by jbs120908 h3 — December 12, 2008—The US Department of Energy (DOE), in conjunction with three of its national laboratories, has developed and made available commercial building benchmark models for building professionals to use when analyzing whole-building energy performance across the commercial building stock. The commercial benchmarks are available for DOE’s EnergyPlus simulation software. DOE says the models provide a consistent baseline of comparison and improve the value of computer-generated energy simulations.
DOE’s Building Technologies Program, working with DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, developed models for 16 commercial building types in 16 locations representing all US climate zones. These 16 building types represent approximately 70% of commercial buildings in the United States.
Users can download the benchmarks by building type or location at the Commercial Building Benchmark Models Web page. Each benchmark building is comprised of:
- An EnergyPlus input file (.idf)
- An HTML file showing the results from the EnergyPlus simulation (.html)
- A scorecard summarizing the inputs and results for each location (.pdfs)
- Appropriate weather data file for EnergyPlus (.epw)
EnergyPlus is DOE’s fully integrated building, HVAC, and renewables simulation program that allows builders and architects to analyze low-energy technologies in commercial and residential building simulations.
Benchmark models are available for the following building types:
- Large office: 498,590 sq. ft.; 12 floors
- Medium office: 53,630; 3
- Small office: 5,500; 1
- Warehouse: 52,050; 1
- Stand-alone retail: 24,690; 1
- Strip mall: 22,500; 1
- Primary school: 73,960; 2
- Secondary school: 204,170; 3
- Supermarket: 45,000; 1
- Fast food: 2,500; 1
- Restaurant: 5,500; 1
- Hospital: 241,350; 5
- Outpatient health care: 10,000; 2
- Small hotel: 43,200; 2
- Large hotel: 122,116; 6
- Midrise apartment: 33,600; 4
