BETTER Documentation

How to use the BETTER API

Frequently Asked Questions

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Terms and Conditions

Your use of the BETTER web application (app) and application programming interface (API) is subject to the following terms and conditions: the BETTER web app and API are operated by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory managed and operated by the University of California ("LBNL" and "Berkeley Lab") engaged in fundamental, unclassified research in the public interest. By using the web app and API, you agree to abide by the terms of the privacy, security, copyright, disclaimers, and accessibility information, this Use Agreement, and the terms described herein. You also acknowledge that the data in the BETTER web app and API is subject to error and may not be accurate enough for your application. You agree not to hold the developers, contributors, hosts of the BETTER web app and API, the Regents of the University of California, and the U.S. DOE liable for any inaccuracies in the data, or consequences thereof, or for any claims brought by any third party regarding their data contributions.

Acknowledgements

BETTER is made possible by support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Building Technologies Office (BTO).

BETTER is being developed under Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) No. FP00007338 between the Regents of the University of California Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, under its U.S. DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, and Johnson Controls, with assistance from ICF and McQuillen Interactive Pty. Ltd..

See the How It Works page for information on the tool.

Download Data from ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®

BETTER allows data import from ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. There are two ways to download the data from Portfolio Manager®: (1) download the entire portfolio to Excel, or (2) custom download. We recommend users to download the data with the customized option because it allows users to select specific buildings and information that are needed. Below is a step-by-step guidance of how to download the data from Portfolio Manager.

Step 1 - Log in to ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®

Step 2 - On the lower left corner, click on the "custom download" link

Step 3 - Select "Multiple Properties", then select the buildings you want to download data from. Note that portfolio that contains multiple buildings should not be selected.

Step 4 - Select the data to download. Choose "Basic Property Information", "Meter Entries", then enter the start and end dates of the meter data. Then click on the "Submit" button

Step 5 - Shortly after the following steps, you should be able to see a new notification indicating your data is ready to download. You can download this XLSX file and upload it to BETTER.

This is a sample portfolio data spreadsheet from Portfolio Manager®.