Some of you have inquired about the future of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM) in light of the Trump Administration’s proposal to materially constrain it. This note explains ESPM’s role in the real estate ecosystem and outlines our contingency plans should ESPM be diminished in any way.
ESPM is a software platform for commercial real estate, administered by the US EPA. It is also adopted and fully functional in the Canadian market. Real estate environmental data, including energy, water, and waste, may be entered into ESPM with benefits such as data management, analytics, benchmarking, and the potential to achieve ENERGY STAR certification. This data can be injected into and retrieved from ESPM for value-added purposes via an Application Programming Interface (“API”), which is freely available to third parties willing to integrate. ESPM is also the system upon which most local and state energy and water disclosure ordinances rely. Suffice it to say, ESPM is a critical part of the North American real estate ecosystem and a model for comparable programs globally.
Given the preeminent role ESPM plays in our industry, Measurabl takes seriously any potential diminution of ESPM’s capabilities and is prepared to step in to fulfill ESPM functionality should its core operations be constrained. Specifically:
- Your data is, and will continue to be, backed up in Measurabl.
- The range and type of data supported by Measurabl is identical to that of ESPM, so your data collection initiatives may continue uninterrupted.
- Your buildings are, and will continue to be, scored and benchmarked using Measurabl’s proprietary methodology, which is not reliant on ESPM. We have also replicated the ENERGY STAR scoring methodology and will continue to deliver ENERGY STAR’s traditional scoring system should the EPA cease to do so.
- Government disclosures relying on the Statement of Energy Performance generated by ESPM may require an alternative export. Measurabl has stored and queued production of an equivalent document, which can be exported from our system and should meet regulatory agency requirements.
- Lastly, should the API facilitating data transfer to/from ESPM, with which Measurabl has a robust integration, be obstructed, we are committed to reconfiguring our integration and exposing it to third parties so that any entity you authorize can push/pull data from Measurabl at no cost. This is a significant effort that we will undertake only in the extreme event that ESPM’s API is broken, but you have our commitment to ensure the seamless movement of data between you, your service providers, regulators, and partner organizations if necessary.
We remain optimistic that the value and importance of ESPM are self-evident and will prevail in any attempt to fundamentally alter its role in our industry. However, we also commit to stewarding its functionality and value propositions should it be unable to continue its traditional role.