USGBC and WegoWise recently partnered as part of UGBC's Building Performance Partnership (BPP). The BPP is a process to collect energy and water data from LEED certified buildings. This is part of USGBC's greater effort to engage LEED building owners to better optimize the performance of buildings through data collection, analysis, and action.
USGBC's partnership with WegoWise will allow it to collect information from multi-family buildings certified under the LEED for Homes rating system. Low-rise and mid-rise projects are able to track their property's performance with minimal effort after the initial setup. WegoWise will automatically import utility data every month, allowing owners to see a continually updated picture of their water, gas, electricity, and fuel oil usage and costs. It also provides a historical repository of upgrades and changes to the building and allows savings from them to be tracked.
Certified LEED for Homes multifamily projects are eligible for a free year of WegoPro, thanks to the partnership. Data collected from projects will help to populate a comprehensive green building database, enable standardization of reporting metrics and analytics, and establish new performance benchmarks.
Projects currently pursuing LEED for Homes certification can earn credit under Pilot Credit 38 by using WegoWise. Project teams should go through their LEED for Homes Provider for details. Projects can sign up for a free WegoBasic account and then convert to their free WegoPro account once certification is achieved.
Project owners and managers will benefit from seeing how their building is performing and comparing it to both standard buildings and buildings certified under LEED and other green building programs. Owners opting to track other buildings in their portfolio will be able to see how much better their LEED certified buildings perform in comparison. Additionally, comparisons can be made between actual utility usage and the usage projected in energy models. Comparing the projected and actual usage can assist with determining if the building is operating as designed or if there may be systems not performing well.
Utility monitoring and analysis is the next step in the evolution of green building as there is a greater call for accountability and confirmed performance. LEED for Homes certified multi-family property owners have an excellent opportunity to start tracking their utility costs now, allowing them to be more engaged in their buildings and contribute to expanding the body of knowledge about green buildings.
Sean Shanley is the director of project design for WegoWise, Boston