Hip new rating resources

The public and private sectors are preparing their resources to assist with building energy efficiency measures. As many local jurisdictions around the country prepare to implement and finalize various rating and benchmarking programs, innovators are mobilizing on both the supply and demand sides of the energy performance market. Here are four hip new examples.

Many property owners are faced with under-performing properties and don’t know how to improve their efficiency to reap the savings they keep hearing about. Others are skeptical about the return on investment for most “green” investments environmental advocates are constantly clamoring for. The good news, however, comes in the form of a new modeling tool that analyzes the potential benefits of efficiency and retrofit measures. Just ask Retroficiency, a West-Coast start-up, to use its new efficiency identification and qualification (EIQ) platform to run systematic tests on the payback opportunities offered by thousands of potential commercial building efficiency measures. The process accommodates for building location, size, consumption patterns, and other characteristics.

Another new tool that helps building owners target their efficiency investments improves the effectiveness of building energy benchmarking. Launched through Energy Print, an innovator in energy tracking software, the new Energy Alerts feature automatically flags irregular consumption patterns. This can point owners toward buildings or energy types that are being recorded or used improperly. It has great potential to help focus investments in improved energy use. Energy Alerts sends monthly reports to building mangers and can even identify properties that may be eligible for ENERGY STAR recognition.

On the public sector side, Australia has been a leader in building energy rating for years and continues to make strides as it heads for its comprehensive climate change reduction goals. The federal government will announce a plan in the next year or so that give s a 50 per cent tax break to building owners who do major work that raises a building's energy rating (NABERS) from two to four or more stars. Details of the program are currently being worked out with the building industry.

My last example is stateside, where NYC leads the charge in building energy performance policy. The city’s Greener, Greater Buildings Plan has an energy benchmarking component that is currently in place. To assist owners in the process, the city’s Department of Buildings has put together a Benchmarking Help Center, which will offer benchmarking assistance through a phone helpline. The project represents collaboration with the Mayor’s Office, local colleges, non-profits and industry groups. Callers to the Benchmarking Help Center will be assisted by staff drawn from students in CUNY’s NYSERDA-funded high performance building operations program.

These innovative programs and products represent important catalysts in the building energy rating market, and should prove interesting models for nascent building rating policies and businesses worldwide.