ASTM E2797-11

1.1 Purpose – The purpose of this standard is to define a commercially useful practice in the United States of America for conducting a building energy performance assessment (BEPA) on a building involved in a commercial real estate transaction and subsequent reporting of the building energy performance information. The practice is intended to provide a methodology to the user for the collection, compilation, analysis, and reporting of building energy performance information associated with a commercial building. The practice may be used independently or as a voluntary supplement to Guide E2018 for property condition assessments or Practice E1527 for Phase I environmental site assessments. Utilization of this practice and performance of a BEPA is voluntary. If the property owner (e.g., the seller) is unwilling to provide building energy use and cost information, a BEPA cannot be performed.

1.2 Building Energy Performance – This practice defines building energy performance as the building‘s total annual energy use and cost for heating, cooling, electricity, and other related uses. Energy use, for example, includes total electricity purchased; purchased or delivered steam, hot water, or chilled water; natural gas; fuel oil; coal; propane; biomass; or any other matter consumed as fuel and any electricity generated on site from alternative energy systems (for example, wind energy generator technology or solar photovoltaic systems).

1.3 Objectives – Objectives in the development of this practice are to: (1) define a commercially useful practice for collecting, compiling, and analyzing building energy performance information associated with a building involved in a commercial real estate transaction; (2) facilitate consistency in the collection, compilation, analysis, and reporting of building energy performance information as may be required under building labeling, disclosure, or mandatory auditing regulations; (3) supplement as needed a property condition assessment conducted in accordance with Guide E2018 or an environmental site assessment conducted in accordance with Practice E1527; (4) provide that the process for building energy performance data collection, compilation, analysis, and reporting is consistent, transparent, practical and reasonable; and (5) provide an industry standard for the conduct of a BEPA on a building involved in a commercial real estate transaction, subject to existing statutes and regulations which may differ in terms of scope and practice.

1.4 Documentation – The scope of this practice includes data collection, compilation and reporting requirements. Documentation of all sources, records, and resources relied upon in the investigation is provided in the report.

1.5 Considerations Outside the Scope – The use of this practice is limited to the collection, compilation, and analysis of building energy performance information as defined by this practice. While this information may be used to facilitate building benchmarking, labeling, rating or ranking, reporting of building energy performance information between a seller and a buyer or a landlord and a tenant on a voluntary basis or as may be required by building labeling disclosure or mandatory auditing regulations applicable to the building, or any other use, such use is beyond the scope of this practice.