Methodology to Assess “No-Touch” Building Audit Software Using Simulated Utility Data

Howard Cheung, M. Rois Langner, James Braun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus Citations

Abstract

Building audits are conducted in many commercial buildings to identify opportunities to reduce energy costs and improve building operation. Because audits require significant effort by building engineers, they are usually only affordable for larger commercial buildings. “No-touch” building audit tools have thus been developed to identify potential savings based on a simplified analysis of building energy consumption patterns via high-level energy data such as monthly utility bills. This paper presents a comprehensive and standardized methodology to evaluate the accuracy of no-touch audit tools in detecting and diagnosing building energy problems and quantifying potential energy savings. The test suite is based on output data from a well-characterized set of building energy models, and the methodology is illustrated by applying it to a representative no-touch building audit tool. Results show that the tool estimates building energy end uses with reasonable accuracy but is less accurate in identifying probably causes of high energy.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)873-887
Number of pages15
JournalScience and Technology for the Built Environment
Volume26
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 8 Aug 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, © 2020 ASHRAE.

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5500-77150

Keywords

  • building energy
  • building energy consumption
  • building energy model
  • building engineers
  • building operations
  • commercial building
  • reasonable accuracy
  • simplified analysis

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