The Challenges & Opportunities created by

California’s new Benchmarking

LegislationMartha Brook

California Energy Commission

2008 ASHRAE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City

Presentation Topics

CA’s new benchmarking policies

Challenges of benchmarking the diversity of CA’s commercial buildings

Creating a regional market for efficient commercial real estate

Energy use benchmarks from building design through operations

2008 ASHRAE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City

State Building Benchmarking

State buildings > 50,000 sf

U.S. EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager

Benchmarks by January, 2008

20% efficiency improvements by 2015

2008 ASHRAE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City

Part of the Governor’s 2004

Green Building Initiative

State Building Benchmarking Weather normalized

Energy Use Intensity

Longitudinal Benchmarks – tracking building energy use over time

Using benchmarks to document Green Building Initiative progress

2008 ASHRAE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City

State Building Benchmarking Process

1

• Account info• Facility and space use info• Meter IDs

CA State Agencies

EPA’s Portfolio Manager

Utilities

4

view ratings

3

12 months of Energy

Consumption

PM user shares agency

facility data

2

Data Authorization

Benchmarking as a Prerequisite to PV

To receive incentive payment for a solar electric system, existing commercial buildings must get benchmarked

Policy intent: All cost-effective energy efficiency options are considered before an investment in renewable energy is made

2008 ASHRAE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City

2007 Guidelines for California’s Solar Electric

Incentives Program

AB 1103, Saldana (2007)January 1, 2009

• Electric and gas utilities must maintain records of the energy consumption data of all nonresidential buildings to which they provide service, in a format compatible for uploading to Energy Star Portfolio Manager, for at least the most recent 12 months.

• Upon authorization of building owner or operator, electric or gas utility must upload all of the energy consumption data for a building to the Energy Star Portfolio Manager.

January 1, 2010

• Nonresidential building owner or operator must disclose Energy Star Portfolio Manager benchmarking data and ratings, for the most recent 12-month period, to a prospective buyer, lessee, or lender.

Energy Benchmarking for Commercial

Buildings

Benchmarking at Time of Lease, Lend or Sale

Get decision makers to think about energy performance at one of the rare times they are paying attention to their building

Facilitate the real estate market to value energy performance within the framework of comparable property listings

Create commercial building market differentiation within CA cross-sectional, NOT longitudinal benchmarking

2008 ASHRAE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City

U.S. EPA’s Energy Star Performance Rating

Energy IntensityCarbon Intensity

Worst PerformersBest Performers

Num

ber

of

Build

ings

121.129.9 165.786.0 339.4(kBtu/ft2-year)

125507590

ENERGY STAR® Performance

Rating

Energy Star Rating

Energy Star brand is recognized and valued by consumers

1-100 rating is easily understood

Portfolio Manager designed to use common rating for buildings across the nation

2008 ASHRAE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City

Benefits:

Challenges:

Energy performance distribution in CA buildings often NOT the same as distribution across the U.S.

Cannot create market differentiation if only narrow band of 1-100 rating gets applied to CA buildings

Most CA buildings do not fall into Energy Star rating categories

Energy Star for CA Buildings

Office, Bank, Courthouse OFFICE 133 33%

K-12 Schools EDUCATION - All 79 27%

K-12 Schools EDUCATION - Elementary 28 42%

K-12 Schools EDUCATION - Secondary 51 5%

Hospitals HEALTH CARE 67 19%

Supermarkets/Grocery Stores GROCERY 120 63%

Medical Office HEALTH CARE 40 10%

Warehouse WAREHOUSE 165 26%

Percent of California Buildings that are Energy Star (by building type)

Energy Star Scoring ToolCEUS General Category

Code

Percent of CA buildings with

Energy Star scores above 75

CEUS Observations

Used in Analysis

*

* If CA building energy use was exactly like USA building energy use, we would expect these each to be 25%

*

*

*

*

Hospitals Retail Office Buildings Hotels

Medical Office BuildingsWaste Water

Treatment PlantsCourthouses Financial Centers

Warehouses Dormitories Supermarkets Schools

Energy Star Rating Eligible Space Types

CA Commercial Sector dominated by Small,

Miscellaneous Buildings

Energy Star for CA Buildings

Table 1California Buildings That Are "Unratable" Using Energy Star

Characteristic of California Buildings in CEUS 2003

Database

  "Unratable" Buildings

CEUSTotal

Unratable Total

Percent of CEUS Total

Number of buildings 525,728 460,574 88%

Number of building types (space types)

62 39 63%

Floor area (million sf) 4,539 2,397 53%

Energy use (billion Btu) 329,655 194,595 59%

Disclosing Energy Performance Data

91PORTFOLIO MANAGER

ENERGY STAR

Total Annual Energy Use (kBtu)

Year Built:

Space Type Area (sq. ft) Wkly Hrs of Operation

Facility Space Use Summary

TOTAL:

Annual Energy Use Summary Your Use State Average

12 Months Natural Gas (kBtu) Use

Energy Intensity ((kBtu/ ft2/ yr)

Gross Area (sq. ft)

12 Months Electricity (kWh) Use

Parking

Disclosing Energy Performance Data

Your Rating

Target

CA-91 - CA-100CA-81 - CA-90 CA-91CA-71 - CA-80 CA-75

CA-61 - CA-70CA-51 - CA-60

CA-41 - CA-50CA-31 - CA-40CA-21 - CA-30CA-11 - CA-20CA-1 - CA-10

AB 1103 (Saldana)

Poor performers - high energy use and costs

Date Generated:For 12-Month Period Ending:Building ID:

CA 2008

Best performers - lower energy use and costs

California Retail Building Energy Rating

0

50

100

150

200

250

Wh

ole

Bu

ild

ing

En

erg

y U

se I

nte

nsi

ty

(kB

tu/f

t2 -yea

r)

California Office Buildings

Good Practice

35 kBtu/ft2-year

Typical

60 kBtu/ft2-year

Your Building

58 kBtu/ft2-year

Source: CEUS

Other CA Benchmarking Initiatives CA looking to

incorporate benchmarks into future building energy efficiency standards Modeled after European

Union’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

Beyond Whole Building Benchmarks

Understanding How Your Building Stacks Up

0

50

100

150

200

250

Wh

ole

Bu

ild

ing

En

erg

y U

se I

nte

nsi

ty

(kB

tu/f

t2 -yea

r)

California Office Buildings

Good Practice

35 kBtu/ft2-year

Typical

60 kBtu/ft2-year

Your Building

58 kBtu/ft2-year

Source: CEUS

Understanding Potential Impact from Energy Efficiency Options

wb_light_retrofit

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Typical

Your Building

Lighting Retrofit

Good Practice

Whole Building Energy Use Intensity (kBtu/ft2-year)

Whole Building EUI

Action-oriented Benchmarking