Understanding and Managing
Multi-Site Commercial Building Performance and Energy Use with Monthly Utility
Billing Data
Dale T. Rossi
Field Diagnostics works with multi-site facility managers to assess
energy use in their buildings. A
question that is commonly asked is “how can we know which of our facilities
have an energy savings opportunity and for those that do, how big is the opportunity
and what actionable suggestions can you give to achieve cost effective
savings?” The perceived problem is that
getting that answer seems hard.
There are two reasons for this. One reason is that building management
system (BMS/EMS) data is sometimes hard to access and when it is available the
volume of the data may seem overwhelming and getting meaning from it seems
complex. The other reason is that
collecting information about each facility with site audits or from field reports
is expensive and it feels like that that kind of data isn’t always consistent
and reliable because it comes from different people in different places at
different times.
Field Diagnostics has developed an approach to providing answers to these
question using easily available, objective and low cost/no cost data sources. All that is required is the size to each
facility, the information on the electric bill and weather data available from
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The answers that are derived from this
include:
