Benchmarking Basics
“I love weighing myself!” - No One Ever.
Is it no wonder that we are not excited about benchmarking our properties? Unlike checking your weight and BMI, the data isn’t readily available; we have to work to get it and then make sure there are no data integrity issues just to step on that scale. Regardless, in many jurisdictions, we have to benchmark our properties. It is best to understand what this means for us, how to do it, and maybe even how we can use that information to enhance our performance. Let’s jump in.
What is benchmarking?
Benchmarking is a measurement, in the case of multifamily, of resource usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This data is used as a baseline to create sustainability goals and track progress. Electricity, natural gas, and water usage are common metrics for engaging in sustainable goals and are being required in new policy and regulation.
What should I track?
There are many metrics that can be used to target sustainability goals for buildings. Energy use, water use, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions are common measurements that are used to benchmark sustainability goals. Policies and regulations will require specific metrics to be tracked (primarily energy usage), but tracking additional usage may be beneficial if you have certain sustainability goals and/or want to understand how a certain action impacts your overall emissions (e.g. starting a composting program). Benchmarking data allows these jurisdictions to understand the sources of emissions and create programs to reach their goals.
Benchmarking policies may also go beyond reporting energy usage, water usage, and GHG emissions. Additional actions may include building audits and retro-commissioning (building or systems upgrades to comply with a certain standard). Specific actions will depend on the jurisdiction’s policy so it is important to understand that policies are different across the board and what is required for one of your buildings or properties may be different than another, despite both being benchmarking policies.
Where do I benchmark?
Benchmarking policies through city, county, and state level jurisdictions are requiring benchmarking through Energy Star Portfolio Manager (“ESPM”). ESPM was created by the EPA to track energy usage, water usage, and GHG emissions. It is free to use and even if you aren’t mandated yet it’s a great tool to get ahead and prepare for when you are required or to simply track your usage and emissions for your own goals.
ESPM allows you to enter usage information by time period and it calculates the emissions for you so you don’t have to spend time in spreadsheets doing the calculations yourself. Your utility provider may also have the ability to integrate with ESPM which updates your usage data in ESPM when each billing cycle ends, making benchmarking even easier.
Non-compliance with reporting and building performance results in millions of dollars over time across a portfolio.
How do I access my data?
Energy usage and water usage data can be obtained from utility bills or utility provider portals that state usage by time period for all the accounts that are owner paid. However, this may not include the entire building if you don’t pay for your residents’ utilities. Benchmarking policies often require whole-building data, but don’t worry, the same jurisdiction requiring you to perform the benchmark requires the utility provider to give you aggregated resident data. The aggregated whole-building data is provided without breaching resident privacy rights. Obtaining data is one of the challenges that many property owners face which can impact the overall understanding and accuracy of building emissions.
How do I benchmark?
The most difficult part of benchmarking is obtaining the data. To create a benchmark for compliance in EnergyStar Portfolio manager, it requires at least 12 months worth of consecutive data to create a score and to have an accurate understanding of how a building performs, taking into account seasonality and operational fluctuations throughout the year. If your property is newly constructed and has not been in operation for 12 months then no benchmark can be completed and the operator can defer the property until 12 months of data is available.
Benchmarking is important for understanding your building’s performance and is essential for creating goals and tracking progress. As regulation continues to be implemented across the country, staying ahead will be imperative for compliance and avoiding fines. The benefit is that it can help us identify opportunities, understand our property’s efficiency and maybe even improve our performance. We are going to look so good.
Pro Tip: If you are looking to better understand how benchmarking differs from Building Performance Standards, check out this article. Additionally, if you want to read more great content from GreenT, please check out this link to our GreenT Posts.