ASTM E2797-15

4.1 Uses—This practice is intended for use on a voluntary basis by parties who wish to conduct a BEPA on a building. The process defined in this practice involves the collection of building energy use information, some of which may be collected as part of Guide E2018 PCA or Practice E1527 ESA. The practice is intended primarily as an approach to conducting a standardized inquiry designed to identify representative building energy performance in connection with a commercial property involved in a real estate transaction. This practice is intended to reflect a commercially practical and reasonable inquiry.

4.2 Clarifications on Use: 

4.3 Who May Conduct—A BEPA shall be performed by a qualified consultant or individual (hereafter referred to as the “4.4 Additional Services—As set forth in Section 13, additional services may be contracted for between the user and the Consultant. Such additional services may include issues not included within the scope of this practice. For example, the 4.4.1 Benchmarking Additional Service—Any benchmarking system selected relies on critical data in generating its output, so the validity of the data collection process directly impacts the integrity and usefulness of the benchmarking system’s results. Utilization of this practice and adoption of its data collection approach can serve to enhance the integrity of the benchmarking process for all transactional stakeholders in a standardized, fully transparent, uniform, and consistent manner. Notwithstanding, building energy use information should always be evaluated within the context in which it is collected and building 4.5 Principles—The following principles are an integral part of this practice and are intended to be referred to in resolving any ambiguity or exercising such discretion as is accorded the 4.5.1 Uncertainty Not Eliminated in BEPA—No 4.5.2 Not Exhaustive—This practice is not meant to be an exhaustive assessment. There is a point at which the cost of information obtained or the time required to gather it outweighs the usefulness of the information and, in fact, may be a material detriment to the orderly completion of a real estate transaction. One of the purposes of this practice is to identify a balance between the competing goals of limiting the costs and time demands inherent in performing a 4.5.3 Level of Inquiry is Variable—Not every building will warrant the same level of assessment. The appropriate level of assessment will be guided by the type of property subject to assessment and its complexity, the needs of the user, and the information already available or developed in the course of the inquiry.

4.6 Rules of Engagement—The contractual and legal obligations between a 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 1.2 Building Energy Performance—This practice defines 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; 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 1.6 Organization of This Practice—This practice has 13 sections and 11 appendices. The appendices are included for informational purposes only and are not part of the procedures prescribed in this practice.

1.7 Units—The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as the standard. The values given in parentheses are mathematical conversions to SI units that are provided for information only and are not considered standard.

1.8 This practice cannot replace education or experience and should be used in conjunction with professional judgment. Not all aspects of this practice may be applicable in all circumstances. This ASTM standard practice is not intended to represent or replace the standard of care by which the adequacy of a given professional service must be judged, nor should this practice be applied without consideration of a building’s many unique aspects. The word “standard” in the title means only that the practice has been approved through the ASTM consensus process.

1.9 Nothing in this practice is intended to create or imply the existence of a legal obligation for reporting of energy, performance, or other building-related information. Any consideration of whether such an obligation exists under any federal, state, local, or common law is beyond the scope of this practice.