The US Environmental Protection Agency developed ENERGY STAR Buildings to help businesses reduce pollution associated with building construction and operation, while enhancing their financial value.  Focusing on energy performance and indoor environmental quality components of a building, this initiative can stand alone or be incorporated into other green buildings guidelines. 

ENERGY STAR Buildings targets all types of new and existing commercial buildings typically larger than 5,000 square feet, and compares energy performance to the performance of other similar buildings, rather than to code. 

A building with an energy performance score of 75 or higher (on a scale of 1-100), using the ENERGY STAR Buildings Benchmarking Tool is awarded the ENERGY STAR label.