Washington, D.C. — The Department of Energy (DOE), in conjunction with three of its national laboratories, has developed and made available commercial building benchmark models for building professionals to use when analyzing whole-building energy performance across the commercial building stock. The commercial benchmarks are available for DOE's EnergyPlus simulation software. The models provide a consistent baseline of comparison and improve the value of computer-generated energy simulations.

DOE's Building Technologies Program, working with DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, developed models for 16 commercial building types in 16 locations representing all climate zones. These 16 building types represent approximately 70 percent of commercial buildings in the United States.

Users can download the benchmarks by building type or location at the Commercial Building Benchmark Models Web page. Each benchmark building is comprised of:

• An EnergyPlus input file (.idf)
• An HTML file showing the results from the EnergyPlus simulation (.html)
• A scorecard summarizing the inputs and results for each location (.pdfs)
• Appropriate weather data file for EnergyPlus (.epw).

EnergyPlus is DOE's fully integrated building, HVAC, and renewables simulation program that allows builders and architects to analyze low-energy technologies in commercial and residential building simulations.

Benchmark models are available for the following building types:

Building Type Name                    Floor Area ft2            Number of Floors

 

Large office                                         498,590                                   12

 

Medium office                                       53,630                                     3

 

Small office                                           5,500                                       1

 

Warehouse                                             52,050                                   1

 

Stand-alone retail                                24,690                                     1

 

Strip mall                                               22,500                                     1

 

Primary school                                     73,960                                     2

 

Secondary school                               l204,170                                  3

 

Supermarket                                         45,000                                     1

 

Fast food                                                2,500                                       1

 

Restaurant                                             5,500                                       1

 

Hospital                                                  241,350                                   5

 

Outpatient health care                         10,000                                     2

 

Small hotel                                            43,200                                     2

 

Large hotel                                            122,116                                   6

 

Midrise                                                    33,600                                     4

 

For more information, visit http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=132.