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Benchmarking Report
Benchmarking Report

How to create a Benchmarking Report and what information will it provide.

Ninad Bandewar avatar
Written by Ninad Bandewar
Updated over 5 months ago

The benchmarking report produced by Vitras.ai offers a comprehensive analysis to provide a clear understanding of how buildings of similar types and sizes within the same geographical context, perform in terms of energy efficiency. By comparing your building's energy metrics against these benchmarks, you can identify areas where energy consumption can be optimized, leading to potential cost savings and environmental benefits.

Creation Workflow

1. Identifying the type of report:

Begin by typing keywords related to your objectives, and choose the most relevant report from the pre-defined workflows suggested. For a Benchmarking report, relevant keywords might include 'energy', 'benchmarking', and 'energy analysis', among others.

2. Choosing the appropriate workflow type:

Vitras.ai offers 2 types of workflows that require varying levels of details from the user.

a. Auto Create:

This workflow enables users to input only the building floor area to generate a 'shoebox' model of the building based on ASHRAE 209 Table 13. If you are in the preliminary design stage and have not explored building massing, this workflow can estimate the building's potential energy consumption.

This workflow will require the user to input the following information:

  • Project Name

  • Project Location (Address)

  • Building Floor Area

  • Building Use Type (select one that aligns the best to your use type)

  • Energy Code

b. Assisted Create:

Beyond the inputs required in the 'Auto Create' workflow, the 'Assisted Create' workflow delves deeper into the massing of your building. This additional detail allows you to refine the shoebox model accurately to reflect the actual building geometry.

The additional inputs required are:

  • Roof Area

  • Floor to Floor Height

  • Wall Area Inputs for the 8 directions (cardinal and ordinal)

  • Glazing Inputs for the 8 directions (cardinal and ordinal)

Report Breakdown

The report is structured into three main sections: Project Overview, Energy Results, and Key Inputs/Assumptions.

1. Project Overview:

The report summarizes the information provided by the user and provides an overview of the building's energy usage, detailing how different categories contribute to the total Energy Use Intensity (EUI). The categories analyzed include:

  • Lighting

  • Heating

  • Cooling

  • Equipment

  • Fans

  • Pumps

  • Domestic Hot Water

2. Energy Results:

The results detail the Energy Use Intensity (EUI), breaking it down by category. Additionally, the report provides annual electricity and gas costs along with the operational carbon emissions associated with the building.

This page also provides the users with a visualization of the AIA 2030 EUI target and compares it with the EUI of their current design.

3. Key Inputs/Assumptions:

The latter section of the report enumerates the inputs utilized for analyzing the building's geometry, which are determined by the energy code selected by the user. Using this code, Vitras.ai assumes the minimum required standards for these inputs and incorporates them into the energy analysis.

The report wraps up by explaining the calculation methodologies and defining key terms used throughout the document. Additionally, Vitras.ai bases the energy model generation on ASHRAE 209 Table 13.

Premium Insights

Vitras.ai enables you to establish a benchmark for your design using code-minimum inputs. However, if you are further along in your design process and need a more comprehensive energy analysis customized to your design choices, you can consider leveraging our project.assist services for a detailed Energy Analysis report.

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