U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Building Technologies Office
Frequently Asked Questions About the Buildings Performance Database
On this page you will find answers to frequently asked questions pertaining to the DOE Buildings Performance Database (BPD).
Access Information
Database Information
Analysis Information
Relationship to other Federal Government Efforts
Data Privacy and Security
General
What is the purpose of the DOE Buildings Performance Database?
The BPD provides access to empirical data on the actual energy performance and physical and operational characteristics of commercial and residential buildings. The Database was developed to stimulate investment in energy efficiency retrofit projects and services.
Back to Top
What building energy performance data is included in the BPD?
All records in the database include the building's location, climate zone, building classification (residential or commercial), type (office, retail, etc), and floor area. Some records also contain age, operational characteristics (such as types of activities and associated floor areas, operating hours, and number of occupants) and/or asset information (such as lighting type and controls, air distribution configuration, heating and cooling equipment types, etc, wall, roof and window characteristics, etc).
Back to Top
Access Information
How can I register for future access to the Database?
Please register for future access to the database by filling out the appropriate form located here.
Back to Top
How can I contribute data to the BPD?
If you are interested in contributing a dataset to the Database or have other recommended sources, please contact buildingsperformanceDatabase@ee.doe.gov.
Back to Top
Database Information
What kinds of buildings does the BPD have?
The BPD has data on all types of commercial and residential buildings. While there is not currently sufficient information to conduct analysis for some building types, it will become possible as the dataset grows.
Back to Top
What are the data sources that populate the BPD?
The BPD screened dozens of existing building performance databases to identify high quality, detailed datasets. The current beta includes Federal datasets, as well as datasets from private building owners, energy efficiency program administrators and State public utility commissions, and private contractors and service providers. New datasets are being added on a regular basis.
Back to Top
Does the BPD have time series data?
All of the buildings have at least one year of energy consumption data – as either an annual total, monthly, daily or interval. In the future, it will be possible to add more consumption data for buildings that are already in the database.
Back to Top
How do you ensure that the data from these multiple sources is consistent and valid?
There are two processes used to ensure consistent and valid data within the BPD. The data transformation process converts source data into a consistent format in the BPD. Data cleansing and validation procedures are then used to identify potentially suspect data including statistical outliers, invalid values, etc.
Back to Top
What data format does the BPD utilize?
The Building Energy Data Exchange Specification is a data format designed to support analysis of the measured energy performance of commercial and residential buildings, with fields for building characteristics, efficiency measures and energy use. The BEDES defines and describes these data fields and their relationships.
Back to Top
Why are there no buildings in my zipcode?
While the BPD has tens of thousands of buildings, there are still some zip codes for which no data are available. The BPD will include buildings in additional zipcodes as further data are imported. If you know of any building performance data sources for your zipcode, please contact buildingsperformancedatabase@ee.doe.gov.
Back to Top
Analysis Information
I ran the same query twice and received different results. Is this an error?
The Database is updated when new data is available. If the number of records from your latest query is greater than the number of records from you initial query then more data has been added to the Database. This will serve to increase the accuracy of your search. Also, the use of Monte Carlo methods to derive the cash flows will result in minor variations in output outcomes even when using the same inputs. This is normal.
Back to Top
Can I export the results?
You cannot currently export your results. This functionality will be added in a future release.
Back to Top
Does the BPD allow pre- and post-retrofit analysis of the same buildings?
The BPD does not rely on pre- and post- retrofit data of the same buildings. The large sample set enables comparison of the energy performance distribution of two sets of buildings that differ in one variable, such as the type of boiler. By comparing a group of single family homes with inefficient boilers to a similar set of single family homes that have efficient boilers, the database can demonstrate the likely savings from a boiler upgrade.
Back to Top
Relationship to other Federal Government Efforts
How does the BPD relate to Portfolio Manager?
BPD and PM are complementary. Portfolio Manager is a benchmarking and tracking tool that collects information on your building in order to generate a whole-building energy efficiency score. The BPD allows users to explore the relationship between energy performance and physical and operational characteristics of many similar buildings in order to identify and evaluate efficiency opportunities. In fact, the BPD contains data on all of the buildings that have achieved the Energy Star label in Portfolio Manager.
Back to Top
Will the BPD replace CBECS?
No. CBECS is a statistically valid sample of all buildings in the country, and is in fact one of the data sources for the BPD. Because the BPD is collecting real data from a large number of sources without selecting a specific national sample, the high level statistics drawn from the BPD are not representative of the country as a whole.
Back to Top
Data Privacy and Security
What raw data can we provide?
The BPD does not provide access to raw data – it serves as an interface to analyze the dataset. Data can only be analyzed in aggregate through the BPD interface. The BPD analyses will never return a small enough number of records that it reveals information that could be used to identify a building.
Back to Top
Does the BPD include personally identifiable information (PII)?
The BPD does not contain any personally identifiable information such as building owners and occupants, street address, owner, etc. DOE requests that any personally identifiable information is removed from the dataset before sending it to DOE.
Back to Top
How does the BPD handle data privacy and security?
The BPD utilizes stringent data privacy and security policies, which are available upon request. Even data that are obtained from public sources without restrictions is treated according to the stringent use restriction agreement, and therefore cannot be distinguished from other records in the database.
Back to Top
|