Alongside co-authors Tracy Narel and Brendan Hall from the EPA, Calico’s Colleen Morris has published “The Invisible Elephant: Building Level Data from Utilities” as part of ACEEE’s 2024 Summer Study Buildings Proceedings.

From the abstract: “Access to building energy consumption data remains an unsolved problem at scale. Efficiency, decarbonization, strategic energy management, grid interactivity – all of it starts with knowing a building’s baseline. Building level data at scale must come from utilities, and the “invisible elephant” in the room is that they don’t “just have it” for many buildings.  

Utilities are the only source of historical data for all buildings, but their account-based business model means they don’t organically hold it for multifamily, mixed use, and multi-tenant commercial buildings. Regulatory momentum and evolution are increasing demand for access to accurate data: policies like Building Performance Standards (BPS) depend on it; the Inflation Reduction Act mandates states work with utilities to ensure access to necessary data for their programs; and multifamily buildings need baselines to measure savings and maximize rebates. As a result, the elephant is getting bigger, and slightly more visible.  Nonetheless, we emphasize that these initiatives and many others will not succeed without widespread, reliable access to accurate, building level data.”

Download the full paper to learn more about this issue and what utilities are doing to address it.