User skill includes beginner to advanced, with different packages tailored to skill level.
CBES targets a broad audience including building owners, facility managers, energy managers, building operators, energy auditors, designers, engineers and consultants.
Input requirements are different for each toolkit feature:
(1) Benchmarking (basic information): building type, year built, zip code, gross floor area, investments criteria, energy price, CO2 emission factors, monthly energy data;
(2) No- or Low-Cost Improvement: basic information plus temperature file and electricity load file;
(3) Preliminary Retrofit Analysis: basic information plus additional upgrade information in lighting-interior, windows, cooling system and heating system;
(4) Detailed Retrofit Analysis: basic information plus geometry, construction, internal loads, exterior lighting, schedules, HVAC, water heater, utility rates;
Output requirements are different for each toolkit feature:
(1) Benchmarking: Annual energy consumption, EnergyStar score, EnergyIQ
(2) No- or Low-Cost Improvement: Seasonal electricity use and the building’s gas consumption compared with other buildings
(3) Preliminary Retrofit Analysis (based on the DEEP database): Recommended energy conservation measures based on input criteria; annual site energy and CO2 emissions, annual economic analysis, annual energy and cost saving percentage, performance of single measures
(4) Detailed Retrofit Analysis (based on real-time EnergyPlus simulations): Recommended energy conservation measures and selected packages of measures; annual site energy and CO2 emissions, annual economic analysis, annual energy and cost saving percentage, performance of single measure
The CBES toolkit is one of the most comprehensive toolkit available for the retrofit of small and medium commercial buildings. It is unique in that it provides flexibility giving results dependent upon data availability and user experience. This tool is also one of the few tools to use real energy data coupled with auto-model calibration to bring simulation results closer to actual building performance.
Reviews
Very useful and practical
Very useful and practical software in energy saving. I'm not real building owner or occupier, but I used this soft as scholar. It could offer recommendations for the energy efficient retrofit, such as costs, benefits and etc. I think this can improve the analysis of green retrofit both in academia and industry.
The Commercial Building
The Commercial Building Energy saver is a powerful retrofit tool. It has multiple layers of analysis and provides users simple and friendly user interface.