T8: Cooling System Energy Use Intensity

Description:

This metric is the annual cooling system energy use per unit of gross building area.

Units: kWh/ft2 [kWh/m2]

T8 = dT5 ÷ dB1
where:
dT5: Cooling Plant Annual Energy Use (kWh)
dB1: Building gross area (ft2)

See Required Data for more information on the data items.

Benchmarks:

This metric can be benchmarked relative to peer buildings in the Labs21 database. The peer group should be a sub set of buildings in the Labs21 database that have similar characteristics in terms of climate zone, lab type, lab area ratio and occupancy hours.

Combination bar and line chart illustrating cooling system energy use intensity for a subset of buildings in the Labs21 database; X axis: Facilities, Left Y axis: kWh/gsf-yr, 0-7, Right Y axis: Lab Area Ratio, 0-100. Bar chart represents kWh/gsf-yr, Line chart represents Lab Area %, the red marker on top of the bar indicates Estimated Values.

Figure. Cooling system energy use intensity for a subset of buildings in the Labs21 database, with the following filters applied: located in climate zone 5A (cool humid); lab type: biological, chemical, chemical/biological; occupancy hours: <=14 per typical workday.

Actions Inferred:

This metric provides a measure of overall potential for reducing cooling energy use, i.e., higher values relative to the peer group suggest higher potential to reduce energy use and vice versa.

Special Considerations:

The ability of this metric to identify savings potential is limited by the degree to which the peer group of buildings has similar characteristics. While the Labs21 benchmarking tool allows for simple data filtering of key characteristics (climate zone, lab area ratio, lab type, occupancy hours), there may be other characteristics (e.g., unusual process loads, high hazards requiring higher air change rates) that cause cooling energy use to be higher or lower independent of efficiency.