By Matthew Redekopp, Founder and CEO
The very first step in effective energy management is comparing your schools against a benchmark. Here are some common benchmarks:
- Compare energy performance of a building to its historical performance
- Compare to other schools within your district
- Compare to other schools in similar districts in British Columbia
With no standardized benchmarks for rural school districts in British Columbia, the third benchmark is difficult – if not impossible – to currently apply. And external benchmarks can be the most useful.
Comparing school energy performances
The Building Energy Performance Index (BEPI) is a metric used to quantify the energy consumption of a building. It is typically expressed as kilowatt per square metre per year. Facility managers can gain valuable insight in the performance of their facilities by comparing their buildings’ BEPIs to comparable facilities.
It is often not possible to directly compare BEPIs from one building to another. Other factors – namely regional weather – must be accounted for to make the comparisons accurate.
In British Columbia, the few standardized BEPIs that are available are weighted towards the Vancouver region. There are no standardized and weather normalized BEPIs for rural school districts.
We hope to change that.
Let’s create the benchmark
Rede is undertaking the much-needed task of creating an energy benchmark for rural school districts that is weather normalized by region. The outcome will be an energy intensity metric for elementary and secondary schools that will help facility managers quickly evaluate their own schools for energy efficiency.
Easy participation. Big results.
Our friends at the Climate Action Secretariat have agreed to facilitate data collection by making SMART Tool data available to Rede with your consent. To participate, email Matthew Redekopp with the following message:
Rede Energy Solutions has offered to generate a regional energy intensity benchmark for our School District showing how our schools perform in comparison with those of our neighboring districts. This letter authorizes Rede Energy Solutions, Ltd (“Rede”) to obtain all utilities information from the BC Government SMART Tool database as deemed necessary to generate such an energy benchmark.
All utilities information provided to Rede from the SMARTTool database will be deemed confidential and used entirely for the express purpose of calculating the aforementioned energy benchmark.
I agree with all content of this disclosure and hereby give Rede the authority to obtain utilities information as stated above.
We will begin work on a benchmark when enough data has been collected. In return for your data, Rede will provide participating school districts with:
- A report showing your BEPI in relation to other participating districts
- Zone-specific energy intensity metrics useful for inter-regional energy conservation discussions
Please consider contributing to this important milestone in rural BC education history. Participation costs you nothing and gives back much. If you have any questions, please contact us anytime.