Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Buildings recognized to be green under various green rating systems are generally evaluated during the design stages, and certifications are assigned based principally on the predicted performance of the buildings when assessed. Most of these rating systems do not take into consideration the real performance of the buildings once occupied. However, it is now clear to many in the industry that significant discrepancies occur between the predicted and actual values for energy performance, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, indoor environmental quality, and occupant comfort level. These discrepancies, sometimes called a performance gap can be the result of several factors such as the effectiveness of the initial modelling tools and processes used to design the building, envelope and systems integration, construction quality, appropriate building commissioning, and occupants behaviour. The discrepancies represent a major problem for the construction industry which can lead to underperforming buildings, dissatisfied clients, reduced satisfaction and productivity of building occupants, and buildings that generally fail to live up to their potential even when predictions at the design stage suggest that they should reach excellent performance. An investigation of these gaps can help building owners understand how to optimize building performance and prioritize upgrades, and can help designers incorporate lessons from existing buildings into future projects. This project proposes to develop a standardized building performance evaluation framework, and use it to carry out assessments of six innovative Canadian green buildings. Building performance evaluation is a systematic process that analyzes how a building is operating, and compares it to benchmarking standards. Typically it addresses energy and water use, carbon emissions, and indoor environment, but other factors can also be evaluated.The aim of this project is to understand the operational performance of these buildings and compare it to predicted performance and benchmarks. This will enable the researchers to determine how well these buildings are performing and identify the technical reasons why they may not be meeting their performance expectations. This will provide lessons for their owners, potentially leading to improved occupant comfort/productivity, lower costs, and identify areas in need of upgrades. For the design teams, the project will provide lessons on how well their strategies worked in practice, and where improvements can be made. The industry will benefit from dissemination of the lessons that will help build knowledge of appropriate design strategies and prevent repeated mistakes, making the task of delivering high performing green buildings more readily and widely achievable. Another major benefit will be the development of the standardized protocol for building evaluations with key performance indicators that can be applied by industry partners and others to develop a database of building performance in the future. Through student training and the evaluation tools developed, the project will help to build capacity for an increase in building performance evaluation in Canada.