Related Posts
In this newsletter:
- Water Benchmarks
- Dashboard Improvements
- Meter Enhancements
- User Settings
- Other Key Updates
- Upcoming Webinars
Water Benchmarks are HERE!
Similar to energy, actual water usage is compared to calculated expected water usage to determine an index ratio and provide the new B3 Water Benchmark. A building’s occupant count and additional indoor water use details are used to calculate the expected indoor water usage. Expected outdoor water usage for the new B3 Water Benchmark is calculated by taking the square footage of irrigated area along with outdoor water use details. These new water related attributes are in the building editor Details section on a new Water tab.
If water usage has already been entered, just a couple more bits of information is all that may be needed to display the new water benchmark. A water benchmark error will be displayed leading users to turn on the respective water types and enter occupant count and/or irrigated area depending on which water meters have been defined. Since water benchmarks are dependent on a couple of key building attributes that were not previously required, there may not be enough qualified peers in a given pool of similar building types to provide B3 Water Peer Ratings right away. As more buildings enter occupant counts and irrigated areas, the peer pool will more accurately report peer ratings.
Dashboard Improvements
The B3 Dashboard has many enhancements, largely to support the new water benchmarks and peers. The widgets are now grouped to help separate energy and water reporting. The map and metrics widgets can be removed, and users can select multiple versions of the metrics widgets for increased reporting flexibility.
Meter Enhancements
B3 has long supported submeters, where meters are physically in place and usage is measured. Now, a virtual submeter can be added and usage can be allocated from the master meter. Submeter usage can be estimated to be a percentage of the master meter. This may be helpful in campus situations where a meter is shared across buildings and creating an allocated meter with estimated usage allows the separation of sites. Or with renewable energy that is generated at one site, but the organization wants to allocate some of the renewable usage to another site to meet carbon goals.
Two new renewable meter types have been added to accommodate when Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are purchased separate from the energy. This is useful for those organizations that have carbon goals or requirements but are not able to install onsite solar or subscribe to a renewable energy program that include RECs.
As part of our enhanced water integration and improved dashboards, the electric meter type icon has been updated to power lines. The energy bolt is now used on the general scale to represent energy as a whole.
User Settings
From the Tools menu in the upper right, there is now a User Settings option to easily manage user information within B3. In addition to being able to manage contact information, alerts, and login credentials, users can now define preferences for carbon units (pounds or metric tons), default weather normalization of energy baselines, and displaying of decommissioned sites. Both weather normalization and displaying of decommissioned sites can still be changed within the app, these preferences just set the default actions when logging in. Turning off decommissioned sites now also updates the left navigation tree for a more streamline view.
Other Key Updates
- Errors and warnings are now clickable to better assist with resolving issues
- New K12 building type for schools that do include all grade levels
- Expansion of custom export fields to decipher between energy and water
New to Benchmarking?
Contact us to get setup or provide an overview.