The objective of this project was to investigate the feasibility of developing an energy index for office buildings. The various applications of an index were identified and reviewed. The data available to support the development of the index were organized, reviewed and used as a basis for the index. Finally, the index accuracy and sensitivity were examined.

The basic methodology relied on the analysis of data on the measured energy use in actual office buildings, and, data as developed by computer simulations; of a "typical" office building. One significant output was the documentation of the lack of an existing data base to support the development process. Finally, the index was field tested against data specifically collected for that purpose. This paper describes the process by which the index was developed, the data available and used in that development, and the testing of that index.

It is noteworthy that while it was possible to develop a meaningful index for office buildings, the development of a more generally applicable energy index will first require the collection of more comprehensive data of better quality. Having done this, it should then be possible to estimate building energy requirements with greater accuracy and confidence than is possible with existing manual methods and with far less time and cost than is required with computer based simulation techniques.

This report is based on research supported in part by the Federal Energy Administration (Ref 1).