Commercial Building Benchmarking: Will They Manage It Once They’ve Measured It?

This paper describes results from a study of benchmarking of commercial buildings using ENERGY STAR ® Portfolio Manager by California commercial customers, and discusses the implications of the study for other states and utilities aspiring to meet commercial energy efficiency goals with benchmarking. The findings provide evidence to support the theory behind Portfolio Manager that the understanding of building energy use provided by the tool increases the chances that decision-makers will pursue energy efficiency opportunities for their building(s). Among a subset of customers who registered for utility benchmarking workshops and benchmarked with Portfolio Manager, benchmarking resulted in subsequent building energy management actions and energy efficiency improvements in buildings. Benchmarking was associated with utility program participation. There were tangible energy savings from benchmarking; a substantial portion of the savings was associated with utility programs; and it should be possible to measure these savings. The research showed low levels of awareness of benchmarking among California utility customers who have not taken a benchmarking workshop. About one-half of workshop participants who benchmarked were found to be undertaking the kind of monitoring and re-benchmarking the theory leads us to expect. One of the primary ways that customers reported using results from Portfolio Manager was to help identify energy efficiency opportunities in their buildings, but the tool is not designed to identify specific energy-saving opportunities within buildings. Benchmarking was found to play a role in commercial real estate business among California customers who benchmarked. A substantial percentage of the benchmark scores and EUIs obtained for this study appeared to be inaccurate, and the paper suggests some possible reasons and solutions