Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance Assessment

Buildings continue to be important contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, despite the continued increase in stringency of energy and emissions codes and standards worldwide to address energy use in buildings. The stringency is limited by the available technology and design, and achieving even better performance may require fundamental changes in how the design and operation of buildings is regulated. In this paper we present limitations in current building energy performance assessment methods that, if addressed, could unlock unrealized energy saving potential in building projects: (a) split-incentives in multi-tenant buildings, (b) evaluation of performance using overly-long timescales, for example, yearly, (c) incorrect normalization of energy use over diverse uses and occupancy, and (d) ignoring robustness when rewarding efficiency. We discuss these issues through the lens of data availability and discuss ways of addressing them through better monitoring and a shift in accounting methods of building energy use. The solutions discussed complement the increasing use of smart meters and sensors in buildings.Building energy standards are key policy instruments for reducing the environmental impact of buildings. The implementation of standards is often stymied by practical issues. This article highlights four technical issues and their relationship to two key non-technical issues: split incentives and ownership tenure. The article discusses possible paths to resolving these challenges.