U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Building Technologies Office

Buildings Performance Database Analysis Tools

The Buildings Performance Database will offer three analysis tools for exploring building data and forecasting financial and energy savings: a Data Explorer Tool, an Energy Performance Forecasting Tool, and a Financial Forecasting Tool.

Available now:

Data Explorer Tool

The Data Explorer Tool allows users to peruse the BPD and compare the energy use of their own building to a relevant set of BPD buildings.

  • Users can filter the BPD dataset based on building type, location, floor area, age, occupancy, and system characteristics such as lighting and HVAC type.
  • Users can then create graphs of the selected dataset comparing:
    • Energy metrics such as energy use intensity based on source consumption, site consumption, electricity consumption, or fuel consumption.
    • Building characteristics such as gross floor area, year built, and hours occupied
    • More variables will become available for analysis as the dataset grows.
  • Users can enter information about their own building to see how it compares to the peer group

Coming Soon!

  • Energy Performance Forecasting Tool
    • The Tool allows users to analyze the energy savings potential of energy efficiency measures for a user-defined peer group.
    • Users can identify the retrofit measures that are likely to yield the greatest energy savings in a specific type of building.
    • Results provide a distribution of forecasted energy savings (expected value and uncertainty) for each measure.
  • Financial Forecasting Tool
    • The Financial Forecasting Tool calculates the potential cash flow over time from a specific energy efficiency measure.
    • The Financial tool uses the results from the Energy Performance Forecasting Tool, combined with financial information such as energy pricing, capital outlay, investment horizon, and discount rate.
    • The results include cash flow projections (expected value and uncertainty) and associated metrics such as Internal Rate of Return.

Notes about Analysis Tools

The BPD is currently the largest source of building energy performance data. However, the Energy Performance and Financial Forecasting tools are still in development stage as the current dataset is not dense and detailed enough in many areas of the country to effectively analyze multiple potential retrofits in different types of buildings. As the BPD becomes more populated, users will have greater flexibility to analyze their particular investment opportunities.