Inspired by the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) and driven by a desire to address a complete absence of energy consumption data for Indian commercial building sector data, ECO-III team partnered with BEE and a host of organization to collect standardized and reliable data on different types of commercial buildings in India. The effort has resulted in collection of building level energy use data from more than 860 buildings (office, hotel, hospital, retail) and a detailed analysis that has, for the first time, provided benchmarking indices (e.g. kWh/m2/year, kWh/m2/hour, kWh/bed/year, kWh/room/year, etc.) that can be used by policy makers, building designers, ESCOs, energy auditors, energy analysts and researchers to get a better understanding of energy use in this sector. The statistical analysis has also helped in identifying parameters that strongly influence energy use in buildings and can provide a more robust and transparent method to rate existing buildings using a variation of the methodology that is employed by EPA’s Energy Star Buildings program.
Objectives
- Standardize the process of data collection from existing commercial buildings leading to more effective policy making
- To develop building level and end-use energy benchmarks for commercial buildings
- Provide a basis for BEE’s Star-labeling program for commercial buildings and any other performance-based rating system (e.g. LEED-EB)
- Provide a comparison basis for EPI-based ECBC compliance requirements as specified in the EC Act
- Help create an institutional framework that would allow for collection and analysis of commercial building sector data on a periodic basis by a national organization
Accomplishments
- Conceived a commercial building end-use energy benchmarking initiative in partnership with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. A national star-rating program for commercial buildings was launched for office buildings by Ministry of Power, Government of India on February 28, 2009. A comprehensive analysis using energy consumption data from over 1,000 buildings has been performed to characterize the Indian commercial building sector for the first time.
- Prepared a robust methodology for benchmarking and performance based labeling for office buildings, hotels and hospitals. The methodology was peer reviewed by national stakeholders and also presented at BauSIM 2010 conference in Vienna, Austria.
- Developed ECObench, an online tool to translate the model described above into a useful utility to enable users to compare the energy performance of their building against a defined peer group. It displays the benchmarking results in graphic as well as tabular manner for the convenience of the user. A report that may be submitted to demonstrate the buildings performance can be generated. Key features of the tool are:
- Can be used with minimal learning involved
- Is available in a public domain for easy access to the users
- Comprises of the following three utilities:
- Energy Benchmarking
- Data Query
- Data Submission
- Prepared a roadmap document on the national building star labeling program documenting the efforts so far and identifying actions for issues that need to be addressed in development and implementation.
- Prepared a roadmap document for developing a nationwide initiative to enhance building performance by means of a consortium of government, academia, industry and other multilateral and bilateral organizations and funding agencies.
- An Energy Assessment Guide for Commercial Buildings has been prepared and is being used to perform energy audits in 400 public sector buildings under a new BEE initiative. This has helped introduce consistency and quality assurance and provide guidance on the appropriateness of energy audits.
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- Action-oriented benchmarking for non-residential buildings
- Energy Star Portfolio Manager
- Energy IQ-LBNL Benchmarking Tool
- NABERS-Performance based Rating System
- Energy Smart Building Labeling Programme
- Energy Performance of Buildings Directive
- Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)
- The Usable Building Trust
- ASHRAE Standard Benchmark Energy Utilization Index
- Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
- ICMQ India Pvt. Ltd.
- Infosys Technologies Ltd.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
- Dalkia Energy Services (Formerly DSCL Energy Services Company Ltd.)
- DLF Ltd.
- ps Collective
