Reports for building managers that summarize their building energy use (based on utility meter) and compares it to other buildings of a similar type.
Benchmarking energy use of commercial properties, comparing to peers on a monthly basis, similar to O-Power.
Status:
Standard comments for this type of measure apply: limited effectiveness as a stand-alone item. This needs to be put into a larger framework, like a utility incentive program, to meet "energy "efficiency criteria. To meet the "Technically sound" criteria, innovations in human interface and behavioral attributes are needed. Scores low on ease of implementation because it seems to require large scale standardization and market acceptance for effectiveness.
Not a technology per se.
It's what you do with the data that's important, not the data itself.
Doesn't energy star already do this.
We are learning that energy awareness produces very little behavioral change. Perhaps these reports could incorporate interactive coaching and tasks to trigger behavioral change.
Energy Star Portfolio Manager already does this, doesn't it?
Baseline Description: Unmanaged commercial building Baseline Energy Use: 16.7 kWh per year per square foot
Taken from 2007 CBSA (http://neea.org/docs/reports/2009NorthwestCommercialBuildingStockAssessment021CA220F212.pdf?sfvrsn=10). Used overall average of all commercial buildings, since any of them can use integrated design.
"Typical" Savings: 5% Energy Savings Reliability: 3 - Limited Assessment
Benchmarking by itself does not save energy, but beginning to benchmark suggests a new awareness of energy use, and energy usage awareness alone should produce some savings. A new commitment to energy savings will produce much more aggressive results. An automated system using utility data will be much easier to keep up with and is therefore more likely to produce sustained results than a manual system that requires a new commitment each time the enterprise is benchmarked.
Energy Use of an Emerging Technology is based upon the following algorithm. Baseline Energy Use - (Baseline Energy Use * Best Estimate of Energy Savings (either Typical savings OR the high range of savings.))
Simple payback, new construction (years): N/A
Simple payback, retrofit (years): N/A
Cost Effectiveness is calculated using baseline energy use, best estimate of typical energy savings, and first cost. It does not account for factors such as impacts on O&M costs (which could be significant if product life is greatly extended) or savings of non-electric fuels such as natural gas. Actual overall cost effectiveness could be significantly different based on these other factors.
FEMP, 04/15/2010. Building Energy Use Benchmarking Guidance Federal Energy Management Program
Technical Advisory Group: 2013 Information Technology TAG (#8) TAG Ranking: 41 out of 57 Average TAG Rating: 2.31 out of 5 TAG Ranking Date: 10/25/2013 TAG Rating Commentary: Useful to identify potential measures; must be able to differentiate DC load from whole building load. Utility meter data is not fine grained enough especially for mixed use buildings. Again, not useful for data center managers unless DC is a stand-alone. Not an ET unless new benchmarks are adopted. Its called EnergyStar and they have a category for data centers. A better informed manager can make better decisions about optimizing their IT operations.
Technical Advisory Group: 2011 Energy Management TAG (#4) TAG Ranking: 8 out of 59 Average TAG Rating: 2.8 out of 5 TAG Ranking Date: 09/29/2011 TAG Rating Commentary: Standard comments for this type of measure apply: limited effectiveness as a stand-alone item. This needs to be put into a larger framework, like a utility incentive program, to meet "energy "efficiency criteria. To meet the "Technically sound" criteria, innovations in human interface and behavioral attributes are needed. Scores low on ease of implementation because it seems to require large scale standardization and market acceptance for effectiveness. Not a technology per se. It's what you do with the data that's important, not the data itself. Doesn't energy star already do this. We are learning that energy awareness produces very little behavioral change. Perhaps these reports could incorporate interactive coaching and tasks to trigger behavioral change. Energy Star Portfolio Manager already does this, doesn't it?