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

Building Technologies Program – Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative

New Construction Benchmark Data Files

The files on this page contain benchmark data for new construction commercial buildings, organized by building type and location. A summary of building types and climate zones is available for reference.

These files are updated regularly. The files on this page are version 1.2_4.0 and were updated October 31, 2009. You can also view an archive of past benchmark files. A document is available identifying the changes made from the previous version (PDF 105 KB). You can also view the annual energy use per square foot for each building in each climate (PDF 22 KB). Download Adobe Reader.

ZIP files contain the following:

• An EnergyPlus software input file (.idf)
• An html file showing the results from the EnergyPlus simulation (.html)
• A spreadsheet that summarizes the inputs and results for each location (.xls)
• The EnergyPlus TMY2 weather file (.epw).

Benchmark Files by Building Type

View the TMY2 weather data (ZIP 3.7 MB) that were used to generate the following benchmark files.

• Large office (ZIP 2.2 MB)
• Medium office (ZIP 2.1 MB)
• Small office (ZIP 1.4 MB)
• Warehouse (ZIP 980 KB)
• Stand-alone retail (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• Strip mall (ZIP 2.3 MB)
• Primary school (ZIP 2.6 MB)
• Secondary school (ZIP 3.9 MB)
• Supermarket (ZIP 2.2 MB)
• Fast food (ZIP 1.1 MB)
• Restaurant (ZIP 1 MB)
• Hospital (ZIP 3.9 MB)
• Outpatient health care (ZIP 888 KB)
• Small Hotel (ZIP 4.7 MB)
• Large Hotel (ZIP 2.6 MB)
• Midrise Apartment (ZIP 2.6 MB)

Benchmark Files by Climate Zone and Representative City

• 1A Miami, Florida (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 2A Houston, Texas (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 2B Phoenix, Arizona (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 3A Atlanta, Georgia (ZIP 2 MB)
• 3B Los Angeles, California (ZIP 2 MB)
• 3B Las Vegas, Nevada (ZIP 2 MB)
• 3C San Francisco, California (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 4A Baltimore, Maryland (ZIP 2 MB)
• 4B Albuquerque, New Mexico (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 4C Seattle, Washington (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 5A Chicago, Illinois (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 5B Boulder, Colorado (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 6A Minneapolis, Minnesota (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 6B Helena, Montana (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 7 Duluth, Minnesota (ZIP 1.9 MB)
• 8 Fairbanks, Alaska (ZIP 1.9 MB)

Please send all questions and comments regarding the benchmarks to benchmark@nrel.gov.