Getting Started

How to Join ASHE’s
Energy Efficiency Commitment (E2C) Initiative
Gain Control Over your Energy Consumption

To join the E2C initiative, you will need to begin tracking your energy use by setting up an account within Portfolio Manager, a free internet-based tool used in the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® program. 

Login to Portfolio Manager

  1. Go to www.energystar.gov/benchmark and login to Portfolio Manager.  Click the “New User” link and create a password-protected account, if you do not already have one.
  2. Enter your building information and begin tracking energy performance (or update your account if you already have one).  For more information on how to use Portfolio Manager, you may
    a) Attend an online training at https://energystar.webex.com
    b) Review the Quick Reference Guide for Hospitals or
    c) Take the Portfolio Manager Tour once you’ve established your account in Portfolio Manager.

Share your facility with ASHE
Sharing “read only” rights with ASHE is strictly confidential.  Only ASHE staff supporting the program will be able to access your data. 

From the “My Portfolio” page, choose “Share Facilities”.

Step 1.   From the drop down menu labeled “Select a Master Account”, select “American Society for Healthcare Engineering ASHE_E2C”. Click CONTINUE.

Step 2.  Select the appropriate access role, ability to set baseline, and any additional rights you want to grant the user.  We recommend “Read Only” access.

Screen Shot - Step 2

Step 3.   Choose the appropriate Facility Group within the ASHE account.  Facility Groups include
ASHE Chapters. Click Continue.

Note: To further ease sharing and tracking of facilities within Portfolio Manager, ASHE created chapter groups within the ASHE Account into which your facility can be shared directly.

Step 4. Select your facility to share with the ASHE Master Account.  Click CONTINUE.

Step 5.   Confirm that all access changes are correct.  Review the list of facilities shared and access rights granted.  If you need to make changes, you may return to the previous screen(s) by selecting CANCEL.

Once you have reviewed the changes, click SAVE.

Set a Baseline Period

  1. On the Facility Summary page, next to Facility Performance, select Set Baseline Period.
  2. Choose to set the baseline yourself or let Portfolio Manager automatically determine the baseline period.  Portfolio Manager will automatically identify your earliest eligible 12-month period and set it for you.  Click SAVE.

By going through this process you will be able to compare the average baseline rating for your acute care hospital against your average current rating.

Set Energy Performance Target

  1. On the Facility Summary page, next to Facility Performance, select Set Energy Performance Target.
  2. Set your target based on a rating goal (on the left side of the table) or by a percent reduction goal (on the right side of the table).

ASHE E2C recognizes hospitals with 10% improvement and increasing at 5% increments from a 2001 baseline. Be sure to set your energy performance target to 10% improvement and see what rating is needed to achieve ASHE recognition. View 2007 E2C Awards Recipients!

  1. Click RECALCULATE.  When you are done with setting your target, Click SAVE.

Receiving your performance rating is just the first step.  It will tell you how your facility compares to its peers nationwide on a scale from 1 to 100.   The industry average is 50.  Your Portfolio Manager account will also tell you how much energy has been saved since 2001, or whatever year you use as a baseline.  If your energy savings are 10% or higher, you may be eligible for ASHE recognition.  If your rating is 75 or higher, your facility may be eligible to earn the ENERGY STAR from the U.S. EPA. 

Participating in E2C means joining your peers in your commitment to save energy, reduce costs, and protect the environment.  You will be notified of training seminars and peer-to-peer exchanges in the coming months.

For further information, contact Tim Adams, ASHE Director Engineering and Compliance, by email at tadams@aha.org or by phone at 312.422.3804; or Clark Reed at the U.S. EPA at reed.clark@epa.gov.