Building Benchmarking - Asset vs. Operational: A Presentation for Russian Smart Grid Delegation in Palo Alto, California. April 8, 2011.

1. Building Ratings
London vs. New York
Presentation for
Russian Smart Grid
Delegation
London New York
Elton B. Sherwin
Sr. Managing Director
Ridgewood Capital
Palo Alto, CA
ESherwin@RidgewoodCapital.com

2. Elton B. Sherwin
Senior Managing Director
Ridgewood Capital
www.EltonSherwin.com
Presentations and checklists:
www.EltonSherwin.com/documents.html
and
www.slideshare.net/EltonSherwin

3. Analyzed 17
Building Rating Systems
Around the World
European Unions Energy Performance Certificates
UK Display Energy Certificates
LEED – New Construction
LEED – Health Care
ENERGY STAR – Commercial buildings
ENERGY STAR homes
PlaNYC (New York City)
Australia’s Greenhouse Rating
HERS
ASHRE EQ
CALGreen level 2
California AB 1103
California AB 758
DOE home energy scoring pilot
Passive Home Certification
City of Seattle
San Francisco

4. Two Types Building Ratings
Computer Models Utility Data
Asset Rating vs. Operational Rating

5. Two Contrasting Case Studies
London vs. New York

6. London
Energy Performance Certificates
Commercial and residential
No Meter Data

7. UK Label
Energy Performance
Certificate
• Valid for 10 years
– Commercial
– Residential

8. Numbers Are
Not Right
• Looks real
• Wrong

9. New York City and San Francisco

10. Uses Real Data
Energy used ÷ size of building
Adjusted by type: Office, hospital, etc.

11. Internet Disclosure
High = 100
Low = 1
Energy used ÷ size of building
Adjusted by type: Office, hospital, etc.

12. Real Data
In Public

13. Buildings Gotten More Complex

14. Need Real Data
Lights
Plug loads
Images from

15. Monitor Everything
Slide from

16. Appendix

17. UK Energy System
“Next to useless.”
Jeff Howell, The Telegraph
“All old buildings do poorly. Don’t worry
about it. Everyone just ignores it.”
London Estate Agent (Realtor)

18. Why Are Asset Ratings So
Inaccurate?
Everything on the following page
is missed

19. Top Faults Causing Energy
Inefficiencies in Commercial Buildings
Building Commissioning - A Golden Opportunity for Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Evan Mills, Ph.D., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2009

20. Universal Problem with Asset Ratings
Miss key pieces of the asset:
• Occupancy sensors
• Dampers
• Pumps
• Fans
• Valves
• Software
• Thermal effects
For more complete list see: www.EltonSherwin.com/documents.html and
http://www.slideshare.net/EltonSherwin/addicted-to-energy-worksheets-and-toc

21. Even if these problems could be fixed
Even if Asset Ratings Were
100% Accurate,
They don’t motivate enough
change in existing buildings
Fatal flaw: Don’t provide
continuous feedback

22. Foundational Problems
Asset Ratings
1. Poor accuracy
2. Not frequent enough to
motive ongoing change
3. Employees, renters and
family members cannot
participate

23. Utility Data Measures Everything
Ironically, operational ratings
catch the assets that the asset
ratings miss:
•Occupancy sensors
•Dampers
•Pumps
•Fans
•Valves
•Software
•Thermal effects

24. New York City Uses Real Data
Scores:
• Energy Use Intensity, EUI*
– kWh/ sq. foot
– Data from the utility bill
• ENERGY STAR score
– Data from the utility
– Zero to 100 score (100 high)
– Compares similar buildings
• Offices to offices, hospitals to hospitals, etc.
*Source energy from the DOE’s Portfolio Manager

25. PlaNYC
New York’s Powerful Strategy
• Public disclosure
• Actual energy used
– Captures everything:
• The entire building
• Architect And
• HVAC contractor
•
•
Building manager
Employee behavior
EUI
• Plug loads Energy Use
Intensity
• Pumps and fans

26. New York vs. London
Operational vs. Asset
New York will “outperform”
• Have greater impact
– Be more cost effective
• More employment
– Higher skills
• More innovation
– Good for a venture capitalist

27. Benchmarking
Recommendations for Policymakers
1. Use real data
– Start with energy per sq. ft.,
– Then add energy per occupant
2. Publicly disclose the data on the web
– Reward the best performers
3. Provide frequent feedback
4. Assign letter grades
– Top 40%: A and B; Bottom 40%:D and D-

28. Everyone Understands Grades
When I spread all the different ratings on a table and ask,
“Which form do you want for your house?”
Everyone picks this one:
J F M A M J J A S O N D YTD
Total
Energy
Per sq. ft. C+ C- C C- D C-
Per B- C B- C D+ C
person
Gas
Per sq. ft. C- D C D+ D- D+
Per person C D+ C+ C- D C-
Electricity
Per sq. ft. B- C C+ C- D+ C
Per person B C+ B- C C- C+

29. When Green Buildings Fail
• We blame the occupants
– “Plug loads”
• Not just the occupants
– Pumps
– Fans
– HVAC sizing
– Architect
– Poor regulations
– Lack of microprocessors and sensors
• And the occupants’ plug loads

30. Key Takeaway
If we want green buildings,
we must grade buildings
based on energy consummation
J F M A M J J A S O N D YTD
Total Energy
Per sq. ft. C+ C- C C- D C-
Per person B- C B- C D+ C
Gas
Per sq. ft. C- D C D+ D- D+
Per person C D+ C+ C- D C-
Electricity
Per sq. ft. B- C C+ C- D+ C
Per person B C+ B- C C- C+

31. Online Checklists
• What Ails America’s Buildings?
• Designing Extraordinary Buildings
• What Can Cities and Counties Do?
• What are Your Home’s Top Energy Wasters?
• What are Your Company’s Top Energy Wasters?
Available:
www.EltonSherwin.com
http://www.slideshare.net/EltonSherwin
iTunes bookstore
Amazon.com

32. National Policy
• Seal drafty buildings
• Grade buildings based on utility bills
• Zero tolerance:
– Lighting empty rooms
– Lighting sunny rooms
– Air conditioners removing solar heat
– Fixed speed motors, fans and pumps
– Rooms without thermostats
– Oversized, overactive HVAC systems

33. US DOE. CO2 in America. Excludes other greenhouse pollutants: methane, 36
Soot, CFCs, etc. Also excludes embedded energy in imports and most impacts from Agriculture.

34. CO2 Emissions:
Circled sources are
mostly buildings
US DOE. CO2 in America. Excludes other greenhouse pollutants: methane, 37
Soot, CFCs, etc. Also excludes embedded energy in imports and most impacts from Agriculture.

35. At Time of Sale
• Effective laws disclose:
– Actual energy consumption, or
– Energy per sq. ft. and energy per person, or
– Energy Star scores, or
– Actual energy costs
– May include an energy audit of the building
• Ineffective and counterproductive laws
– Disclose a score, grade, rating or comparison
of the whole structure based on a computer
model or checklist

36. Gold Standard
Energy used ÷ size of building
Energy used ÷ number of occupants

37. “When performance is measured,
performance improves.
When performance is measured
and reported back,
the rate of improvement accelerates.”
Thomas S. Monson
Emphasis added

38. Contact information
Elton B. Sherwin
Sr. Managing Director
Ridgewood Capital
540 Cowper St., Suite 201
Palo Alto, CA 94301
ESherwin@RidgewoodCapital.com
www.EltonSherwin.com