Building Energy Benchmarking with Building Information Modeling and Wireless Sensor Technologies for Building Retrofits

Opportunities for improving energy efficiency can be recognized in many different ways. Energy benchmarking is a critical step of building retrofit projects because it provides baseline energy information that could help building stakeholders identify energy performance, understand energy requirements, and prioritize potential retrofit opportunities. Sub-metering is one of the important energy benchmarking options for owners of aging commercial buildings in order to obtain critical energy information and develop an energy baseline model. However, it oftentimes lacks baseline energy models collecting granular energy information. This paper discusses the implementation of cost-effective energy baseline models supported by wireless sensor networks and Building Information Modeling (BIM). The research team focused on integrating the theories and technologies of BIM, wireless sensor networks, and energy simulations that can be employed and adopted in building retrofit practices. The research activities conducted in this project provide an understanding of the current status and investigate the potentials of the system that would impact the future implementation. The result from a proof of concept project is summarized in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system.