Program Name or Ancillary Text eere.energy.gov

BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM

Benchmark Buildings & Models: Concept & Structure

Dru Crawley, Ph.D.U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

January 24, 2010

Building Energy Use

Commercial Buildings’ Energy Share

• Commercial buildings account for: – 18% of U.S. energy– 18% of greenhouse gas

emissions (~1,000 MMT of CO2e)

– slightly less than India’s entire energy consumption and GHG emissions

Commercial Square Footage Projections

Source: EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2009, Table 5.

72

82

20102003

66

2030

Minus ~16B ft.2

demolitions

104Plus ~38B ft.2 new

additions

Simulation in Low-Energy Building Research

• In DOE’s low-energy building research, simulation has been critical for designing and operating buildings to support decision-making

• But we need ‘benchmark’ models to represent new and existing buildings for research and technology evaluation.

Solution: Benchmark Building Models

• Well documented—all inputs necessary to determine building operating energy performance are shown in Scorecard (spreadsheet which lists the individual inputs along with the source for the information).

• Currently available… 90.1-2004 models representing 80% of commercial building floor area…

• Soon … recent and older existing buildings, 90.1-2007, 90.1-2010 versions

• Continuous improvement:– Updates to current simulation versions– New information, detailed end-uses from monitoring research

Benchmark Buildings

• NREL, PNNL, and LBNL developed benchmark buildings– Set of standardized buildings that can be used as a

code-compliant starting point– Can be used for sector analysis (building stock weights)– Can be used to set performance targets by specific climate or

other parameters (covers all climate zones)– Can be used to show progress toward goals

Simulation Models

• Benchmark models available in EnergyPlus input format along with summary results

• EnergyPlus: fully integrated building, envelope, HVAC, water, and renewables simulation program, available free at www.energyplus.gov

Thanks!

Questions?

Drury Crawley

U.S. Department of Energy

Drury.Crawley@ee.doe.gov

Commercial Building Initiative

commercialbuildings.energy.gov

EnergyPlus

energyplus.gov