BenchmarkMyBuilding™ leverages the largest data set of its kind, representing 68 billion square feet of buildings, to quickly benchmark consumption and costs
OAKLAND, CA–(Marketwired – Mar 15, 2017) – Lucid, provider of the most comprehensive business intelligence platform for building operations, today unveiled BenchmarkMyBuilding, the industry’s first free self-service benchmark for building energy consumption and costs. Others have created proprietary benchmarks on select data sets, but BenchmarkMyBuilding is the first to leverage the expansive data available through multiple government data sources to enable rapid performance comparisons against similar buildings. Created in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory, through the DOE Small Business Voucher Program, BenchmarkMyBuilding for the first time enables anyone to leverage the billions of data points on commercial building energy use from the DOE and Energy Star. The benchmark calculates the associated annual energy costs, and delivers the findings in an intuitive report that can be shared with collaborators, operators, investors, and occupants.
Easy Inputs, Invaluable Insights
Unlike over-simplified energy calculators that pull some estimated numbers from a sampling of a vendor’s customer base, BenchmarkMyBuilding integrates data from both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Energy Star Target Finder and the. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Performance Database. The DOE and Energy Star have assembled the largest database of information related to building energy consumption in the world, representing nearly 4.8 million buildings, comprising 68 billion square feet of commercial building space. However these databases are geared toward skilled engineers rather than more general business audiences, and do not prioritize cost information.
Lucid weaves these data sets together to provide both cost and consumption benchmarks, with insights into how much improvement is possible. Traditionally, the process to calculate such insights could take weeks for teams to undertake, and would require specialized industry expertise. BenchmarkMyBuilding removes those barriers, making valuable comparisons and instant visibility over the energy efficiency potential of buildings available to anyone.
From only three simple inputs (building type, building size, and building location) users can immediately view key performance indicators such as energy cost, energy consumption, energy use intensity, and comparative performance in intuitive and readily shareable visuals. With additional inputs, users can get a customized energy use report that compares specific buildings with peer buildings and calculates the potential value of improved performance.
Industry Commentary
“Prior to having BenchmarkMyBuilding, it was challenging to come up with a consistent benchmark for all of our buildings. We had both EnergyStar and DOE sources and weren’t sure about how to intertwine them. This will be great for people trying to get started during the initial stages of benchmarking.”
— Dana Jennings, Global Sustainability Project Manager, LinkedIn
“As the Principal Investigator of the DOE Building Performance Database I’m committed to broadly supporting data-driven decision-making using empirical data. I’m especially enthused by our collaboration with BPD users such as Lucid who deliver insights from the largest database of building data through user-friendly, engaging visuals.”
— Paul Mathew, Creator of the DOE Building Performance Database, Department Head of Whole Building Systems, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
“This benchmarking solution allows energy managers, building owners and operators to access clear comparisons of their buildings’ energy cost and performance compared to similar buildings using the vast DOE datasets. Armed with this information, energy and sustainability managers can quickly communicate with other stakeholders about energy expenditures, so they can take steps to make buildings more sustainable, more cost-effective for owners and more attractive to investors and tenants.”
— Jessica Granderson, Deputy for Research Programs, Building Technology and Urban Systems Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
“Lucid is committed to improving the environmental and financial performance of buildings for owners, investors, operators and occupants. We believe BenchmarkMyBuilding will help operators see the potential opportunities for improving performance and galvanize stakeholders to take action. For too long simple, accurate benchmarking has been too cumbersome. This free platform delivers results in a matter of seconds, empowering every building stakeholder to evaluate the opportunities and drive improved decisions.”
Article Source: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/lucid-doe-national-lab-team-provide-first-kind-free-building-benchmarking-capability-2203190.htm