A preliminary evaluation of the energy saving potential of automated near-real-time feedback for operators of commercial office buildings

This paper presents preliminary findings from a program adopted in a portfolio of Australian commercial office buildings that used an 'action-reflection' approach to foster collaboration around energy performance 'feedback'. An automated diagnostic and visualisation system was developed to present simple, timely and actionable information to building operators and their managers. Automated short messages were emailed each morning describing (and illustrating) each building's energy use for the previous day relative to peer buildings and the model's prediction. Variations between actual and predicted impacts (in particular, energy use) pointed to learning opportunities and helped building managers identify and replicate 'better than expected' energy performance and more quickly and efficiently respond to 'worse than expected' performance. Small teams comprising managers of buildings from the same neighbourhood and other participants, including the researchers, were assembled on a fortnightly (and ad hoc) basis to evaluate results and share insights, thus contributing to the significant energy savings observed.