Building Performance Compass: Benchmark and track energy use in commercial & multifamily buildings

Benchmarking and energy tracking of commercial and multifamily buildings has never been easier. Track performance to target which buildings are in most need of energy efficiency upgrades.

Building Performance Compass provides commercial and multifamily building owners and portfolio managers a powerful and convenient tool for benchmark building performance and and tracking on-going energy use. With this fast and verifiable feedback, you'll be able to prioritize which buildings have the greatest need for energy efficiency upgrades.

Features:

  • Easy to use, web-based interface
  • Analyze both multifamily and commercial properties
  • Demonstrate the building's energy use under real weather conditions
  • Integrated benchmarking and improvement process
  • Track multiple projects and properties
  • Support for local carbon reporting efforts

Building Performance Compass provides:

  • Each building's EPA Portfolio Manager Score
  • Tracking and assessment of energy consumption and carbon emissions in buildings of any size, or across an entire portfolio of buildings
  • Assessment of energy management goals over time
  • Reports including Peer Comparison*, Annual Site Energy Consumption, Annual Carbon Emissions, and Total Annual Energy Cost
  • identify strategic opportunities for energy savings and carbon mitigation

Supporting for Building Owners and Portfolio Managers

Building Performance Compass allows building owners and portfolio managers to save money through all the vital stages of initial assessment, auditing, and post-improvement verification.

Initial Assessment

The first step in reducing the overall energy use among a portfolio of buildings is assessing how the buildings are currently using energy. Building Performance Compass provides unparalleled support for this benchmarking step by not only comparing to the EPA’s Portfolio Manager score, but also allowing comparison between all portfolio buildings based on the total energy, as well as the individual heating, cooling, and baseload components. Reporting in Building Performance Compass allows quick identification of buildings which are under-performing and can help determine which buildings are the best candidates for an audit. Building Comparison

Figure 1: Building Comparison View

Audit Process

Detailed benchmarking not only helps determine which buildings should get an audit, but streamlines the audit process itself. The disaggregation highlights problem areas, thereby simplifying the audit and reducing cost.

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Measurement & Verification

Once the retrofit work is complete, Building Performance Compass supports and streamlines the M&V efforts to further reduce costs. Energy savings reports allow users to track actual vs. predicted savings starting with the first post-retrofit energy bill. Real energy savings are demonstrated by monthly data – without having to wait upwards of a year - showing month by month impacts of retrofit results relative to predictions. Energy Savings Report Figure 2: Energy Savings Report Graphical reports indicate the YTD savings compared to a weather normalized baseline period.

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Rapid Commission and Reduce Savings Loss

Many times, it is several years after the construction period before building owners discover projected energy savings are not being met. Early identification of underperforming areas allows correction and an optimal realization of predicted savings. Building Performance Compass tracks projected energy and water savings starting the first month after construction is completed. For example, if a project has a predicted savings of 20% and an actual performance of 15%, early discovery and correction of this savings difference could be worth $54/year per unit - 10 times the cost of Building Performance Compass. This does not even take into account the additional savings for on-going administrative time and cost savings:

  • Centralized system and procedure
  • No sending and combining of spreadsheets
  • Analysis is automatically updated

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Total Quality Management

Compass provides the ability to benchmark and track energy, carbon, and water savings for commercial and multifamily residential dwellings. It combines energy diagnostic tools, sustainability metrics tracking, and program management support. Compass creates a framework to support a Total Quality Management feedback loop for continuous process improvement.

Database Integration

Building Performance Compass is an outward facing online application that can be connected to your own internal program tracking databases. Benefit from joined reporting of data entered and calculated in Compass with the day-to-day program management information from other sources; Data access is flexible and transparent. Performance Systems Development can provide a database for program management or hook up to an existing system.

Choice of Modeling Tools

Compass is compatible with a wide range of energy modeling tools, including TREAT and eQUEST, allowing direct upload of information from the simulation tools. Since Compass transforms this data into a common format, there is no need for the building owner or portfolio manager to have their own copy of the simulation software.

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Additional Features

  • Hosted, web-based solution with best-in-class security features.
  • Personalization options including your own branding on the user interface and reports.
  • All reports available as Adobe Acrobat PDF files.
  • Support for user input via Adobe Interactive Forms.
  • Robust user administration ensures users only view their authorized buildings. Allows program administrators access to all buildings in program.
  • Easy to use, intuitive user interface.
  • Integrated help desk.