Major corporations focus on more than the traditional bottom line. Today’s companies are measured by their “triple bottom line” — which measures social and ecological performance along with financial performance. As energy efficiency is an important factor in both reducing a company’s operating costs and its environmental footprint, the market is seeing a steady increase in utilization of building-data tools that help owners and managers.
Why are these tools necessary? In an environment where building owners and managers are inundated with data through various sources and in various forms, understanding what the data actually means can be a daunting task. If incorrectly interpreted, data can potentially lead to fruitless building renovations.
To help the market accelerate energy-efficiency initiatives, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has worked on a series of analysis tools that help address various market barriers. These tools can be used to collect, manage and analyze information about building performance, as well as guide the implementation of energy-efficiency programs and policies and lead users to a better understanding of energy-efficiency applications.
An integral part of this system is the Building Energy Asset Score tool, which assesses the physical and structural efficiency of a building to assist building owners and managers as they determine what potential energy efficiency upgrade options are available.
“We developed the Asset Score to fill a critical gap in the market — helping building owners figure out how efficient their building is compared to others, based upon its construction and installed equipment,” says Roland Risser, director of the DOE’s Building Technologies Office. “With the Asset Score, companies looking to buy a building now have the same type of knowledge as people buying a car. Our goal is to empower the real estate market — both building owners and potential buyers — with the information needed to make smart investments in energy efficiency that will save money on utility bills.”
The Asset Score is a free, nationally standardized, web-based tool designed to serve in a complementary capacity to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager energy management tool.
The Asset Score tool generates an energy-efficiency rating based on building data related to its underlying energy assets such as the building envelope (roof, walls and windows), lighting, hot water and HVAC systems. While operational and occupant behaviors can be modified to increase energy efficiency, the efficiency of the energy assets has a more substantial impact on a building’s performance.
Based on building information entered by the user, Asset Score runs a whole-building simulation that generates an energy efficiency score ranging from one to 10. The score is an assessment of the building’s individual systems, an estimate of the total amount of energy used, as well as energy consumed by end use, and efficiency upgrade opportunities.
The generation of a simple energy-efficiency rating score enables users to compare their buildings against others and to determine what measures can be taken to improve performance. The tool uses building life-cycle cost analysis algorithms provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to generate a comprehensive list of upgrade opportunities.
The tool has garnered the attention of a diverse group of stakeholders. It facilitates the ability for building owners and third-party management companies to identify and implement efficiency improvements, enables energy service companies to enhance their existing portfolio of services and tools, allows for government officials at the state and local level to determine where energy cost-saving opportunities exist, and assists utilities in identifying customers eligible for energy-efficiency rebates.
January 2016 saw the launch of the Asset Score National Leadership Network, a landmark partnership between DOE and leading companies, federal agencies, and state and local governments to expand usage of the tool and guide future improvements to the Asset Score program. The Leadership Network comprises 21 leading organizations from diverse sectors including commercial real estate; global infrastructure; energy services; state, local, and federal government; and design and engineering.
Seventeen organizations involved in the partnership (listed below) have committed to use the Asset Score on 10 buildings this year and to work with DOE to produce a case study of one facility.
- AECOM
- Arup
- CH2M Hill
- DNV GL
- FS Energy
- Ingersoll Rand
- JBG Companies
- Liberty Property Trust
- Marriott International
- Marx Okubo
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Performance Systems Development
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
- Steven Winter Associates
- Transwestern
- U.S. General Services Administration
- YR&G
As of March 1, the tool was used to evaluate the energy efficiency of 825 commercial and multifamily residential buildings totaling more than 83 million square feet in more than 30 states nationwide. Buildings totaling an additional 155 million square feet are in the process of utilizing the Asset Score.
— Monica Kanojia is a consultant with U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy