Building Benchmark BC

Pilot Project Targets Elusive Building Energy Data

There’s an initiative that kicked off this year to “fill in the blanks” on the greenhouse-gas emissions from existing buildings. Building Benchmark BC is creating a database that will help participating communities, building owners, and utility providers make better decisions through energy benchmarking.

Energy benchmarking is the process of tracking and recording a building’s energy performance over time, based on the fundamental principle that building energy consumption must be measured before it can be managed. Performance data can help owners to identify operational efficiency improvements and retrofit projects.

Building owners and managers who opt in to the voluntary Building Benchmark BC project will receive detailed energy performance data and a clear picture of where their properties rank on energy and carbon relative to similar buildings elsewhere.

OPEN Green Building Society convened the project and is responsible for the program management. Building Benchmark BC is using OPEN Technologies’ GRID tool to effectively manage the intricate details of running a program at this scale.