Methods for benchmarking building energy consumption against its past or intended performance: An overview

•This paper reviews up to date methods for building energy benchmarking.•This paper summarizes the major characteristics of these methods.•This paper recommends a flow chart for reader to choose a proper method.

Building sector consumes a significant portion of energy worldwide. One of the reasons is that the performance of building and its components degrades over the years. It is found that by improving the performance of existing systems through continuous commissioning, significant energy saving can be achieved. In a continuous commissioning process, energy benchmarking is extremely important for tracking, monitoring and detecting abnormal energy consumption behavior of a building. In this paper, up to date methods and tools available for energy benchmarking purpose are reviewed. It is hoped that with this paper, researchers and building operators are more confident in choosing a proper method (or tool) during the commissioning process.