An energy consumption benchmarking system for residential buildings in Hong Kong

Since the energy crisis in the 1970s, the government and policymakers have endeavoured to promote energy conservation policy on sustainable building designs and operations. Various benchmarks of building energy consumption were developed. Unfortunately, the complicated benchmarking models would impose difficulties in general adaptation. This study proposes a simple sustainability benchmark using a 5-star rating system for electricity and fuel gas consumption in residential buildings. With this system, the least sustainable households, i.e. the top 10% of the survey samples in consumption, would be awarded with the lowest sustainability rating of '1 star', while the most sustainable households (i.e. the bottom 10%) would be awarded with the highest rating of '5 stars'. This simple model would be useful for identifying the extreme cases of energy consumption and promoting the policy on sustainable building practices without inclusive measurements. Practical application: A simple sustainability benchmark model using a 5-star rating system for electricity and fuel gas consumption in residential buildings is proposed. This model would be useful for promoting the policy on sustainable building practices without inclusive measurements by identifying the extreme cases of consumption.