Across the U.S., a growing number of cities are unlocking a wealth of data on the energy performance of buildings in the form of building energy benchmarking programs and policies. By requiring large building owners to track and report the energy use of their properties on a consistent basis, building energy benchmarking provides a growing dataset that allows a building’s energy use to be compared to itself over time, to a norm, or to peers both locally and nationally, with the goal of improving energy performance.
Increasingly, building owners are seeing the value of this energy data, and are integrating benchmarking into their energy management strategies. Utilities and energy efficiency program administrators, however, have yet to capitalize on benchmarking as a tool to drive cost-effective energy savings.
Creating Value from Benchmarking: A Utility Perspective, a new paper by IMT, examines benchmarking from the utility perspective, with an eye on how innovative energy service providers are leveraging city efforts to advance energy efficiency program planning and implementation.
The opportunities discussed include:
- How municipal and investor-owned utilities can remove one of the biggest hurdles to effective energy management by better supporting benchmarking data-gathering processes
- How utility assistance in benchmarking programs can motivate customers to enroll in energy efficiency programs
- How data can make utilities smarter by fostering cost-effective, energy-saving actions in infrastructure planning and implementation
- How utilities can help improve benchmarking and disclosure data accuracy
- How utility customer service can be improved by the use of energy benchmarking data
- How benchmarking data can help identify trends and guide utility program developments