Tailored Energy Benchmarks for Offices & Schools

Session 5, Paper 1, CIBSE ASHRAE Technical Symposium, Dublin, Ireland, 3-4 April 2014

Energy benchmarks are too often poorly-matched to the characteristics of the buildings being benchmarked. Procedures that focus on CO2 emissions can also distance people from the physical realities of energy use by source and end use.

In 2002, CIBSE TM22 principles were used to demonstrate a prototype “tailored benchmarking” approach for offices. This helped to shape the initial placeholder benchmarks for Display Energy Certificates for public buildings in England & Wales.

In 2013, a pilot study by the authors examined how tailored benchmarks might be implemented for schools, using empirical evidence from a variety of sources to calibrate the model.

The paper outlines the principles of tailored benchmarks, their application to offices and schools, and the opportunities for a powerful, integrated benchmarking system to suit most non-domestic buildings.