Capturing data for CBECS accounts

Edit online

In IBM® Envizi ESG Suite you can use accounts that are created with the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) account style to estimate electricity (kWh) and natural gas (cubic feed) consumption based on floor area.

Before you begin

To have the CBECS account style enabled for your organization, contact IBM Support.

About this task

CBECS account styles enable organizations to estimate electricity and natural gas consumption based on floor area (sqft), principle building activity, and climate zone. Each account style is linked to a principle building activity (PBA), and the intensity conversions are built into the account style rules.

For more information about CBECS 2018, see the 2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey site.

Procedure

  1. Locate the CBECs account that you want to estimate electricity and natural gas consumption for.
  2. On the Account Summary page, click Actions > Capture Data.
  3. Review the account name and add the start and end period dates for the period that you want estimate consumption for.
    By default, the time period is the next logical time period.
  4. Enter the floor area (sqft).
  5. Select a value for Climate Zone.
    If you are not sure which is the correct climate zone, select Average.
  6. Save the form.
    Envizi ESG Suite calculates the estimated consumption based on the CBECS account style.

Example

Consider a calculation for a CBECS account whose associated account style is linked to Education as the PBA.

In the account style, Climate zone is set to Hot/Humid. The estimated consumption rate for the PBA and climate zone is 11.6 kWh/sqft/year.

If a record is captured for a 6 month period, or 181 days, from 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2022, for a floor area of 2,000 sqft, the following formula is used to calculate the estimated consumption:
2000 sqft * 11.6 kWh/sqft/year * 181 days/ 365 days = 11,504 kWh
The following formula is used to calculate the estimated emissions:
11,504 kWh * 0.548 kgCO2e/kWh (emission factor) * 0.001 t/kg = 6.304 tCO2e