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Building Energy Models for Commercial Buildings Based on CBECS Data

BEM

As an outcome of ASHRAE RP-1771, we have developed building energy models based on Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) data to support the development of the ASHRAE building energy quotient (bEQ) standard. These building energy models can be used as a starting point to reconcile the differences between the empirical and modeled baselines for energy performance comparison for new and existing commercial buildings, allowing seamless translation of building energy performance metrics among LEED, Standard 90.1, Standard 189.1, Standard 100, and the bEQ As Designed and In Operation ratings. 

These building energy models are developed based on the 2003 CBECS data, which include 18 commercial building types in two vintages (pre-1980 and post-1980) in 15 climate locations in the U.S. This results in an overall set of 540 total building energy models (EnergyPlus™ Version 9.0 for Supermarket; EnergyPlus™ Version 8.7 for the other building types).

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Current version (V2.0) was released on 3/11/2022. See release history for previous releases.

Table 1. Building Energy Models
No. Building Type V2.0
1 Large Office*
2 Medium Office*
3 Small Office*
4 Non-refrigerated Warehouse*
5 Standalone Retail*
6 Strip Mall*
7 Primary School*
8 Secondary School*
9 College/University [1]
10 Quick Service Restaurant*
11 Full Service Restaurant*
12 Hospital*
13 Outpatient Health Care*
14 Motel or Inn*
15 Hotel*
16 Religious Worship [2]
17 Supermarket**
18 Auto Repair Service [3]
19 All Building Types

* This model is developed by referring to the U.S. Department of Energy Commercial Reference Building Models. 

** This model is developed by referring to the model developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

Table 2. 2003 Weather Data* 
Thermal Zone Climate Representative City
1A Very Hot Humid Miami, Florida
2A Hot Humid Houston, Texas
2B Hot Dry Phoenix, Arizona
3A Warm Humid Atlanta, Georgia
3B Warm Dry El Paso, Texas
3C Warm Marine San Francisco, California
4A Mixed Humid Baltimore, Maryland
4B Mixed Dry Albuquerque, New Mexico
4C Mixed Marine Seattle, Washington
5A Cool Humid Chicago, Illinois
5B Cool Dry Denver, Colorado
6A Cold Humid Burlington, Vermont
6B Cold Dry Helena, Montana
7 Very Cold Duluth, Minnesota
8 Subarctic/Arctic Fairbanks, Alaska

*Download weather file , which is provided by Climate.OneBuilding, 

Acknowledgment

These building energy models are the outcome of the project "RP-1771, Energy Modeling of Typical Commercial Buildings in Support of ASHRAE Building Energy Quotient Energy Rating Program" sponsored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The project website is here. 

We appreciate the RP-1771 Project Monitoring Subcommittee members for their comments and suggestions during the model development:

  • Chris Balbach, Performance Systems Development, New York, USA
  • Dru Crawley, Bentley Systems, District of Columbia, USA
  • Michael Deru, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado, USA
  • Charles Eley, USA
  • Daniel Nall, Syska Hennessy Group, New Jersey, USA
  • Terry Sharp, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, USA

The following people have directly contributed to the model creation:

  • Yingli Lou, 鶹Ѱ, Colorado, USA
  • Matthew Strong, 鶹Ѱ, Colorado, USA
  • Satish Upadhyaya, 鶹Ѱ, Colorado, USA
  • Gang Wang, University of Miami, Florida, USA
  • Yunyang Ye, 鶹Ѱ, Colorado, USA
  • Yizhi Yang, 鶹Ѱ, Colorado, USA
  • Wangda Zuo, 鶹Ѱ, Colorado, USA

Disclaimer

This material is based upon work supported by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) under the Research Project RP-1771. Neither ASHRAE, nor any of its employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by ASHRAE thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of ASHRAE thereof.

Related Publications:

[1] Y. Ye, G. Wang, W. Zuo 2018. “.” Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE2018), pp. 373-378, February 5-9, Melbourne, Australia.

[2] Y. Ye, K. Hinkelman, J. Zhang, W. Zuo, G. Wang 2019. “.” Energy and Buildings, 194, pp. 351-365.

[3] Y. Ye, G. Wang, W. Zuo, P. Yang, K. Joshi 2018. “” 2018 ASHRAE Building Performance Analysis Conference and SimBuild (BPACS 2018), pp. 573-580, September 26-28, Chicago, IL.

 

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