Alternative Algorithm for Automatically Driving Best-Fit Building Energy Baseline Models Using a Data—Driven Grid Search

Change-point regression models are often used to develop building energy baselines that can be used to predict energy use and determine energy savings during a given performance period. However, the reliability of building energy baselines can depend on how well the change-point model fits the data measured during the baseline period. This research proposes the use of segmented linear regression models with one or two change points for automatically driving best-fit building energy baseline models, along with an algorithm using a data-driven grid search to find the optimal change point(s) within a given data boundary for the proposed models. The algorithm was programmed and tested with actual measured data (e.g., daily gas and electricity use) for case-study buildings. Graphical and statistical analysis was also performed to validate its reliability within acceptable deviations of an overall coefficient of variation of the root mean squared error (i.e., CV(RMSE)) of 1%, as compared to the results derived from the ASHRAE Inverse Model Toolkit (IMT) that was developed as a public domain program to manually derive the change-point model with user specified parameters. Consequently, it is expected that the algorithm can be applied for automatically deriving best-fit building energy baseline models with optimal change point(s) from measured data.