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: 

4.2.1 Use in Conjunction with Guide E2018 PCA or Practice E1527-This practice, when added as a supplemental scope of work to a Guide E2018 PCA or a Practice E1527 ESA, is designed to assist the user and consultant in developing information about energy use in a building or buildings involved in a real estate transaction. The BEPA also has utility to a wide range of persons, including those who may not be involved in a real estate transaction.

4.2.2 Independent Use-This practice may also be used independently of any other building assessment to determine building energy performance.

4.2.3 Site-Specific-This practice is property-specific in that it relates to existing building energy performance. The practice is not intended to replace Guide E2018 PCA or Practice E1527 ESA conducted by a qualified consultant or individual, but rather to supplement it.

4.3 Who May Conduct-A BEPA shall be performed by a qualified consultant or individual (hereafter referred to as the "Consultant") with the education, training and experience necessary to perform the requirements of this practice (see Appendix X4). No practical approach can be designed to eliminate the role of professional judgment and the value and need for experience in the individual performing the inquiry. The professional experience of the Consultant is, consequently, important to the performance of this BEPA.

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 user or Consultant may wish to benchmark the building against similar buildings in the portfolio or in the same geographical area or identify select green building attributes that may contribute to the energy efficiency performance and/or the building's valuation.

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 energy use numbers should not be used without conveying this context. (Refer to Appendix X1 for additional information.)

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 user or Consultant in performing a BEPA.

4.5.1 Uncertainty Not Eliminated in BEPA-No BEPA practice can wholly eliminate uncertainty in determining the myriad of variables that can impact the energy use of a building on a property. The BEPA is intended to reduce, but not eliminate, uncertainty regarding the impact such variables can have on the energy use of a building.

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 BEPA and the reduction of uncertainty about unknown conditions resulting from collecting additional information.

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 Consultant and a user (and other parties, if any) are outside the scope of this guide. No specific legal relationship between the Consultant and user was considered during the preparation of this practice.