There is a free online software tool that's available through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. It's basically bookkeeping for your energy use, waste generation, water use and recycling.
Establish a baseline
The ENERGY STAR program tracks the demographics of each type of facility, allowing you to see where you are on that trend line. By tracking that information on a monthly basis, you can look for trends and low-hanging fruit savings opportunities to help you move up that list toward the 75th percentile.
Helping the bottom 25%
If you are in the bottom 25% of facilities nationally, you have a lot of work to do. The more you know about your processes and energy use, the more likely you'll be able to determine when things are slightly off and get them right as quickly as possible.
Proving improvement
In some areas of the country, it's becoming mandatory for commercial buildings to demonstrate that they are improving their energy efficiency to comply with local rules and regulations established regarding continuous improvement in energy efficiency.
Get ENERGY STAR certified
If you're close to a score of 75 and you want to become an ENERGY STAR-certified building (which is 75% or above), you can use Portfolio Manager to find out what you need to do to get to that point and become certified.
Certification brings benefits
Certification itself offers a lot of benefits. You know your processes, you know what's going on and you're saving as much energy as — or even more than — the average company, all while continuing to improve.
These benefits result in retaining more employees and attracting new talent, as well as increasing the number of customers and suppliers who want to work with you. Basically, it just says where you stand in terms of your organization's energy efficiency and sustainability goals.