Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance Assessment

Buildings continue to be important contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, despite the continued increase in stringency of energy and emissions codes and standards worldwide to address energy use in buildings. The stringency is limited by the available technology and design, and achie...

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Main Authors: Minu Agarwal, Parag Cameron-Rastogi, Giuseppe Peronato, Georgios Mavromatidis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Journal of Sustainable Real Estate
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19498276.2024.2387486
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author Minu Agarwal
Parag Cameron-Rastogi
Giuseppe Peronato
Georgios Mavromatidis
author_facet Minu Agarwal
Parag Cameron-Rastogi
Giuseppe Peronato
Georgios Mavromatidis
author_sort Minu Agarwal
collection DOAJ
description Buildings continue to be important contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, despite the continued increase in stringency of energy and emissions codes and standards worldwide to address energy use in buildings. The stringency is limited by the available technology and design, and achieving even better performance may require fundamental changes in how the design and operation of buildings is regulated. In this paper we present limitations in current building energy performance assessment methods that, if addressed, could unlock unrealized energy saving potential in building projects: (a) split-incentives in multi-tenant buildings, (b) evaluation of performance using overly-long timescales, for example, yearly, (c) incorrect normalization of energy use over diverse uses and occupancy, and (d) ignoring robustness when rewarding efficiency. We discuss these issues through the lens of data availability and discuss ways of addressing them through better monitoring and a shift in accounting methods of building energy use. The solutions discussed complement the increasing use of smart meters and sensors in buildings.
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spelling doaj-art-198e2a6d5e9243c785bef8fc7ca27ca42025-08-20T02:19:18ZengTaylor & Francis GroupJournal of Sustainable Real Estate1949-82761949-82842024-12-0116110.1080/19498276.2024.2387486Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance AssessmentMinu Agarwal0Parag Cameron-Rastogi1Giuseppe Peronato2Georgios Mavromatidis3Faculty of Technology, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, IndiaGRESB B.V., Glasgow, United KingdomEnergy Informatics Group, Idiap Research Institute, Martigny, SwitzerlandGroup for Sustainability and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandBuildings continue to be important contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, despite the continued increase in stringency of energy and emissions codes and standards worldwide to address energy use in buildings. The stringency is limited by the available technology and design, and achieving even better performance may require fundamental changes in how the design and operation of buildings is regulated. In this paper we present limitations in current building energy performance assessment methods that, if addressed, could unlock unrealized energy saving potential in building projects: (a) split-incentives in multi-tenant buildings, (b) evaluation of performance using overly-long timescales, for example, yearly, (c) incorrect normalization of energy use over diverse uses and occupancy, and (d) ignoring robustness when rewarding efficiency. We discuss these issues through the lens of data availability and discuss ways of addressing them through better monitoring and a shift in accounting methods of building energy use. The solutions discussed complement the increasing use of smart meters and sensors in buildings.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19498276.2024.2387486Building energy standardsbuilding energy use evaluationbuilding energy userobustness
spellingShingle Minu Agarwal
Parag Cameron-Rastogi
Giuseppe Peronato
Georgios Mavromatidis
Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance Assessment
Journal of Sustainable Real Estate
Building energy standards
building energy use evaluation
building energy use
robustness
title Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance Assessment
title_full Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance Assessment
title_fullStr Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance Assessment
title_full_unstemmed Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance Assessment
title_short Missed Opportunities in Building Energy Performance Assessment
title_sort missed opportunities in building energy performance assessment
topic Building energy standards
building energy use evaluation
building energy use
robustness
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19498276.2024.2387486
work_keys_str_mv AT minuagarwal missedopportunitiesinbuildingenergyperformanceassessment
AT paragcameronrastogi missedopportunitiesinbuildingenergyperformanceassessment
AT giuseppeperonato missedopportunitiesinbuildingenergyperformanceassessment
AT georgiosmavromatidis missedopportunitiesinbuildingenergyperformanceassessment