A case study: The energy performance gap of the Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability at the University of British Columbia

The present paper shows that in the case of the CIRS building the major sources of the performance gap are that the building has been built and is operated differently from what was expected. A major component of the CIRS energy concept is heat exchange with a neighboring building; however, because of design and commissioning deficits, the heat exchange falls short of the design intent. Furthermore, a waste water treatment plant located in the building is on the building's meters and included in the measured data, but not in the energy model. The transformers' electricity consumption was not in the energy model either and they were significantly inefficient. Part of the building's unanticipated usage is large lighting and plug loads.