The Building Editor is the location for defining a new building or changing information on an existing building in B3 Benchmarking. Information is required on the first two tabs, Location and Space Usage, and is optional on the Advanced, Versions and Other tabs.
Location
Enter basic building information such as name, address and original occupancy date. All building information entered directly informs the engineering benchmarking model and geolocation for weather normalization purposes. Therefore, accurate information is essential for correct analysis.
| Building Name | A user defined name for the building. | |
| Location | Necessary for geolocation mapping within the Building Editor, on Location tab, as well as the map view from the Organization Summary tab. A valid zip code is used in identifying the nearest weather station for weather normalization analysis. | |
| Original Occupancy Date | It is useful to pinpoint the day a building was fully commissioned and occupied. For older buildings where exact occupancy dates are harder to find, a simple year will suffice (with January 1st as the month and day). For newer buildings, we encourage the entry of the exact occupancy date. | |
| Comments | Any relevant notes about the building that may be helpful. | |
| Hierarchy | Parent Org: The current Organization to which the building is assigned. | Parent Site: The current Site to which the building is assigned. If a building was incorrectly added to a Site, select the correct Site from the dropdown. |
Space Usage
Space usage information is used by the engineering model to predict the energy usage of this building and calculate the benchmark index ratio. Space asset types (SATs) can be added, modified or deleted to describe the building and how it is being used. Versions of the building can also be created to track changes to the building over time. When selecting a primary building type, the default SATs will be defined. If modifying an existing building and selecting a different primary building type, a prompt will be displayed to reset the SATs to defaults for that building type.
| Primary Building Type | Select from the dropdown the closest description of how the building is primarily used. |
| Gross Square Feet | Enter the total gross square footage (SF) of the building. Resources for calculating Gross Building Square Footage include AIA Document D101 and BOMA’s Gross Area Standard. Exclude all outdoor areas in these calculations |
| Space Asset Type | Space usage type that most closely resembles the space in that portion of the building. |
| % Usage | Enter the percentage of the building that uses this space type based on the total building SF. The system will calculate what portion of the building SF that percentage is to validate against. |
| Hrs/Day, Days/Week, Months/Year | Based on the space usage type selected, default hours of operations will be entered. These values can be customized to the actual hours of operation. Enter in the number of hours/day, days/week and months/year that this portion of the building is used. The system will calculate and display the total hours/year this portion of the building is used compared to the default hours/year for this space type. |
| Conditioning | Based on the space usage type selected, default conditioning will be entered. These values may be customized with how this portion of the building is conditioned: heated and cooled, heated only, cooled only, ventilated or unconditioned. |
| Heating Source | Enter the fuel source that is used for primary heating. This fuel source must have a respective meter of the same type. If the metered fuel source is used to produce a different heating source that services the building, the metered fuel should be selected to avoid application conflict errors. For example, natural gas is used to produce steam which heats the building, but the steam produced and distributed to the building is not metered thus no steam meters defined. The heating source for the building should be natural gas. |
| Cooling Source | Enter the fuel source that is used for primary cooling. As with the heating source, this fuel source must have a respective meter of the same type. |
| Parking Lot | Check this box if the meters associated with this building also service parking lot lighting, specify the SF of parking lot that is lit. If parking is a ramp, please include as a Space Asset Type. |
| Occupants | Enter the number of people that typically occupy this building. |
Advanced
Advanced Benchmarking allows specification of additional details for the building and space usages. This results in a more accurate benchmark for the building.
By checking the Enable Advanced Benchmark checkbox, additional information can be specified on the building and space usage loads, particularly in complex areas such as kitchens, pools, labs and refrigerated spaces to account for variations within these space usages.
For all fields within Advanced Benchmarking, default values are provided as well as minimum and maximum values of entry for reference. As many or as few of these fields may be specified to the Advanced Benchmark. Once created, the Advanced Benchmark it will be used throughout B3 for the Benchmark Rating and Peer Comparison. Advanced Benchmarks are shown with orange stars and labels.
Versions
If the building is no longer operated as originally defined, creating a new version allows the application to keep the historical data on how the building was operated and its related usage. Once a new version is activated, the active building version is displayed in the upper right corner of the Building Editor. If necessary, a prior version can be enabled by clicking 'Activate'.
Physical or Operational Modifications
If the building undergoes any modifications that may affect its performance (e.g. addition, major renovation that changes space types, or substantial increase/decrease in hours of operation), click the 'Create a new building version' link. Provide a descriptive version name and effective date of when the modifications were completed. Then go back to the Space Usage tab to adjust data as applicable.
Decommissioning or Selling the Building
If the building was demolished or sold, click the appropriate link and the application will automatically update the building SF to 0. The Version Name may be modified but an effective date of the demolition or sale will need to be entered. Please contact us for assistance with creating a new version.
Other
The Other tab acts as a storehouse for general information about the building. The B3 metrics do not require this information and updating these fields has no impact on the calculations. This information is helpful to determine what types of energy improvement methods have been implemented in the past, if any, and what could be investigated in the future.