SR224 Building Energy End-use Study (BEES) Years 1 & 2 (2018)

This report provides an overview of the starting 2 years of the Building Energy End-use Study (BEES). The overall goal is to understand patterns of use in order to identify opportunities for improved productivity by investigating water and energy use in a random sample of New Zealand office and retail buildings.

An aggregate phone survey will be used to collect data from several hundred buildings, their occupants and use patterns. Energy and water data will be obtained with occupant permission.

In a smaller number of buildings, targeted surveys will obtain monitored time-of-use information on energy and water and the services they provide. Suitable equipment has been selected, purchased and piloted in a small number of buildings to monitor energy (electricity and gas), air temperature, relative humidity, light level and carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Case studies will be used to obtain more detailed information on selected services. Results from pilot studies are reported.

Thermal simulation models will be used to enable the results from specific buildings to be used to explore consequences of changes to the entire building stock. The basis for the modelling process has been documented and a pilot study undertaken to explore its use.