ICLEI Members Using Portfolio Manager

Cambridge, MA
Cambridge uses the Portfolio Manager software to track energy consumption and efficiency for all schools, fire stations, libraries, and many other City buildings.

A custom-designed software system allows Cambridge to easily gather and analyze energy data for municipal buildings.  Developed by Peregrine Consulting, the City’s Energy Information System (EIS) imports energy consumption data directly from NStar, the energy utility that provides natural gas and electricity distribution to Cambridge.

Using the EIS software, Peregrine creates spreadsheets of building data which is then imported into Portfolio Manager by EPA.  Data is compiled every month, providing timely information on energy consumption and efficiency.  Peregrine and Cambridge are continuing to improve this system and will soon integrate the EIS software directly with Portfolio Manager, providing seamless benchmarking and real-time access to Energy STAR scores.

Medford, MA
Medford has been using the Portfolio Manager since 2003, and has benchmarked the City’s schools, police and fire department facilities, libraries, city hall, and a number of other municipal buildings.

As the largest sector of building energy use, Medford’s schools have become a focus for energy efficiency improvements.  Using the Energy STAR ranking as a guide, the City identified the three lowest-scoring buildings as candidates for evaluation through National Grid’s Whole Building Assessment Program, which provides walkthrough audits, advice from efficiency experts, and access to an array of turnkey vendor services.

Throughout this process the City plans to periodically update the energy data for benchmarked facilities to monitor progress and evaluate the success of various measures.

Natick, MA
Natick began using Portfolio Manager in 2005 after being introduced to Energy STAR by ICF consultants during an energy audit of one of the schools.  School administrators have continued to use Portfolio Manager since then, updating the software at the end of each fiscal year.

Between 2004 and 2007, Portfolio Manager showed a decrease in energy intensity ranging between 3.7 and 25.8 kBtu/sq.ft in 10 of Natick’s 12 schools.  This translates to an increase in Energy STAR rankings of 3-33 points on the 100-point scale and an average increase of 12 points.

School administrators use Portfolio Manager as a tool for monitoring energy consumption and correcting problems.  For example, in a few cases custodial staff failed to adjust boiler runtime for seasonal changes, a process that is only automated in some schools and can be overlooked in others.  In addition, Natick uses this tool to evaluate the effectiveness of cost-savings measures.  Of the two schools seeing the largest (33 point) improvements in Energy STAR scores, an estimated 80% of those increases were the result of lighting changes.

Natick plans to continue using Portfolio Manager to monitor annual changes in energy use as new measures – such as computer shut-down software – are implemented.