Comprehensive Building Performance Monitoring: Supporting Outcome-Based Design and Construction Provisions

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Building energy use is responsible for 28% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce the environmental impact of buildings as well as improve occupant health and comfort, codes and standards governing building design are becoming increasingly stringent. Compliance with these provisions is assessed before the building is occupied and so we assume buildings perform exactly as designed, but this is not the case. The impact of construction, operation and occupant behavior contribute to a gap between specified and actual performance. This performance gap has serious consequences including impeding regulatory efforts to reduce the environmental impact of buildings, affecting the credibility of high performance building rating systems and creating uncertainty for the owners about building performance and the long-term value of their investment. To eliminate performance gaps, innovative research to further code development is required. Research to support the development of outcome-based energy codes, where compliance is based on actual post-occupancy performance data, is a priority. This outcome-based approach can also be extended to other standards governing occupant comfort and indoor air quality. A key barrier to implementing this regulatory approach is the lack of building performance data. These data, demonstrating the performance resulting from current provisions, are essential to set specific and realistic performance goals for outcome-based approaches. Toronto is in the midst of a housing boom and the largest proportion of new dwellings is currently provided by high-rise condominiums. While built to conform to current provisions, these highly-glazed buildings are uncomfortable for occupants and some buildings are already experiencing performance issues. Given the extraordinary growth and investment in this sector, Toronto’s newly constructed high-rise condominiums will be the focus of this research. However, the findings are applicable in urban regions around the globe where population densities are increasing. The aim of the proposed research is to determine the gaps between actual and specified performance of different building components by developing and analyzing comprehensive long-term monitoring data from suite-based sensors and energy sub-meters in case study buildings, to create outcome-based codes and standards. This research will result in data and recommendations to support policy makers with the development of a more robust model of building design based on actual rather than projected performance. Other stakeholders in the design community (energy modelers, engineers and architects) will benefit by having access to component-level performance data on which to base their models. Owners and occupants will benefit from a more comfortable and healthy indoor environment that reliably performs to the level set by codes and standards.