and climate zone), thus enabling benchmarks to be constructed against multiple variables to maximize relevancy.
Through the BPD, ESPM enables accurate and relevant energy and emissions intensity performance benchmarks that can be applied based on property type, size, and climate zone.
The Energy Star Score Performance Benchmark
At the heart of ESPM is the eponymous Energy Star Score (Score), a statistically robust building performance benchmark based on the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which is administered across the United States every 4 years.
The Score is a highly advanced performance benchmark. Although its technical methodology is fully documented, due to its complexity, it is often misunderstood. Unlike most benchmarks, the Score accounts for weather and several operational parameters that are specific to each property type. For example, benchmarks for office buildings account for the number of computers, workers and weekly operating hours while for hotels they account for the number of guest rooms, workers and commercial refrigeration units.
Most benchmarks employ a normal distribution or simple regression to compare a building’s performance against a set of observed data. ESPM goes several steps further to create the most accurate and relevant comparison of building performance on the market.
Every few years, ESPM conducts a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of all CBECS data for each property type. The most sensitive building, operational and weather parameters are used to construct a regression equation that predicts the source EUI for a property. Next, a cumulative distribution function (based on a multi-parameter gamma distribution) is constructed for the efficiency ratio of all properties of a specific type (e.g. Offices, Hotels). A Score reflects the positioning of a property’s actual vs. predicted source EUI on the cumulative distribution function curve from 1 to 100%.
MYTH #3: ESPM Benchmarks are Inadequate
ESPM enables free, accurate and relevant performance benchmarks for all property types based on the most comprehensive and standardized data set in the world.
Public benchmarking policies and building performance standards have been in effect across North America since 2010. While the details of compliance and enforcement can vary, nearly every policy requires property owners to collect and report utility data via ESPM and have it periodically certified by a third-party.
ESPM minimizes compliance costs, ensures data quality and standardizes reporting. It also enables reported data to be aggregated across policies and jurisdictions. The Building Performance Database (BPD) is a free public resource that provides standardized performance data for over 300,000 properties. Data is sourced from each policy, providing the most comprehensive and accurate set of performance metrics for benchmarking in the world.
The BPD is the only dataset, public or private, that is primarily based on third-party verified values reported for regulatory compliance. Performance metrics are complemented by standardized building characteristics (e.g. property type, size and climate zone), thus enabling benchmarks to be constructed against multiple variables to maximize relevancy.
Through the BPD, ESPM enables accurate and relevant energy and emissions intensity performance benchmarks that can be applied based on property type, size, and climate zone.
The Energy Star Score Benchmark
At the heart of ESPM is the eponymous Energy Star Score (Score), a statistically robust building performance benchmark based on the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which is administered across the United States every 4 years.
The Score is a highly advanced performance benchmark. Although its technical methodology is fully documented, due to its complexity, it is often misunderstood. Unlike most benchmarks, the Score accounts for weather and several operational parameters that are specific to each property type. For example, benchmarks for office buildings account for the number of computers, workers and weekly operating hours while for hotels they account for the number of guest rooms, workers and commercial refrigeration units.
Most benchmarks employ a normal distribution or simple regression to compare a building’s performance against a set of observed data. ESPM goes several steps further to create the most accurate and relevant comparison of building performance on the market.
Every few years, ESPM conducts a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of all CBECS data for each property type. The most sensitive building, operational and weather parameters are used to construct a regression equation that predicts the source EUI for a property. Next, a cumulative distribution function (based on a multi-parameter gamma distribution) is constructed for the efficiency ratio of all properties of a specific type (e.g. Offices, Hotels). A Score reflects the positioning of a property’s actual vs. predicted source EUI on the cumulative distribution function curve from 1 to 100%.
MYTH #3: ESPM Benchmarks are Inadequate
ESPM enables free, accurate and relevant performance benchmarks for all property types based on the most comprehensive and standardized data set in the world.
Public benchmarking policies and building performance standards have been in effect across North America since 2010. While the details of compliance and enforcement can vary, nearly every policy requires property owners to collect and report utility data via ESPM and have it periodically certified by a third-party.
ESPM minimizes compliance costs, ensures data quality and standardizes reporting. It also enables reported data to be aggregated across policies and jurisdictions. The Building Performance Database (BPD) is a free public resource that provides standardized performance data for over 300,000 properties. Data is sourced from each policy, providing the most comprehensive and accurate set of performance metrics for benchmarking in the world.
The BPD is the only dataset, public or private, that is primarily based on third-party verified values reported for regulatory compliance. Performance metrics are complemented by standardized building characteristics (e.g. property type, size and climate zone), thus enabling benchmarks to be constructed against multiple variables to maximize relevancy.
Through the BPD, ESPM enables accurate and relevant energy and emissions intensity performance benchmarks that can be applied based on property type, size, and climate zone.
The Energy Star Score Performance Benchmark
At the heart of ESPM is the eponymous Energy Star Score (Score), a statistically robust building performance benchmark based on the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), which is administered across the United States every 4 years.
The Score is a highly advanced performance benchmark. Although its technical methodology is fully documented, due to its complexity, it is often misunderstood. Unlike most benchmarks, the Score accounts for weather and several operational parameters that are specific to each property type. For example, benchmarks for office buildings account for the number of computers, workers and weekly operating hours while for hotels they account for the number of guest rooms, workers and commercial refrigeration units.
Most benchmarks employ a normal distribution or simple regression to compare a building’s performance against a set of observed data. ESPM goes several steps further to create the most accurate and relevant comparison of building performance on the market.
Every few years, ESPM conducts a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of all CBECS data for each property type. The most sensitive building, operational and weather parameters are used to construct a regression equation that predicts the source EUI for a property. Next, a cumulative distribution function (based on a multi-parameter gamma distribution) is constructed for the efficiency ratio of all properties of a specific type (e.g. Offices, Hotels). A Score reflects the positioning of a property’s actual vs. predicted source EUI on the cumulative distribution function curve from 1 to 100%.
It is understandable that the Energy Star Score is difficult to comprehend, even for industry leaders. However, it is also undeniable that the Score is one of the most robust and accurate benchmarks available to help property owners understand their performance. Furthermore, it is totally transparent and consistently updated based on the most comprehensive commercial building dataset (CBECS) in the world.
It is understandable that the Energy Star Score is difficult to comprehend, even for industry leaders. However, it is also undeniable that the Score is one of the most robust and accurate benchmarks available to help property owners understand their performance. Furthermore, it is totally transparent and consistently updated based on the most comprehensive commercial building dataset (CBECS) in the world.
It is understandable that the Energy Star Score is difficult to comprehend, even for industry leaders. However, it is also undeniable that the Score is one of the most robust and accurate benchmarks available to help property owners understand their performance. Furthermore, it is totally transparent and consistently updated based on the most comprehensive commercial building dataset (CBECS) in the world.
It is understandable that the Energy Star Score is difficult to comprehend, even for industry leaders. However, it is also undeniable that the Score is one of the most robust and accurate benchmarks available to help property owners understand their performance. Furthermore, it is totally transparent and consistently updated based on the most comprehensive commercial building dataset (CBECS) in the world.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, performance benchmarks will rely on opaque, proprietary data sources that vary across service providers. The underlying data quality and methodologies will be unclear, diminishing confidence and resulting in less actionable insights.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, performance benchmarks will rely on opaque, proprietary data sources that vary across service providers. The underlying data quality and methodologies will be unclear, diminishing confidence and resulting in less actionable insights.
⚠️ In the absence of ESPM, performance benchmarks will rely on opaque, proprietary data sources that vary across service providers. The underlying data quality and methodologies will be unclear, diminishing confidence and resulting in less actionable insights.
An Industry United
The world is rapidly running out of time to meet the 1.5 °C climate target. Global emissions in 2024 hit record highs and climate change is already destabilizing life as we know it. To realign with the 1.5 °C pathway, the real estate industry must act now. We must remove as many barriers to action as possible in order to mobilize resources and accelerate widescale decarbonization. The fastest way to do this is to unite around transparent data and open standards and to leverage the largest ecosystem of property owners and service providers in the world. It would be more than foolish to throw 20 years of progress to the side, simply in the name of greed.
An Industry United
The world is rapidly running out of time to meet the 1.5 °C climate target. Global emissions in 2024 hit record highs and climate change is already destabilizing life as we know it. To realign with the 1.5 °C pathway, the real estate industry must act now. We must remove as many barriers to action as possible in order to mobilize resources and accelerate widescale decarbonization. The fastest way to do this is to unite around transparent data and open standards and to leverage the largest ecosystem of property owners and service providers in the world. It would be more than foolish to throw 20 years of progress to the side, simply in the name of greed.
About Abisko
Abisko is an intuitive sustainability platform that simplifies global reporting, local compliance, and decarbonization across real estate portfolios. Our teams work closely with ESPM staff to ensure complete alignment with data models & calculation methodologies. As the only platform to ensure full consistency with ESPM, Abisko provides the most comprehensive Benchmarking and BPS compliance management and investor reporting capabilities in the industry. Our ESPM leadership is also recognized by GRESB, which has partnered with Abisko to offer the ‘ESPM to GRESB’ Toolkit for North American members.
Abisko recognizes the vital importance of ESPM and we will continue to strongly advocate for its continuation. With data for nearly 10,000 ESPM properties synced every night, Abisko is committed to protecting client data and in the case of long-term disruption, users will be able to seamlessly continue data management and operations directly in Abisko. We also offer low-cost ESPM data warehouse back-up services. To learn more, please contact info@abisko.io.
An Industry United
The world is rapidly running out of time to meet the 1.5 °C climate target. Global emissions in 2024 hit record highs and climate change is already destabilizing life as we know it. To realign with the 1.5 °C pathway, the real estate industry must act now. We must remove as many barriers to action as possible in order to mobilize resources and accelerate widescale decarbonization. The fastest way to do this is to unite around transparent data and open standards and to leverage the largest ecosystem of property owners and service providers in the world. It would be more than foolish to throw 20 years of progress to the side, simply in the name of greed.
About Abisko
Abisko is an intuitive sustainability platform that simplifies global reporting, local compliance, and decarbonization across real estate portfolios. Our teams work closely with ESPM staff to ensure complete alignment with data models & calculation methodologies. As the only platform to ensure full consistency with ESPM, Abisko provides the most comprehensive Benchmarking and BPS compliance management and investor reporting capabilities in the industry. Our ESPM leadership is also recognized by GRESB, which has partnered with Abisko to offer the ‘ESPM to GRESB’ Toolkit for North American members.
Abisko recognizes the vital importance of ESPM and we will continue to strongly advocate for its continuation. With data for nearly 10,000 ESPM properties synced every night, Abisko is committed to protecting client data and in the case of long-term disruption, users will be able to seamlessly continue data management and operations directly in Abisko. We also offer low-cost ESPM data warehouse back-up services. To learn more, please contact info@abisko.io.
Read the Letter
A letter to Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the EPA
On April 11, Abisko signed an industry-letter defending the future of ESPM.
About Abisko
Abisko is an intuitive sustainability platform that simplifies global reporting, local compliance, and decarbonization across real estate portfolios. Our mission is to enable the most accurate, scalable and cost-effective data-driven services for the best service providers in the world. We work closely with ESPM staff to ensure complete alignment with data models & calculation methodologies. As the only platform to ensure full consistency with ESPM, Abisko provides the most comprehensive Benchmarking/BPS compliance management, investor reporting, and decarbonization planning capabilities in the industry. Our ESPM leadership is also recognized by GRESB, which partnered with Abisko in 2024 to offer the ‘ESPM to GRESB Toolkit' for North American members.
Abisko recognizes the vital importance of ESPM and we will continue to strongly advocate for its continuation. With data for nearly 10,000 ESPM properties synced every night, Abisko is committed to protecting client data and in the case of long-term disruption, users will be able to seamlessly continue data management and operations directly in Abisko. We also offer low-cost ESPM data warehouse back-up services.
To learn more, please contact info@abisko.io.
An Industry United
The world is rapidly running out of time to meet the 1.5 °C climate target. Global emissions in 2024 hit record highs and climate change is already destabilizing life as we know it. To realign with the 1.5 °C pathway, the real estate industry must act now. We must remove as many barriers to action as possible in order to mobilize resources and accelerate widescale decarbonization. The fastest way to do this is to unite around transparent data and open standards and to leverage the largest ecosystem of property owners and service providers in the world. It would be more than foolish to throw 20 years of progress to the side, simply in the name of greed.
About Abisko
Abisko is an intuitive sustainability platform that simplifies global reporting, local compliance, and decarbonization across real estate portfolios. Our teams work closely with ESPM staff to ensure complete alignment with data models & calculation methodologies. As the only platform to ensure full consistency with ESPM, Abisko provides the most comprehensive Benchmarking and BPS compliance management and investor reporting capabilities in the industry. Our ESPM leadership is also recognized by GRESB, which has partnered with Abisko to offer the ‘ESPM to GRESB’ Toolkit for North American members.
Abisko recognizes the vital importance of ESPM and we will continue to strongly advocate for its continuation. With data for nearly 10,000 ESPM properties synced every night, Abisko is committed to protecting client data and in the case of long-term disruption, users will be able to seamlessly continue data management and operations directly in Abisko. We also offer low-cost ESPM data warehouse back-up services. To learn more, please contact info@abisko.io.
An Industry United
The world is rapidly running out of time to meet the 1.5 °C climate target. Global emissions in 2024 hit record highs and climate change is already destabilizing life as we know it. To realign with the 1.5 °C pathway, the real estate industry must act now. We must remove as many barriers to action as possible in order to mobilize resources and accelerate widescale decarbonization. The fastest way to do this is to unite around transparent data and open standards and to leverage the largest ecosystem of property owners and service providers in the world. It would be more than foolish to throw 20 years of progress to the side, simply in the name of greed.
About Abisko
Abisko is an intuitive sustainability platform that simplifies global reporting, local compliance, and decarbonization across real estate portfolios. Our teams work closely with ESPM staff to ensure complete alignment with data models & calculation methodologies. As the only platform to ensure full consistency with ESPM, Abisko provides the most comprehensive Benchmarking and BPS compliance management and investor reporting capabilities in the industry. Our ESPM leadership is also recognized by GRESB, which has partnered with Abisko to offer the ‘ESPM to GRESB’ Toolkit for North American members.
Abisko recognizes the vital importance of ESPM and we will continue to strongly advocate for its continuation. With data for nearly 10,000 ESPM properties synced every night, Abisko is committed to protecting client data and in the case of long-term disruption, users will be able to seamlessly continue data management and operations directly in Abisko. We also offer low-cost ESPM data warehouse back-up services. To learn more, please contact info@abisko.io.
About Abisko
Abisko is an intuitive sustainability platform that simplifies global reporting, local compliance, and decarbonization across real estate portfolios. Our mission is to enable the most accurate, scalable and cost-effective data-driven services for the best service providers in the world. We work closely with ESPM staff to ensure complete alignment with data models & calculation methodologies. As the only platform to ensure full consistency with ESPM, Abisko provides the most comprehensive Benchmarking/BPS compliance management, investor reporting, and decarbonization planning capabilities in the industry. Our ESPM leadership is also recognized by GRESB, which partnered with Abisko in 2024 to offer the ‘ESPM to GRESB Toolkit' for North American members.
Abisko recognizes the vital importance of ESPM and we will continue to strongly advocate for its continuation. With data for nearly 10,000 ESPM properties synced every night, Abisko is committed to protecting client data and in the case of long-term disruption, users will be able to seamlessly continue data management and operations directly in Abisko. We also offer low-cost ESPM data warehouse back-up services.
To learn more, please contact info@abisko.io.
69 Charlton St, New York, NY 10014
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Copyright © 2025 Abisko | Terms & Conditions | Security
69 Charlton St, New York, NY 10014
Start your journey. Sign up for product updates, upcoming webinars and more!
Copyright © 2025 Abisko
69 Charlton St, New York, NY 10014
Start your journey. Sign up for product updates, upcoming webinars and more!
Copyright © 2025 Abisko
69 Charlton St, New York, NY 10014
Start your journey. Sign up for product updates, upcoming webinars and more!
Copyright © 2025 Abisko | Terms & Conditions | Security