1. External Benchmarking: Using the Peer Inventory
UCD Training
February 28, 2019

2. External Benchmarking
Definition
A performance benchmark is a numerical standard that is used to compare two or more things. The comparison allows the user to identify and prioritize action items to improve the energy performance for individual buildings.
There are two types of performance benchmarking:
Internal
Comparison of energy intensity between similar buildings within a board
Raw data
External
Comparison of energy intensity between similar buildings across the education sector
Weather normalized

3. External Benchmarking
Rationale
A top-performing school can be compared to other comparable schools across the province
With energy consumption data on over 5,500 building in the sector, the UCD is a valuable resource
Selecting specific building characteristics will provide a list of schools located within the province including their weather normalized energy performance which will help determine if the site is a high- or low-energy performer. It will put the site into a broader context.

4. External Benchmarking
Why do External Performance Benchmarking?
Allows comparison of a board’s energy performance against other boards
Across the sector
Boards of similar size
Allows comparison of energy performance between sites with similar characteristics
Facility type
Year of construction
Total building area
With or without portables/portapak rooms
Weather normalization (to Toronto Pearson) removes the impact of weather on energy consumption
Particularly important when comparing facilities across a wide climate area (e.g. province-wide)

5. External Benchmarking
External Benchmarking - What’s Needed
From the UCD
Peer Inventory (EDUPI)
Comparison set
MEC_EDU (this is all sites in the education sector)
Normalization
Weather normalized - Toronto Pearson
Note
Select your unit preferences before generating the report
For this exercise, ekWh for energy and ft2 for area were used to allow proper comparison

6. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report
Under “Portfolio Tree”, click on “your board’s name”
2. Select “Exports” tab

7. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report cont’d
Select “Peer Inventory (EDUPI)”

8. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report cont’d
Select “Create New” button

9. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report cont’d
Make the following appropriate selections from the menu below:
Notes
“MEC_EDU = all sites of the 72 district school boards
“Weather normalized” must be selected when:
comparison is between multiple boards
Strips out the impact of weather on energy consumption
ABC

10. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report cont’d
Complete the “Define filters” section with as many parameters as you require

11. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report cont’d
Sample of “defined” filters

12. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report cont’d
7. Click “Preview” to determine the number of sites that will be included in the report

13. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report cont’d
Review number of sites
Elementary schools should be compared to a group of at least 25 elementary schools
Secondary schools should be compared to a group of at least 15 secondary schools
If comparison set is too small, expand filters, for example:
increase “floor area”
increase the period of time for “year of construction”
If comparison set is too large, narrow filters, for example:
decrease the “floor area”
decrease the period of time for “year of construction”
9. Click “Select Output Fields”

14. External Benchmarking
How to Generate the Report cont’d
Select all the fields that you want generated in the report. Ensure your unit preferences are as desired.
11. Click “Generate the report”

15. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Identify and delete all the buildings with missing data
Building names from other boards will be anonymous

16. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Step 1 – Insert 5 columns into the report
Total electricity intensity
Total natural gas intensity
Electricity cost per area
Natural gas cost per area
Total cost per area
Note
See the rationale for unit preference on slide 5

17. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Step 2 – Calculate Electricity Intensity for each building
Electricity Intensity (Z) = Total Electricity Consumed (Y)/Total Building Area (X) X Y Z

18. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Step 2 – Calculate Natural Gas Intensity for each building
Natural Gas Intensity (W) = Total Natural Gas Consumed (V)/Total Building Area (X) X V W

19. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Step 3 – Calculate the Weighted Average Values
Sum the following columns:
Total Building Area
Total Electricity Consumed
Total Natural Gas Consumed
For Electricity Intensity Calculated Weighted Average:
= Total Electricity Consumed/Total Building Area
For Natural Gas Intensity Calculated Weighted Average:
= Total Natural Gas Consumed/Total Building Area
Note
Weighted Average is used to properly account for differences in building areas

20. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Highlight Electricity and Natural Gas Intensity values above the Calculated Weighted Averages
School
Total Building Area (includes portables and portapaks) / Superficie totale du bâtiment (comprend les salles de classe préfabriquées et ajout modulaire) (ft²)
Total Electricity Consumed / Consommation totale d'électricité (kWh)
Total Natural Gas Consumed / Consommation totale de gaz naturel (ekWh)
Electricity Intensity (kWh/ft2)
Natural Gas Intensity (ekWh/ft2)
Energy Intensity (EI) / Intensité énergétique (IE) (ekWh/ft²)
Anon. 1
34,063
762,426
604,490
22.38
17.75
40.13
Anon. 2
23,296
258,518
532,409
11.10
22.85
33.95
ABC elementary
45,099
583,596
605,201
12.94
13.42
26.36
Anon. 3
44,015
509,954
494,288
11.59
11.23
22.82
Anon. 4
44,049
534,202
233,370
12.13
5.30
17.43
Anon. 5
25,101
270,136
270,913
10.76
10.79
21.55
Anon. 6
23,670
262,658
215,029
9.08
20.18
Anon. 7
28,650
186,554
735,375
6.51
25.67
32.18
Anon. 8
26,237
227,412
393,247
8.67
14.99
23.66
Anon. 9
30,391
199,645
663,606
6.57
21.84
28.40
Anon. 10
47,165
455,529
379,997
9.66
8.06
17.71
Total
371,736
4,250,629
5,127,924
Calculated Weighted Average
11.43
13.79
25.23
Note
Users can sort by category. See Analyzing Energy Costs presentation – Source: UCD Help Desk > TRAINING > 2017 Annual UCD Training Presentations

21. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Compare your building(s) values with the calculated energy intensity values
Compare your building(s) values to the TRCA benchmark of good performing schools:
TRCA benchmark
Electricity
kWh/ft²
Natural gas
ekWh/ft²
Total Energy kWh/ft²
Elementary
5.5
6.5 12
Secondary
7.5 15
Administrative
12.5 20
ABC Elementary
12.94
13.42
26.36

22. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Comparing Electricity and Natural Gas Cost Intensities
Determine your electricity and natural gas unit cost from your Energy Budget Workbook (Source: Energy Budget Workbook – March 2018 training - located in UCD Help Desk)
For this exercise the following values were used:
Electricity: $0.17/kWh
Natural Gas: $0.25/m3 or $0.024/ekWh

23. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Step 4a – Calculate Electricity cost for each building
U = Electricity Cost Per Building Area ($/ft2 or $/m2)
Z = Electricity Intensity (kWh/ft2 or kWh/m2)
U = Z * Electricity unit commodity cost ($/kWh)
Example: U = * 0.17 = $2.20/ft2
Electricity Intensity (kWh/ft2)
Natural Gas Intensity (ekWh/ft2)
Electricity Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Natural Gas Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Total Cost Per Area ($/ft2) Z U

24. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Step 4b – Calculate Natural Gas cost for each building
T = Natural Gas Cost per building area ($/ft2 or $/m2)
W = Natural Gas Intensity (ekWh/ft2 or ekWh/m2)
T = W * Natural Gas unit commodity cost ($/ekWh1)
Example: T = * = $0.32/ft2
1 To convert to $/ekWh from $/m3: $/m3/10.32 = $/ekWh To convert to $/ekWh from $/GJ: $/GJ/277.8 = $/ekWh
Electricity Intensity (kWh/ft2)
Natural Gas Intensity (ekWh/ft2)
Electricity Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Natural Gas Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Total Cost Per Area ($/ft2) W T

25. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Step 5 – Calculate Total cost per Area for each building
S = Total Cost Per Area ($/ft2 or $/m2)
U = Electricity Cost Per Area ($/ft2 or $/m2)
T = Natural Gas Cost Per Area ($/ft2 or $/m2)
S = U + T
Example: S = = $2.52/ft2
Electricity Intensity (kWh/ft2)
Natural Gas Intensity (ekWh/ft2)
Electricity Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Natural Gas Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Total Cost Per Area ($/ft2) U T S

26. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Step 6 – Calculate the Weighted Average Values
Using the Calculated Weighted Average values for Electricity, Natural Gas and Energy Intensity done in the previous steps, calculate:
Electricity Cost Per Area
= Electricity Intensity * electricity unit commodity cost ($/kWh)
Natural Gas Cost Per Area
= Natural Gas Intensity * natural gas unit commodity cost ($/kWh)
Total Cost Per Area
= Electricity Cost Per Area + Natural Gas Cost Per Area
School
Total Building Area (includes portables and portapaks) / Superficie totale du bâtiment (comprend les salles de classe préfabriquées et ajout modulaire) (ft²)
Total Electricity Consumed / Consommation totale d'électricité (kWh)
Total Natural Gas Consumed / Consommation totale de gaz naturel (ekWh)
Electricity Intensity (kWh/ft2)
Natural Gas Intensity (ekWh/ft2)
Energy Intensity (EI) / Intensité énergétique (IE) (ekWh/ft²)
Total (from slide 20)
371,736
4,250,629
5,127,924
Calculated Weighted Average
11.43
13.79
25.23

27. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Cost Intensity Comparison
Highlight Electricity and Natural Gas Cost Per Area values above the Calculated Weighted Averages
School
Electricity Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Natural Gas Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Total Cost Per Area ($/ft2)
Anon. 1
3.81
0.43
4.23
Anon. 2
1.89
0.55
2.44
ABC elementary
2.20
0.32
2.52
Anon. 3
1.97
0.27
2.24
Anon. 4
2.06
0.13
2.19
Anon. 5
1.83
0.26
2.09
Anon. 6
0.22
2.11
Anon. 7
1.11
0.62
1.73
Anon. 8
1.47
0.36
1.84
Anon. 9
1.12
0.53
1.64
Anon.10
0.19
Calculated Weighted Average
1.91
0.35
2.26
Note
For simplicity, only the cost columns are shown

28. External Benchmarking
How to Use the Report
Compare your building(s) values with the Calculated Average Cost Intensity value
Compare your building(s) values to the TRCA benchmark of good performing schools:
TRCA benchmark
Electricity
$/ft²
Natural gas
Total Energy $/ft²
Elementary
0.94
0.15
1.09
Secondary
1.28
0.18
1.46
Administrative
2.13
2.31
ABC Elementary
2.20
0.32
2.52

29. External Benchmarking
Review
Your board’s best performing sites compared to the other boards’ schools and the TRCA benchmark
Your board’s poor performing sites to determine if there are any obvious reasons for why electricity or natural gas costs are high:
HVAC system design to identify possible energy conservation projects
Equipment operations to identify improvements
Where energy is being used in the building
IT equipment
Domestic hot water system
Daycares
How the school building is being used
Community use of school
Before & after school programs
Energy procurement strategies
Does your board participate in an electricity and natural gas procurement consortium?

30. External Benchmarking
Questions can be answered via the UCD Helpdesk
Phone: (416) ext. 115