Energy Accounting in Buildings

AEE/ Certified Energy Manager CEM

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Energy Use Index (EUI)

Basic measure of a facilitys energy performance

A statement of the number of MJ of energy used annually per square meter of conditioned space
To compute the EUI

Identify all the energy used in the facility Tabulate the total energy used in the facility

Determine the total number of square meters of

conditioned space
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 The Energy Use Index, EUI, is the ratio of the

total MJ consumed per year to the total number of square meters of conditioned space.

A typical office building in the US has an EUI

of just over 1,200 MJ/square meter/year.

Food sales and health care facilities in the US

have the highest average EUIs of over 2,272 MJ/square meter/year.
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AEE/ Certified Energy Manager CEM

EUI Computation Example

An office building has 10,000 square meters
of conditioned floor space and uses 1.76 million kWh and 6,800 GJ of natural gas in one year.

Convert the electric and gas use into MJ by

finding the appropriate conversion factor.

AEE/ Certified Energy Manager CEM

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One kWh of electric energy is equal to 3.6 MJ. Thus, 1.76 million kWh is equal to 6.366 x106 MJ/yr.
1.76 x 106 kWh (3.6 MJ) = 6.366 x106 MJ yr kWh yr

One GJ of natural gas is 1000 MJ, so 6800 GJ of gas is equal to 6.8 x106 MJ/yr.
6800 GJ (1000 MJ) = 6.8 x106 MJ yr GJ yr

The EUI is then 13.136 x106 MJ/yr divided by 10,000 square meters, and is about 1314 MJ/m2/yr.
6.366 x106 + 6.8 x106 = 13.136 x106 MJ/yr 13.136 x106 MJ/yr / 10,000 m2 = 1313.6 MJ/m2/yr

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 This value of 1314 MJ/m2/yr is larger than the

EUI for an average building of 1,008 MJ/m2/yr, and also larger than the average EUI for an office building of 1,204 MJ/m2/yr. The EUI has some fairly obvious limitations. One should not compare different buildings but rather study the efficiency of the same building over time. The Energy Cost Index is often used as a more meaningful measure of energy efficiency.
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Energy Use Index for Commercial Buildings

2200

1100

A L L B L D G S

A S S E M B L Y

E D U C A TI O N

F O O D S A L E S

F O O D S E R V

H L T H C A R E

L O D G I N G

R E T A I L

O F F I C E

P U B S A F E T Y

W A R E H O U S E

O T H E R

SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY EIA

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Energy Cost Index

The Energy Use Index is somewhat
misleading since all MJ are not really equal.
Electric energy is much higher quality energy than oil or gas, and it costs about three times as much per end use MJ.

The Energy Cost Index adds up all costs of

energy and divides result by total square meters of conditioned space.
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ECI Example

For the 10,000 m2 office building looked at earlier, the cost of electricity is $123,200 per year, and the cost of gas is $32,500 per year.

The ECI is then $155,700 divided by 10,000 m2, for an ECI of $15.57 /m2/yr. The ECI is easy to calculate, and is very useful.

AEE/ Certified Energy Manager CEM

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Energy Conversion Unit Table

1 kWh .. 3.6 MJ 1 m3 natural gas 37.3 MJ

1 kg #2 fuel oil 42 MJ
1 liter gasoline. 35 MJ 1 m3 #2 fuel oil ... 39 GJ 1 m3 propane .. 25.5 GJ 1 MJ 1000 kJ

1 GJ . 106 kJ
1 MW 106 watts
AEE/ Certified Energy Manager CEM F - 10