Sustainability performance monitoring of buildings on Arc platform of USGBC
In recent years, there has been an increased focus on sustainability in building design and operations. Building owners and operators are looking for ways to reduce their environmental impact and create healthy, comfortable spaces for their occupants. One tool that can help in this endeavor is Arc, a performance score developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC).
Arc is an online platform that calculates a performance score for buildings based on data from five categories: energy, water, waste, transportation, and human experience. The score is calculated using a set of action-oriented strategies that are tailored to each category. These strategies are designed to help building owners and operators improve their performance and reduce their environmental impact.
To get started with Arc, building owners or operators can register their project on the Arc website. From there, they can start inputting data on their building’s energy and water use, waste generation, transportation, and human experience. Arc aggregates data from a variety of sources, including utility bills, energy and water meters, and user surveys.
Once data is inputted, Arc provides users with analytics across each performance category, as well as an overall performance score. The score can be used to understand a building’s sustainability performance and to achieve LEED certification. LEED certification can be earned by meeting a set of requirements listed in Arc, and achieving a performance score of 40 for Certified, 50 for Silver, 60 for Gold, and 80 for Platinum.
In addition to providing a performance score, Arc can also help building owners and operators to benchmark their performance and make improvements over time. The platform provides a variety of tools and resources to help users identify areas for improvement and implement changes that can help to reduce their environmental impact.
One of the benefits of using Arc is that it provides a standardized way of measuring sustainability performance. By using a common set of metrics and strategies, building owners and operators can compare their performance to that of other buildings and identify best practices for improving sustainability.
In conclusion, Arc is a powerful tool for building owners and operators who are looking to improve their sustainability performance. By providing a standardized way of measuring sustainability, benchmarking performance, and identifying areas for improvement, Arc can help building owners and operators to reduce their environmental impact and create healthier, more sustainable spaces for their occupants.
