AirAdvice, developer of innovative technologies to monitor and assess building energy performance, released an upgrade (www.airadvice.com/newbenchmark) to its BuildingAdvice energy services program on February 24. Automation and increased usability are the key improvements to BuildingAdvice’s energy services platform, which now automates generation of Energy Star Benchmarking reports evaluating the current and potential energy efficiency of existing commercial buildings. Through BuildingAdvice’s industry-leading energy services platform, these reports can now be generated in a fraction of the time they previously required.

“Contractors, consultants, and energy engineers will now experience a more streamlined, efficient process to reducing energy consumption and utility cost for their customers,” said Jim Crowder, President and CEO of AirAdvice. “With this automated system, we now provide a low-cost point of entry into Energy Benchmarking. This upgrade is the onramp to energy services.”

 Under development for the past nine months, the current upgrades to BuildingAdvice offer powerful data integration and automation in creating building energy reports, which include:

• Energy Benchmark - Determines a building’s Energy Star rating and current utility cost per- square-foot relative to comparable properties and evaluates the savings potential.
• Energy Savings Assessment - Identifies low- or no-cost opportunities to save energy by adjusting current systems and processes. Combined with Energy Benchmark, provides a more comprehensive picture of a building’s energy use.
• Energy Savings Audit - Evaluates return on investment of energy-saving building improvements by calculating projected utility savings on an annual basis. Breaks out savings per capital improvement, or cumulative savings as a result of multiple improvements.

“Energy Star Benchmarking is a critical first step for our service sales team in starting energy discussions with building owners and managers,” said Charlie Fletcher, Executive Vice President for EMCOR Group’s Mesa Energy Systems, an AirAdvice client. “Automation of the process with the latest upgrade from BuildingAdvice will enable us to bring these in-demand services to far more customers.”

Additionally, several new features enhance the BuildingAdvice upgrade. The Building Data Management System (BDMS) offers a building-centric data architecture, storing utility bill and other building information for use in any of the energy report types, thereby eliminating duplicate data entry and streamlining report generation. Integration with Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager means that contractors, property managers, and energy engineers who use the BuildingAdvice Energy Benchmark application not only have complete building information stored in Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager, they’re better equipped to service and oversee the building’s operational bottom line. MultiLogOn, another added BuildingAdvice feature, enables users to collaborate on energy efficiency projects with other team members, or to work on multiple projects at any given time.

For more information on BuildingAdvice’s recent upgrade or to contact a sales representative, go to www.airadvice.com/newbenchmark.