Publications and presentations

Study reports

Build articles

LCA to inform concepts (Build 147, April/May 2015) ­- Reducing the whole-of-life impact a building has on the environment starts at the concept design stage. Soon, designers will have a BRANZ tool to help easily assess the environmental impacts of alternative designs.

Good for business (Build 146, February/March 2015) - An international report finds that healthy workplaces may result in higher productivity. Some of its results mirror work done by BEES on indoor air comfort and the use of natural light.

Changing models (Build 145, December 2014/January 2015) - Prototype models developed from bees data are helping to make energy modelling of commercial buildings easier, allowing building designers to concentrate more on the building’s design parameters.

Building on what BEES uncovered (Build 145, December 2014/January 2015) - A rich source of information on energy use was gathered in a BRANZ study. It showed reasons for variances in commercial building energy use, and the data accumulated can be mined for further discoveries.

Behind the energy-use figures (Build 135, April/May 2013) - The BRANZ Building Energy End-use Study (BEES) recently examined the energy use of a group of randomly selected commercial buildings with some surprising results.

Computer secrets (Build 135, April/May 2013) - Reducing business energy costs is important. BEES is helping find ways to better manage standard business energy users, such as computers.

Who cares about water and energy? (Build 135, April/May 2013) - BRANZ research into water and energy use in commercial buildings found factors such as whether the building is owner-occupied or tenanted have a big impact.

Commercial building use (Build 134, February/March 2013) - The image of commercial buildings is usually large multi-level office blocks, but they are diverse with different energy and water uses.

Let the sun shine on Christchurch (Build 134, February/March 2013) - Research has assessed the plans to step back upper storeys of buildings and break up city blocks in Christchurch with courtyards and lanes to improve environmental and energy performance.

Commercial water use in Auckland (Build 133, December 2012/January 2013) - BRANZ research into water use in Auckland’s non-residential buildings shows that size and the way the building is used are the biggest factors in determining consumption. Age seems not to matter.

BEES achieved plenty (Build 131, August/September 2012) - Far too many offices are too hot to be comfortable, too cold to be healthy or too dim to see clearly. These are some of the findings of the on-going BRANZ BEES study.

Using daylight – it’s only natural (Build 131, August/September 2012) - Preliminary findings on the potential for natural daylight to illuminate commercial buildings have been released from the BRANZ Building Energy End-use Study (BEES), and it’s not all sunshine.

Energy efficiency needed in construction sector (Build 128, February/March 2012) - Information on energy use by industry sectors is now available, throwing light on how dependent the construction industry is on petroleum, a diminishing – therefore, increasingly costly – resource.

Information flows from BEES (Build 125, August/September 2011) - Three years into the research, the BRANZ Building Energy End-use Study (BEES) is now at a stage where preliminary results are starting to be released.

Drivers for resource efficiency (Build 125, August/September 2011) - Although there is no silver bullet for improving resource efficiency in commercial buildings, BEES is contributing to a greater understanding of the triggers that might drive resource optimisation.

Retrofit net zero-energy commercial buildings (Build 125, August/September 2011) - Net zero-energy building design is increasingly being demonstrated as an achievable goal in many countries.

Benchmarking water use in office buildings (Build 125, August/September 2011) - In Build 118, we looked at a pilot study investigating water use in New Zealand commercial office buildings. We catch up with the project a year later to check on the results so far and the work on benchmarks and strategies for water use in offices.

BEES busy filling the hive (Build 120, October/November 2010) - The third year of the BRANZ study into non-residential building energy and water use has included a national phone survey, world-class fully calibrated monitoring of buildings and participation in international research cooperation.

Benchmarking water use in office buildings (Build 118, June/July 2010) - A pilot study looking at water use in Wellington office buildings is a first for New Zealand and is creating benchmarks for local and international comparison.

BEES buzzing (Build 116, February/March 2010) - Two years in, the BRANZ Building Energy End-use Study (BEES) is gearing up for a phone survey of non-residential buildings, monitoring of energy use and the development of improved thermal simulation models.

BEES investigates commercial building energy and water use (Build 112, June/July 2009) - A major BRANZ research project is under way to help us understand the energy and water use in commercial buildings. We take a look at the Building Energy End-use Study (BEES) current activities and plans for the coming year.

Energy use research turns non-residential (BEES) (Build 104, February/March 2008) - The Household Energy End-use Project (HEEP) results have proved so useful that a new project along similar lines has started for non-residential buildings.

BEES seminar presentations

Our free seminar held in July 2012 covered results from the 5th year of this 6-year project:

• Water use patterns in non-residential buildings in Auckland.
• Exploration into some of the higher and lower energy users that have been detailed monitored in BEES.
• Results from the modelling carried out to assist the development of the new Christchurch CBD, which will help inform city planners, designers and building owners of options on how to get the most from their site.
• Analysis from interviews with different players in the non-residential building area about the barriers to improving their buildings.
• Early results from Building Evaluations Survey (BUS), which collects information on the occupants' perception of the building performance.

Please note that the results reported in these presentations were preliminary as there was still a year to go in the study and further analysis to be done.

BEES Christchurch seminar presentations - 13 July 2012

Introduction - Lynda Amitrano (BRANZ)

Christchurch modelling - Michael Donn (CBPR & VUW)

Rebuilding with different building owner imperatives - Kay Saville-Smith (CRESA)

Post-occupancy evaluation - Lisa Burrough

Energy use indices - Rob Bishop (Energy Solutions) - presented by Andrew Pollard (BRANZ)

Water use in Auckland - Hans Roberti - presented by Lynda Amitrano (BRANZ)

Future-proofing commercial buildings in Christchurch - Brenda Vale (VUW)

STIC - Robert Finch (STIC)

BEES Wellington and Auckland seminar presentations - 19 and 23 July 2012

Overview of BEES - data collection - Lynda Amitrano (BRANZ)

Resource efficiency insights - Kay Saville-Smith (CRESA)

Understanding offices - Nigel Isaacs (BRANZ)

Energy use indices - Rob Bishop (Energy Solutions)

Post-occupancy evaluation - Lisa Burrough (BRANZ)

Water use in Auckland - Hans Roberti (BRANZ)

Energy modelling - Michael Donn (CBPR & VUW)

Conferences

BEES papers have been presented at the following conferences.

2010

• Sustainable Building 2010 (SB10) in Wellington, New Zealand. BEES-supported papers were awarded highly commended in both the open and student paper categories of the SB10 conference.
• The Business of Energy Management 2010 in Wellington, New Zealand.
• Construction in Building (CIB2010) in Manchester, UK.

2009

During 2009, a BEES paper was presented at the International Building Performance Simulation Association Biennial Conference, Glasgow, Scotland.