Many buildings have a wide range of faults that increase energy consumption, but the national energy impact of specific faults has yet to be quantified. This paper reports the preliminary results of a study to quantify the national energy impact of building faults. Based on a detailed literature review, the authors identified thirteen key faults and developed bottom-up energy impact ranges for each. The key faults are estimated to increase commercial building annual energy consumption by between 0.35 and 1.7 quads (0.4 and 1.8 Exajoules [EJ]). This equals between 4% and 18% of the sum of commercial building HVAC, lighting, and refrigeration energy consumption and is consistent with the typical range of energy waste reported in building commissioning studies. Two faults, “Lights or HVAC Left on When Space Unoccupied” and “Duct Leakage”, account for at least half of the estimated energy impact. Due to data limitations, the faults have large energy impact ranges, particularly controls-related faults.
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