The aim of research is to identify a need of a baseline energy use for benchmarking the minimum energy performance of the buildings for different climate zones of India. Its objective is to provide information and create awareness among customers on energy performance so that consumers can make informed decisions while purchasing appliances, selecting the ECMs and in creating a sustainable home. This study will help in the identification of underperforming buildings to target for efficiency improvements, identify best practices from efficient buildings, set investment priorities, verify savings and prevent snapback, share and report performance, earn recognition, continuous monitoring and implement a comprehensive management program. There are rating system available in India i.e. BEE Star Labelling program and GRIHA Baseline Energy Use to support these requirements. However, there are some limitation in the terms of Climate Zones and Standardization. The baseline energy use differs with each other on a certain parameter, which can create a misinterpretation for the building owners to rely on any standard. There is a need of knowing the current status/performance of the building as comparison to the similar type of buildings in India in respective climate zones. There is a further need to getting recognized by the authority at national level providing the status of the building energy performance. Enormous studies have been made and have suggested to follow the best Energy Conservation Measures (ECM’s) in the buildings. However, there is no portal or tool which can guide what further energy performance is needed to choose the ECMs accordingly. There is an online portal called Energy Star Portfolio Manager in USA which looks closer to the need and for the same a research has been carried out including all the stakeholders, engineers, architects, consultants to come up with the need of online benchmarking tool, accessible for all the building holders. Further, the expertise of BEE Certified Energy Auditors and Energy Managers can be helpful in the identification of this eco system of energy use benchmarking for the different climate zones of India.
KEYWORDS: Energy Use; Green Buildings; Climate Zones; Energy Performance Benchmarking; Energy Star Portfolio Manager
STUDY THE NEED OF BASELINE ENERGY USE BENCH MARKING OF BUILDINGS IN DIFFERENT CLIMATE ZONES OF INDIA
