Commercial Reference Building: Medium Office
Commercial reference buildings provide complete descriptions for whole building energy analysis using EnergyPlus (see "About EnergyPlus" resource link) simulation software. Included here is data pertaining to the reference building type "Medium Office" for each of the 16 climate zones described on the Wiki page (see "OpenEI Wiki Page for Commercial Reference Buildings" resource link), and each of three construction categories: new (2004) construction, post-1980 construction existing buildings, and pre-1980 construction existing buildings.
The dataset includes four key components: building summary, zone summary, location summary and a picture. Building summary includes details about: form, fabric, and HVAC. Zone summary includes details such as: area, volume, lighting, and occupants for all types of zones in the building. Location summary includes key building information as it pertains to each climate zone, including: fabric and HVAC details, utility costs, energy end use, and peak energy demand.
In total, DOE developed 16 reference building types that represent approximately 70% of commercial buildings in the U.S.; for each type, building models are available for each of the three construction categories. The commercial reference buildings (formerly known as commercial building benchmark models) were developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in conjunction with three of its national laboratories.
Additional data is available directly from DOE's Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) website (see "About Commercial Buildings" resource link), including EnergyPlus software input files (.idf) and results of the EnergyPlus simulations (.html).
Note: There have been many changes and improvements since this dataset was released. Several revisions have been made to the models and moved to a different approach to representing typical building energy consumption. For current data on building energy consumption please see the ComStock resource below.
About EnergyPlus
ComStock
Commercial Reference Buildings Technical Report
Medium Office Reference New Construction.xlsx
Medium Office Reference Post-1980 Construction.xlsx
Medium Office Reference Pre-1980 Construction.xlsx
OpenEI Wiki Page for Commercial Reference Buildings
Citation Formats
TY - DATA
AB - Commercial reference buildings provide complete descriptions for whole building energy analysis using EnergyPlus (see "About EnergyPlus" resource link) simulation software. Included here is data pertaining to the reference building type "Medium Office" for each of the 16 climate zones described on the Wiki page (see "OpenEI Wiki Page for Commercial Reference Buildings" resource link), and each of three construction categories: new (2004) construction, post-1980 construction existing buildings, and pre-1980 construction existing buildings.
The dataset includes four key components: building summary, zone summary, location summary and a picture. Building summary includes details about: form, fabric, and HVAC. Zone summary includes details such as: area, volume, lighting, and occupants for all types of zones in the building. Location summary includes key building information as it pertains to each climate zone, including: fabric and HVAC details, utility costs, energy end use, and peak energy demand.
In total, DOE developed 16 reference building types that represent approximately 70% of commercial buildings in the U.S.; for each type, building models are available for each of the three construction categories. The commercial reference buildings (formerly known as commercial building benchmark models) were developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in conjunction with three of its national laboratories.
Additional data is available directly from DOE's Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) website (see "About Commercial Buildings" resource link), including EnergyPlus software input files (.idf) and results of the EnergyPlus simulations (.html).
Note: There have been many changes and improvements since this dataset was released. Several revisions have been made to the models and moved to a different approach to representing typical building energy consumption. For current data on building energy consumption please see the ComStock resource below.
AU - Deru, Michael
A2 - Field, Kristin
A3 - Studer, Daniel
A4 - Benne, Kyle
A5 - Griffith, Brent
A6 - Torcellini, Paul
A7 - Liu, Bing
A8 - Halverson, Mark
A9 - Winiarski, Dave
A10 - Rosenberg, Michael
A11 - Yazdanian, Mehry
A12 - Huang, Joe
A13 - Crawley, Drury
DB - Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI)
DP - Open EI | National Renewable Energy Laboratory
DO -
KW - DOE
KW - buildings
KW - commercial buildings
KW - energy use
KW - office
KW - building
KW - commercial
KW - reference
KW - HVAC
KW - usage
KW - energy
KW - pre-1980
KW - post-1980
KW - utility
KW - utility cost
KW - occupancy
KW - building type
KW - size
KW - climate zone
KW - energy efficiency
KW - building efficiency
KW - EnergyPlus
KW - Simulation
KW - model
KW - baseline
KW - medium office
KW - benchmark
KW - energy demand
KW - processed data
LA - English
DA - 2014/11/25
PY - 2014
PB - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
T1 - Commercial Reference Building: Medium Office
UR - https://data.openei.org/submissions/160
ER -
Deru, Michael, et al. Commercial Reference Building: Medium Office. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 25 November, 2014, Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). https://data.openei.org/submissions/160.
Deru, M., Field, K., Studer, D., Benne, K., Griffith, B., Torcellini, P., Liu, B., Halverson, M., Winiarski, D., Rosenberg, M., Yazdanian, M., Huang, J., & Crawley, D. (2014). Commercial Reference Building: Medium Office. [Data set]. Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. https://data.openei.org/submissions/160
Deru, Michael, Kristin Field, Daniel Studer, Kyle Benne, Brent Griffith, Paul Torcellini, Bing Liu, Mark Halverson, Dave Winiarski, Michael Rosenberg, Mehry Yazdanian, Joe Huang, and Drury Crawley. Commercial Reference Building: Medium Office. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, November, 25, 2014. Distributed by Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). https://data.openei.org/submissions/160
@misc{OEDI_Dataset_160,
title = {Commercial Reference Building: Medium Office},
author = {Deru, Michael and Field, Kristin and Studer, Daniel and Benne, Kyle and Griffith, Brent and Torcellini, Paul and Liu, Bing and Halverson, Mark and Winiarski, Dave and Rosenberg, Michael and Yazdanian, Mehry and Huang, Joe and Crawley, Drury},
abstractNote = {Commercial reference buildings provide complete descriptions for whole building energy analysis using EnergyPlus (see "About EnergyPlus" resource link) simulation software. Included here is data pertaining to the reference building type "Medium Office" for each of the 16 climate zones described on the Wiki page (see "OpenEI Wiki Page for Commercial Reference Buildings" resource link), and each of three construction categories: new (2004) construction, post-1980 construction existing buildings, and pre-1980 construction existing buildings.
The dataset includes four key components: building summary, zone summary, location summary and a picture. Building summary includes details about: form, fabric, and HVAC. Zone summary includes details such as: area, volume, lighting, and occupants for all types of zones in the building. Location summary includes key building information as it pertains to each climate zone, including: fabric and HVAC details, utility costs, energy end use, and peak energy demand.
In total, DOE developed 16 reference building types that represent approximately 70\% of commercial buildings in the U.S.; for each type, building models are available for each of the three construction categories. The commercial reference buildings (formerly known as commercial building benchmark models) were developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in conjunction with three of its national laboratories.
Additional data is available directly from DOE's Energy Efficiency \& Renewable Energy (EERE) website (see "About Commercial Buildings" resource link), including EnergyPlus software input files (.idf) and results of the EnergyPlus simulations (.html).
Note: There have been many changes and improvements since this dataset was released. Several revisions have been made to the models and moved to a different approach to representing typical building energy consumption. For current data on building energy consumption please see the ComStock resource below.},
url = {https://data.openei.org/submissions/160},
year = {2014},
howpublished = {Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, https://data.openei.org/submissions/160},
note = {Accessed: 2025-05-17}
}
Details
Data from Nov 25, 2014
Last updated Apr 10, 2025
Submitted Nov 25, 2014
Organization
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Contact
Commercial Reference Buildings
Authors
Research Areas
Keywords
DOE, buildings, commercial buildings, energy use, office, building, commercial, reference, HVAC, usage, energy, pre-1980, post-1980, utility, utility cost, occupancy, building type, size, climate zone, energy efficiency, building efficiency, EnergyPlus, Simulation, model, baseline, medium office, benchmark, energy demand, processed dataDOE Project Details
Project Name Commercial Reference Building Models
Project Number 19987
