Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Target Finder
Overview
Target Finder is a no-cost online tool that enables architects and building owners to set energy targets and receive an EPA energy performance score for projects during the design process. Projects that earn a score of 75 or higher are eligible for Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR certification and can be submitted for the ENERGY STAR Challenge. [1]
Also intended for specific municipalitie and states for local legistation compliance:
State and local governments across the country are taking bold steps to protect the climate and lower energy costs by adopting policies that leverage EPA’s ENERGY STAR tools to reduce energy use in commercial buildings. This document provides a summary of state and local legislation that references ENERGY STAR tools such as Target Finder to set whole building energy performance targets in new building design and Portfolio Manager to track energy use, energy costs, and carbon emissions in existing buildings. [2]
Inputs and Outputs
Inputs include: 1. Facility info: building name, location 2. Space types: primary, secondary (pull-down menu) along with area, operating hours(hr/wk), occupants(#), PCs (#), area cooled (pull-down menu), area heated (pull-down menu) 3. Target score or energy use reduction in percentages 4. Estimated fuel use from each fuel source (pull-down menu)
Outputs include: • An Input Summary • Energy Performance Rating (1-100) • Energy Reduction (percentages) • Source Energy Intensity (kBtu/sf-yr) • Site Energy Intensity (kBtu/sf-yr) • Total Source Energy (kBtu) • Total Site Energy (kBtu) • Total Annual Cost (USD) • CO2-eq Emissions (metric-Tons/yr) • CO2-eq Emissions Reduction (Percentages)
Highlights
This tool allows users to generate ideas for possible projects.
Notes
This is just one of at least several building databases available.