Portfolio-scale Building Energy Rating (PBER) Platform
- Maalka Inc.
Maalka’s SBIR Phase I project sought to address the barriers preventing the wide-scale adoption of Department of Energy (DoE) building performance analysis and ratings tools to help building owners make more informed decisions for improving energy efficiency (EE). While many building EE software solutions exist, they do not effectively integrate DoE data standards and consequently fail to leverage a wide-array of valuable DoE analysis tools. Furthermore, these solutions are not optimized to support large-scale EE programs that aim to engage hundreds, even thousands, of independent stakeholders with targeted insights for improving their buildings. As a result, cities, corporations, and utilities are precluded from administering programs that realize the synergistic value of fully integrating building energy benchmarking and auditing data with advanced engagement and analytic tools that guide building owners towards cost-effective energy saving measures. The purpose of this SBIR Phase I research project was to develop and pilot novel software that facilitates expanded, distributed pathways of engaging building owners with upstream data collection workflows and downstream DoE-tool-driven building performance insights. Maalka worked with several DoE National Labs to develop a deep understanding of DoE standards and tools so that they could be effectively leveraged by Maalka’s commercial building management platform. The integration of DoE standards with novel user engagement and program configuration capabilities has enabled a new class of applications that unlock significant value for EE program administrators, building portfolio managers, policy-makers, and individual building owners. This SBIR grant resulted in the successful development and piloting of the Portfolio-scale Building Energy Rating (PBER) platform. First, Maalka developed an innovative method for securely managing asset data for building stakeholders, who can submit data from DoE tools via BuildingSync XML or through dynamically-rendered input forms driven by the BuildingSync XML Schema Definition (XSD). Configurable dashboards enable users to centrally monitor the progress of data collection, understand the types of assets and energy conservation measures (ECMs) being implemented, and track the lifecycle of assets across the portfolio. Additional value is then generated by passing this data to DoE tools such as AuditTemplate and AssetScore, which provide EE ratings and specific ECM recommendations for each building. Building stakeholders can then leverage PBER modules to manage the evaluation and implementation of these recommended ECMs, representing a cycle of reinforced value. In addition to the many technical innovations achieved over the course of the Phase I project, Maalka reached several notable business development milestones. First, nearly a dozen structured interviews and design-thinking sessions with prospective users and clients were conducted to understand how PBER might be refined and expanded over the Phase I/II project periods. Maalka then successfully deployed pilots for two customers seeking to expand their building benchmarking programs with PBER-driven energy auditing, tracking, rating, and analysis capabilities1. Finally, Maalka established several high-profile partners through which PBER will be able to scale. As the PBER platform matures, it will transform how EE programs across the United States leverage asset-level data to make more informed EE policies and carbon reduction strategies. PBER will also provide building stakeholders with tools and insights to help reduce energy consumption and operating costs, while complying with local regulations. Perhaps most impactfully, by promoting the broader adoption and integration of open standards PBER will enable a new class of interoperable applications to be developed that will help EE programs spread, expand, and reach building owners with valuable analytical insights currently tied up across disparate DoE tools.
- Research Organization:
- Maalka Inc.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Engineering & Technology. Office of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0020708
- OSTI ID:
- 1820108
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-MaalkaSC0020708-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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