The good, the bad and the ugly of Energy Benchmarking

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Many corporations “benchmark” their performance on everything from stock price to marketing performance to operational efficiency. Benchmark is a common term used whenever we want to compare ourselves to another similar population-like other companies of similar size in similar industries-to see if we are doing better or worse than average.

The Good: Normally, this is type of measurement can give us excellent information.  In determining the energy efficiency of your company or building you can compare facilities, set energy savings goals and communicate to stakeholders.

The Bad: However, when selecting an energy goal for your building, there are a couple of things that you should be aware of to make sure that you are comparing your building to the right benchmark, setting achievable goals and still challenging your company to save energy.

The Ugly:

• Current energy benchmarks are based around total average energy use in a sample of standard buildings. To start with accurate energy use figures calculate and compare your energy use in BTUs (or MJ) per square foot (or square meter) and ensure that all energy sources (electricity, gas, propane and even wood) should be included in benchmark.
• Unfortunately many energy benchmarks are calculated based the average energy use of similar buildings and industries.  Remember that “average” is not necessarily “good” and these benchmarks do not set a high standard for energy goals or energy reduction.   To set a goal that will truly make you an energy saving leader, make sure that you compare performance against (1) your facility’s current energy use 2) comparable industry benchmarks and 3) best in class energy use.  This will help you set a goals that is a reach but achievable.
•  Last, energy benchmarks should be divided into “defined areas” within buildings.  There are very few buildings that have a single use.  Many are used for office, storage, manufacturing and possibly a small data center.  It is impossible to benchmark and average building with so many uses and configurations! In order to be meaningful, benchmarks need further division into the various functional elements of a building.  Examples include: data centers, office environment, laboratories and industrial processes.  This also allows for focused on specific functional areas in goal setting and focused energy reduction.