<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yiv3796743484"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_5855"><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_5854"><div id="yiv3796743484"><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491598687177_5976"><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491598687177_5975"><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Hello BLDG-Sim users,</div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" dir="ltr">Dominique Michaud here. I work as a sales analyst for a small HVAC technology company called Encycle. I am trying to run some market research to help direct my sales team to target certain building types in specify climate zones based on the highest opportunity for energy and demand savings. To this end, I’ve been hunting (for some time now) for nationwide, comprehensive commercial building benchmark data that covers energy use, peak demand and utility spend by end use, building type and by region (ZIP and/or climate zone). Ideally the dataset would be comprehensive, but I’m willing to sew together the dataset I need by cobbling together data from different sources.</div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8356" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8357"> </o:p></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8358" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Specifically, I’m looking for any (and all) of the following
data points:<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8359"></o:p></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8360" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8361"> </o:p></div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 0.5in;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8362"><!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8363">
</span><!--[endif]-->Energy
use intensities (kWh/ft2-year) by end use (lighting, heating, cooling,
ventilation, plug loads, etc.), as well as the corresponding whole building
energy use intensities, by building type and climate zone. <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8364"></o:p></div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 0.5in;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8365"><!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8366">
</span><!--[endif]-->Peak
demand data (W/ft2) by end use (lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, plug
loads, etc.), as well as the corresponding whole building peak demand, by
building type and climate zone.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8367"></o:p></div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 0.5in;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8368"><!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8369">
</span><!--[endif]-->Energy
expenditures ($/ft2) by fuel source (electric, gas, other), by building type
and climate zone.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8370"></o:p></div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 0.5in;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8371"><!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8372">
</span><!--[endif]-->Typical
utility rates ($/kWh, $/kW), by building type and climate zone, or just by
state/ZIP/region.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8373"></o:p></div>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 0.5in;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8374"><!--[if !supportLists]-->-<span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8375">
</span><!--[endif]-->Aggregation
of any (or all the above) on a monthly level would be even better.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 0.5in;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8374" dir="ltr">-<span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_14098"> </span>The energy use and demand data could either be from calibrated building energy simulations, or from energy survey data.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_14099" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> <br></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8379" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Years ago I worked on the <a href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/ceus/" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8380">California Commercial End-Use Survey (CA
CEUS)</a> project for the California Energy Commission. This report covers much
of the data that I’m looking for and it’s in a structure I need it to be in - by building type, site energy in kWh/ft2 for electricity and kBtu/ft2 for gas, and not source energy in kBtu/ft2 as is reported by EnergyStar/EPA. CA CEUS would be of great use to me, however, it only encapsulates the California commercial building stock, it doesn't have energy cost data, and the
survey is now quite stale (circa 2003). <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8381"></o:p></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8382" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8383"> </o:p></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8384" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Generally speaking, the data I’m looking for could be available from a few sources that I've found, but none of them are available in a raw format that I would need in order to re-aggregate for my purposes:</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8384" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">1) The EPA through the Energy Star Portfolio Manager benchmarking program. They’ve
aggregated and reported out their data through their <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/buildings/about-us/research-and-reports/portfolio-manager-datatrends" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8385">Portfolio
Manager DataTrends</a> reports, though for my purposes I would need to able to access
the raw data to conduct my own aggregation to suit my needs. I've reached out to the EPA through their online "Contact Us" form to see if it's possible to obtain the raw data, but I'm not expecting a response anytime soon.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8384" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">2) It looks as though
there’s been a fair amount of collaboration between Building Owners and Managers
Association International (BOMA) and EnergyStar on the above energy benchmarking effort. I’ve also reached out to BOMA
with the same data request in the hopes that the likelihood of obtaining the data are higher if it's available for purchase.<o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8386"></o:p></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8384" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">3) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://buildingsdatabook.eren.doe.gov/" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_19634" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">DOE Buildings Energy Data Book</a> - This study seems to have much of the data I'm looking for, however, the data are already aggregated, summarized and formatted in Excel worksheets. Is there a way to access the raw data/summary reports without having to download and re-run all of the EnergyPlus simulations?<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8384" dir="ltr" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">4) CBECS - similar to CEUS, but the data summarized only at the annual level, and does not include aggregation of end use intensities by climate zone AND building type. Also, energy use is for source energy, not site energy.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8384" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8384" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" dir="ltr">I've reached out to several big energy data service companies Ecova, Urjanet and RateAcuity in the hopes that they might be able to put together a dataset of utility rates searchable by business type, size and ZIP code, but so far I haven't had any useful responses. Urjanet informed me that they are working on such a product, but that it is not yet complete and there's no timetable for when it could be available.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8384" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8387" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Can anyone point me in a direction that would help me track down any of the above data? And if you're interested in whatever turns up, let me know and I can report back my findings.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8387" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8388"> </o:p></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8389" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Thank you for taking the time to read this email and in advance for any help you might be able to provide. <o:p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8390"></o:p></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8389" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8389" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Yours respectfully,</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8389">Dominique Michaud, PE | Senior Sales Analyst | Encycle | www.encycle.com </div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8389">1850 Diamond Street, Suite 105 </div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8389">| San Marcos, CA 92078 </div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492197621161_8389">1 760 481 7878, ext. 7871 (O)</div></div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3960" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Namely:</div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3449" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br></div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3636" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The work that I do on the sales side of our business involves pre-qualifying candidate sites based on their utility rates. We prefer to target our sales efforts on candidate businesses located in regions with high demand and energy rates. We know that California has both, and parts of the North East also tend to have high utility rates, but we’re often in the dark on what the utility rates are like elsewhere in the country. And even in the North East, adjacent utility service territories might have significantly different rates. </div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3637" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </div><div id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3638" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Because our technology tends to offer more in the way of demand savings versus energy savings, we need to know both the demand and the energy (commodity) rates before evaluating a facility’s feasibility. Blended energy rates are easy to come by (EIA comes to mind), but we need the rates segregated by demand and energy to be useful for our purposes. We’ve been using another data service (RateAcuity) to help us look up utility rates by Zip Code, however their database is incomplete and often cumbersome to use (each lookup is executed one by one). And because utility companies are not bound by Zip Codes, there is often a many-to-one relationship between utility schedules and a Zip Code.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3639" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br id="yiv3796743484yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1491348522518_3640"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>