In 2009, the Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) started an Energy Star pilot program for commercial buildings to help them strive for higher energy efficiency performance. The program is modeled after the highly successful Energy Star Homes program.

Just recently, one very high profile building, the Empire State Building in New York City, just completed a renovation to be included in the program. Some of the interesting changes that that building made included the additional of daylighting inside tenet spaces to improve the use of the sun to light the offices. They upgraded their heating and cooling systems, improved the windows and started to use more advanced controls to run the new systems.

The overall impact change on the building was a rating of 90. That means the building is in the top 10 percentile of all commercial buildings, both new and old. In order to be considered an Energy Star building the property must achieve at least a score of 75. More importantly, it also has to be evaluated by an independent source, to ensure what was designed for the building is actually implemented.

Energy Star isn’t the only way to get to the energy savings within a building but it does offer a good standard for people to work to if you are considering upgrading. This can be combined with the commercial tax credit for energy efficient upgrades as well, offering building owners a chance to receive a financial benefit beyond utility savings from the changes.