1. Prepared for Enterprise Community Partners
Special thanks to New Ecology, Homeowners Rehab Inc. & Performance Systems Development

2. Group 1: Benchmarking Exercises
Each group looks at their benchmarking output & asks:
What can I tell about these apartments?
What else do I want to know or investigate?
What actions might I take?
What if anything could be misleading in the data output?
GREEN & HEALTHY LIVING: Benchmarking Properties for Energy
Enterprise Community Partners | 2

3. Group 1: Results for 1 Apartment Building Located in Cambridge, MA
BACKGROUND INFO
Each line on the graph represents an apartment in the same building in Cambridge, MA. This building is in a heating climate. It demonstrates electric use in kWh throughout the year. Note the increase in electric usage in some units in the summer time for air conditioning usage.
INSTRUCTOR TIPS
Explain the context of the graph to the students. Ask students the questions:
What can I tell about these apartments?
Some units use more AC in the summer than others. Sudden drops in usage could mean the unit was unoccupied or tenants were away.
What else do I want to know or investigate?
We want to know why apartment 303 and 304 have such higher usage than the rest. We want to know what caused the sudden increase in apartment 203 in the summer of Maybe it was a new tenant.
What actions might I take?
We could visit the tenants apartment and see if there are extra appliances. We could investigate the conditions of these units meaning are they south facing which could cause them to have a larger solar gain from the sun making them use their ACs more than others. If so, they could be a good candidate for adding a Low-E coating to their window to reduce the solar gain. If these units are on the top floor they could be warmer due to stack effect and may be in need of some air sealing. They also could just have inefficient or too many air conditioners.
What if anything could be misleading in the data output?
The high users could just be larger apartments or larger families. They may have something attached to their electric meter like an outlet in the common area outside their unit.

4. Group 2: Benchmarking Exercises
Each group looks at their benchmarking output & asks:
What can I tell about this portfolio?
What else do I want to know or investigate?
What actions might I take?
What if anything could be misleading in the data output?
GREEN & HEALTHY LIVING: Benchmarking Properties for Energy
Enterprise Community Partners | 4

5. Group 2: Portfolio of Buildings in Boston, MA
BACKGROUND INFO
Each line on the graph represents a building in Boston, MA. This portfolio of buildings are in a heating climate. It demonstrates gas use in BTU’s per square foot (SF) throughout the year. Note the increase in gas usage in the winter due to the buildings being gas heated and that CAST and Auburn Court have much higher gas usage per SF than the other buildings in the portfolio.
INSTRUCTOR TIPS
Explain the context of the graph to the students. Ask students the questions:
What can I tell about this portfolio?
They are in a heating climate and CAST and Auburn Court may be in need of an energy audit due to the higher usage per SF than the other buildings in the same area compared to 2009 winter is much different; 2008 is varied. Maybe the systems in the CAST and Auburn Ct buildings are much more inefficient than the other buildings. Maybe the low users have had energy efficiency upgrades.
What else do I want to know or investigate?
Why are these 2 buildings so much worse than the rest? The building managers should be interviewed to see how the heating system is maintained and if there have been heating complaints in the building causing them to turn up the heat. Are there controls on the heating system or not?
What actions might I take?
Interview the building manager to better understand the operation of the heating system to see why the usage is higher. Conduct a walkthrough of the building and note air leakage potential and open windows in the property. Check to see how much insulation the building has and age and efficiency of the heating system. Contact someone for an energy audit of the building.
What if anything could be misleading in the data output?
The high using buildings could be from a number of reasons listed above which is why an energy audit would be a good solution to pinpoint the exact reasons. Taking a whole building approach to understanding energy usage is very important when making decisions about upgrades.