BEEST-EB Energy-Rating Method for Assessing the Energy Efficiency of Existing Buildings

Abstract

AbstractCurrent sustainable building rating systems typically rate the energy performance of existing buildings by assessing how efficiently they consume energy, relative to similar buildings nationwide. In these rating systems, building type and external benchmark are the two notions typically employed. Alternatively, this study explores the notions of space type and internal benchmark and develops the benchmarking energy efficiency by space type for existing buildings (BEEST-EB) method to assess the energy efficiency of existing buildings. Specifically, core research concepts such as space type, standard operation settings, standard energy consumption, operational effectiveness index, and energy efficiency score are adopted in the BEEST-EB method. An existing building usually consists of different space types, each featuring similar operational characteristics and energy demands. It is therefore proposed that, for each space type, its standard operation settings should be defined and its standard energy...