Spotlight on Data Access and Transparency: The DATA Alliance

By Andrew Burr, Director, IMT Building Energy Rating Program

Managing What You Measure: The Data Access Issue

Commercial property owners and operators measure the energy performance of thousands of buildings each year in the United States. This process, known as benchmarking, enables operators to track energy performance across building portfolios, identify opportunities to reduce energy consumption and related costs, and prioritize energy efficiency investments. According to many industry professionals, benchmarking is a common-sense business practice and a basic tenet of good energy management.

 

Yet, a significant number of operators are unable to conduct this simple exercise because they cannot access energy consumption data for their buildings. In many multi-tenant buildings, operators cannot retrieve information from energy meters without the consent of each individual tenant, making benchmarking difficult or impossible. This little-known fact is one of the most serious barriers to improving the energy efficiency of the commercial stock and unlocking significant energy cost savings for consumers and businesses.

 

Introducing the DATA Alliance

Recognizing the importance of this issue, leaders in the commercial real estate industry have teamed up with energy efficiency and green building organizations to form the Data Access and Transparency Alliance (DATA). Led by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, the Real Estate Roundtable, the Institute for Market Transformation and the U.S. Green Building Council, the DATA Alliance is educating policymakers, regulators and real estate stakeholders about the importance of improving energy data access. DATA is helping promote innovative energy data access programs piloted by leading utilities that have enabled the benchmarking of millions of square feet of commercial floor space in local markets, and is encouraging other utilities to consider similar programs.

 

Our Recent Work 

Last summer, DATA successfully worked with utility regulators from the around the nation to secure a pledge to improve energy consumption data access practices for commercial operators. At its 2011 summer meeting, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) adopted a resolution encouraging state public utility commissions to support energy benchmarking in commercial buildings, and to aid building owners and managers in accessing whole-building energy consumption data for use in benchmarking programs. DATA is working with federal agencies and congressional lawmakers to explore national opportunities to improve data access, including the e-KNOW Act and the President’s Better Buildings Initiative. Members of DATA are also engaged with state and local policymakers to ensure that appropriate data access measures are included in voluntary or mandatory benchmarking programs.

 

To learn more about the DATA Alliance or to find out how to become involved, please visit www.energydataalliance.org.