Wednesday, February 1, 2017: 8:00 AM-9:30 AM
Building Operation and Performance
Chair:
Amanda Webb, The Pennsylvania State University
Technical Committee: 7.6 Building Energy Performance
Building energy performance data are essential to benchmarking and target setting. While the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is the principal resource for this data across the U.S, recent disclosure laws in several cities and states have produced an additional wealth of data. This seminar examines these data sources from the perspective of several programs that collect and analyze them, and explores the challenges and opportunities for their use. Presenters provide program updates and lessons learned from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s CBECS, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR, and disclosure and benchmarking initiatives in several U.S. cities.
1 CBECS: Highlights from 2012, Looking Ahead to 2017
The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is the only nationally representative data on energy consumption and energy-related characteristics in U.S. commercial buildings. The most recent data from the 2012 CBECS show that, compared to previous CBECS, commercial buildings are becoming larger and are consuming less energy per square foot, a larger share of electricity, and less energy for space heating and lighting. This presentation presents highlights from the 2012 CBECS and discusses innovative plans for the upcoming 2017 CBECS. It also describes ways in which ASHRAE members can contribute to the planning process for the next CBECS.
2 EPA’s Energy STAR Portfolio Manager: A Consistent Framework to Assess and Learn from Local Data
EPA uses the CBECS survey to develop the ENERGY STAR score for commercial buildings, which is made available through EPA’s Portfolio Manager. Numerous states and localities use Portfolio Manager to collect a building’s ENERGY STAR score and other metrics through benchmarking and disclosure laws. As the market moves towards greater disclosure, it is important to maintain simplicity and consistency in how we communicate building performance. This presentation explores new ways to view national data in a local context, opportunities to leverage city and state-level data for analysis, and mechanisms for public sharing of data within Portfolio Manager.
3 Using City and State Benchmarking Policies to Improve Energy Efficiency
In addition to the thousands of buildings that are voluntarily benchmarking, there are now 18+ cities, counties and states that have passed requirements for buildings to benchmark their performance each year and make this information publicly available. These policies are giving building owners, tenants, and policy makers unprecedented access to actual building performance data in their market. This presentation provides an update on these policies across the U.S., examines how local jurisdictions are using the data to motivate building owners to improve the energy efficiency of their properties and discusses the lessons learned and challenges ahead for these programs.