ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager: 2026 Status, How Scores Work and How HVAC Upgrades Show Up

Key takeaways

• ENERGY STAR was proposed for elimination in May 2025 but received $33 million in fiscal 2026 funding and is moving from EPA to DOE.
• The EPA-DOE transition plan (August 2026) targets moving Portfolio Manager's IT hosting to DOE before July 2027.
• Scores run 1 to 100 based on weather-normalized source energy; 50 is median and 75 or higher can qualify for certification.
• Electricity counts at 2.80 times its site value in source energy, so cooling savings carry extra weight in the score.
• Improvements appear gradually as the 12-month rolling period fills with post-project data.

ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is the free online tool most US commercial buildings use to track energy, water and emissions. ENERGY STAR says nearly 25% of US commercial building space actively benchmarks in it, and many benchmarking and building performance laws require it. This page covers the program's status after a turbulent 2025 and 2026, how the 1 to 100 score is built, and what to expect when you improve HVAC-R efficiency.

Program status (as of October 2026)

Readers who saw 2025 headlines about ENERGY STAR being eliminated should know what happened next:

• May 2025: EPA proposed eliminating ENERGY STAR as part of a broader reorganization. More than 1,200 organizations publicly backed the program.
• Fiscal 2026 funding: Congress funded ENERGY STAR at $33 million for fiscal 2026 in H.R. 6938. That was a modest increase over fiscal 2024, and the law required the administration to spend at least that amount through September 30, 2026. U.S. Green Building Council staff called this the first time Congress had set a mandatory annual spending level for the program.
• March 3, 2026: EPA and the Department of Energy signed a memorandum of agreement making DOE the lead agency for ENERGY STAR. The agreement runs ten years, and either agency can withdraw with one year's notice.
• April 2026: the administration's fiscal 2027 budget proposed closing EPA's Office of Atmospheric Protection, which has run ENERGY STAR. Trade press reported that the move to DOE shields the program from that cut.
• August 28, 2026: EPA and DOE released the ENERGY STAR Transition Plan. DOE now leads program updates and directs tool operations. The plan targets moving hosting of the program's IT systems, including Portfolio Manager, to DOE before July 2027. Until then, EPA continues to host the tools.

As of October 2026, Portfolio Manager is operating normally on energystar.gov. Fiscal 2027 began October 1, 2026, and we could not confirm a final fiscal 2027 appropriation for ENERGY STAR. If your compliance work depends on the tool, keep exporting your data regularly and follow announcements from DOE and from your local benchmarking program.

How the ENERGY STAR score works

The 1 to 100 score is a percentile. A score of 50 means median performance among similar buildings nationwide, and a score of 75 or higher may make a building eligible for ENERGY STAR certification. Key points from ENERGY STAR's documentation:

• The comparison is national, not to other Portfolio Manager users. For most property types, the peer group comes from the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), a national survey run by the Energy Information Administration about every five to seven years.
• Regression models predict expected energy use from your building's characteristics, such as size, location, operating hours and number of workers. The score compares actual with predicted source energy use intensity.
• Weather is normalized, so a hot summer does not automatically lower your score.
• You need 12 full calendar months of data for all energy types, plus complete property use details.
• Not every property type gets a score. Buildings without a score can still track EUI, emissions and trends.

Why source energy matters for cooling

Portfolio Manager converts the energy you use on site into source energy, which includes the fuel burned to generate and deliver it. In ENERGY STAR's Source Energy technical reference (August 2023), grid electricity counts at 2.80 units of source energy per unit of site energy, and natural gas at 1.05. A kWh of cooling electricity saved therefore lowers source EUI almost three times as much as the same amount of site energy saved in natural gas. For mostly electric buildings in hot climates, cooling efficiency is one of the main things that moves the score.

How an HVAC-R improvement shows up

Portfolio Manager metrics are based on a rolling 12-month period, so improvements appear gradually:

Illustrative example

Illustrative numbers for showing the arithmetic only. They are not CryogenX4 results. Take a 200,000 sq ft office with a site EUI of 70 kBtu/sq ft, all-electric cooling and gas heating. Cooling electricity is 1,500,000 kWh a year, about 5,118 MMBtu (1 kWh = 3,412 Btu). If cooling electricity falls 10%, the building saves about 512 MMBtu of site energy. That cuts site EUI by about 2.6 kBtu/sq ft, and source EUI by about 7.2 kBtu/sq ft after the 2.80 factor. How much that moves the 1 to 100 score depends on the property type's model and where the building sits on the curve. Use Portfolio Manager's own "what if" estimates rather than a rule of thumb.

Metrics worth watching besides the score

• Site EUI: energy used on site per square foot. Some building performance standards, such as Montgomery County's, set targets in site EUI.
• Source EUI: the basis of the 1 to 100 score, with electricity weighted at 2.80.
• Weather-normalized EUI: shows whether a change in use came from the building or from the weather. This is the most useful view for judging an HVAC change.
• Monthly electricity in cooling months: outside Portfolio Manager's annual metrics, plotting monthly kWh against cooling degree days for the same months year over year is a quick check on cooling performance.
• Emissions metrics: useful for programs that set emissions limits. Make sure the factors match those your program or reporting framework requires.

Why real HVAC gains sometimes do not show up

Facility teams sometimes make a real improvement and see no change in Portfolio Manager. Common reasons:

• Another load grew at the same time, such as new tenants, longer hours, added IT equipment or electric vehicle charging.
• Property use details went stale. If occupancy or hours rose but were not updated, the model expects too little energy, and the score falls even though efficiency improved.
• Missing or estimated bills distort the 12-month window.
• The improvement affects a small share of total load. Treating one small rooftop unit in a large building will not move a whole-building metric, even if the unit itself improved. Equipment-level measurement is the right way to see it.

Portfolio Manager is not an M&V tool

Portfolio Manager tells you how the whole building is trending. It does not prove what one measure saved. Many things change in a year: occupancy, schedules, tenant equipment, other projects. To attribute savings to a specific HVAC-R measure, use measurement and verification on the affected equipment, following the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP). See how HVAC energy savings are measured and how to read an M&V report. Use Portfolio Manager to confirm the building-level trend matches what the M&V says.

Getting good data in

1. Connect meters automatically where your utility supports data exchange, to avoid typing errors.
2. Keep property use details current. Hours, occupancy and floor area changes affect predicted energy, and errors here can swamp a real efficiency gain.
3. Record project dates in notes or custom fields, so anyone reading the trend later knows when the HVAC change happened.
4. Separate submeters for central plants, data rooms or refrigeration if you have them. They make it easier to see where savings came from.
5. Share with compliance programs correctly. Programs such as Maryland's BEPS, Austin's ECAD and many city ordinances collect data through Portfolio Manager sharing. See building performance standards.

Where CryogenX4 fits

Because cooling electricity carries a 2.80 source factor, measures that improve how existing HVAC-R equipment transfers heat can move a building's score more than many other measures of similar size. CryogenX4 describes its treatment as a one-time application, installed while the system runs and typically completed in a day, that removes insulating oil film from internal heat-exchanger surfaces. The company reports energy savings of up to 30%, varying with equipment condition. Expect any such gain to show up in Portfolio Manager over the following 12 months, and confirm it with equipment-level measurement. The savings calculator helps estimate the kWh change before you commit.

Next step

Pull your last 24 months of Portfolio Manager data and find the buildings where cooling drives the largest share of electricity. Those are the best candidates for a measured pilot. Add the project date to Portfolio Manager when you start, so the trend line tells the story later.

Frequently asked questions

Is ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager still available in 2026?

Yes. As of October 2026 it is operating on energystar.gov. The program is moving from EPA to DOE, and the transition plan targets moving Portfolio Manager's IT hosting to DOE before July 2027. Follow official announcements for any account or login changes.

What ENERGY STAR score do I need for certification?

A score of 75 or higher may make a building eligible for ENERGY STAR certification. Certification has additional requirements, including professional verification of the data.

Why did my score not improve right after an HVAC project?

Scores use a rolling 12 months of data. Each month after the project replaces a pre-project month, so the full effect appears after a year. A cooling improvement shows up fastest during the cooling season.

Can I use Portfolio Manager to prove a measure's savings?

Not on its own. Portfolio Manager shows whole-building trends, which many factors affect. Attribute savings to a specific measure with IPMVP-based measurement and verification, then check that the building trend is consistent.

Sources

1. Benchmark Your Building Using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager — ENERGY STAR
2. How the 1-100 ENERGY STAR Score is Calculated — ENERGY STAR
3. Portfolio Manager Technical Reference: Source Energy (August 2023) — ENERGY STAR
4. ENERGY STAR Transition Plan (August 28, 2026) — U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE
5. Energy Star gets full 2026 funding from Congress — Utility Dive
6. Energy Star is moving to DOE. Industry groups are hopeful. — Facilities Dive
7. Energy Star's move to DOE helps it escape proposed EPA cuts — Facilities Dive