USGBC Launches Initiative to Track Buildings’ Performance

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has stepped up its efforts for continuous improvement in building performance with the launch of the Building Performance Initiative. This program will develop a comprehensive data collection and analysis methodology — based on all buildings that have achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification — that will be shared with LEED building owners and project teams to close performance prediction gaps.

The goal of the initiative is to provide feedback to building owners so they have better information to address any performance gaps that stem from predicted building performance versus actual performance, said USGBC.

This initiative complements USGBC’s announcement earlier this year that will require ongoing performance data from buildings as part of their certification under the latest version of LEED. The building council recently updated its certification with the launch of LEED Version 3.

A building’s day-to-day operation has a dramatic impact on its performance but without better information, an owner or facility manager won’t know where the gaps are and be able to act on them, said Scott Horst, USGBC’s LEED senior vice president.

Numerous factors affect the ability of a building to deliver high performance, including energy modeling tools, properly timed energy models, quality building commissioning, proper goal setting/benchmarking, and coordination between design and operation, said USGBC.

USGBC plans to hold four Building Performance Initiative summits across the U.S. in September and October, where participants will have a chance to preview USGBC’s data collection agenda and proposed analysis methodology and provide other feedback.