Energy Matters: Benchmarking
Your Energy Manager
Topic: Benchmarking
March 2007
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Independent Energy Consultants, is committed to helping its clients make well-informed and cost-effective decisions regarding their energy supply and consumption. We are sending you this newsletter to help you understand how energy decisions that are made, or not made, effect your company's bottom line.

Most businesses are very familiar with the concept of benchmarking as a tool to measure their competitive position. Benchmarking is used to identify areas needing improvement and to acknowledge where things are going well. Ongoing benchmarking can also provide feedback on the success of energy conservation measures and performance trending. Companies may choose to benchmark worker productivity, safety, quality assurance, customer satisfaction or a host of other key performance indicators.

Energy benchmarking allows you to determine how much energy you are consuming per square foot, how much money is being spent on energy per square foot, and how you compare against similar-use facilities. To perform a meaningful comparison, the data need to be adjusted to reflect differences caused by buildings that operate in various regions, climates, hours/day, etc.

If energy costs are a significant expense for your company, you should know how efficient your buildings are amongst themselves and against similar-use facilities. Contact Independent Energy Consultants for assistance in properly benchmarking your facilities.
This chart shows the average electric use (MMBtu) for a facility meeting these criteria:
  • Census Region: South
  • District: South Atlantic
  • Size: 50,000 - 100,000 sq. ft.
  • Construction: 1993 - 1995
  • Use: Office/Professional
    • The data source is the Department of Energy's Commercial Buildings Expenditures and Consumption Survey (CBECS) database. CBECS is a national, statistically based survey on building features, energy consumption, and expenditures in US commercial buildings. Similar charts are available for natural gas and other fuel sources. To determine how energy-efficient a building is, you need to determine its Energy Use Index (EUI). The EUI allows comparison amongst buildings and is measured in units of annual MMBtu consumed per square-foot of conditioned space. The EUI is calculated by (i) converting all incoming energy sources to their equivalent MMBtu value (ii) summing them (iii) subtracting any internal generation that is sent offsite, and (iv) dividing by the conditioned square footage of the building. A similar process is used to determine the Energy Cost Index (ECI) of a facility. The ECI identifies the total annual cost for all energy sources per conditioned square-foot of building space. Both indicators provide valuable information, and when properly understood and calculated, they can start you down a path toward lowering your energy bills.
    The U.S. EPA provides building owners with many valuable tools to help them conserve energy and become good environmental stewards. This not only makes financial sense, but it can also serve as a rallying point to implement change within your organization. The EPA provides recognition in the form of an Energy Star Certification for buildings that score in the top 25% of energy efficient performers in their peer group.

    There is also a private industry LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification process for Sustainable Green Buildings. Both programs help companies reduce cost and gain great public exposure in the process. Independent Energy Consultants is proud to be an Energy Star Partner. Please contact us to learn more about obtaining certification and marketing the benefits of the Energy Star and LEED programs.

    Contact Independent Energy Consultants for all of your energy management needs.

    email: info@naturalgas-electric.com
    phone: (330) 995-2675

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