Energy Efficiency Features Net Zero News
Canada and U.S. ensure Energy Star Portfolio Manager “remains relevant for Canadian users”

July 20, 2021 – Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources announced the signing of a new Cooperative Research & Development Agreement between Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “to continue with Canadian enhancements and updates to Energy Star Portfolio Manager”.

“Improving energy efficiency in buildings is essential to achieving our ambitious climate targets,” said Michael S. Regan, administrator, EPA. “Today’s agreement with Natural Resources Canada will continue a 10-year research partnership between our agencies, empowering American and Canadian building owners to reduce energy use, save on costs and cut climate pollution.”

Portfolio Manager is a free, online energy-benchmarking platform for commercial and institutional buildings. NRCan says the tool is used by government and industry to deliver energy-savings programs and sustainability initiatives.

It allows building owners and managers to monitor energy use, GHG emissions, and water and waste consumption. Energy performance can also be compared with similar buildings to inform decisions on energy efficiency upgrades and improvements.

The signing of this agreement ensures the tool remains relevant for Canadian users through planned enhancements that include new and updated Energy Star scores for the most-common building types in Canada, a new GHG emission comparison feature, and updated Canadian metrics and French content, adds NRCan.

According to NRCan, EPA launched Energy Star Portfolio Manager in 2000. In 2011, it started collaborating with NRCan to enhance the tool for Canadian users. In 2013, EPA launched a revamped tool that, for the first time, included Canadian metrics, data and content.

To date, over 26,000 commercial buildings are captured in the tool.