First Steps: Advantages
	Step 1: Change your thinking
	Step 2: Establish a baseline
	Step 3: Compare with other facilities
	Step 4: Understand payback
	Step 5: Choose your measures
	Step 6: Arrange financing
	Step 7: Track your savings
	Step 8: Celebrate your success

Step 3: Compare with Other Facilities

Benchmarking is the practice of comparing your operation's energy consumption with other similar facilities.

Although you may be tempted to compare energy costs, utility prices can vary daily across the country. When benchmarking, it's energy intensity (gigajoules per square metre, or GJ/m²) that really counts.

Energy intensities can vary greatly depending on the type and use of your building. For example, restaurants are usually much more energy intensive than schools. Other factors such as building age, size and region can also influence your benchmarking figures.

Resources

We can help you with Canadian and international benchmarking tools.

• The Energy Innovators Initiative (EII) offers benchmarking resources and publications that compare various types of commercial and institutional buildings.
• The Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP) offers information for new building design such as simulation software and the Model National Energy Code for Buildings (MNECB).
• Although not considered benchmarking, our statistics and analysis resources offer national averages and other data through publications such as Energy Efficiency Trends in Canada and the Commercial Institutional Building Energy Use Survey. According to the Energy Use Data Handbook, for example, the average intensity of all commercial and institutional buildings in Canada is 1.83 GJ/m².

Next: Step 4: Understand payback