Select Ft. Collins to automatically force all selections needed to perform the 2024 Ft. Collins Draft Appendix CZ – Commercial Performance Path to Zero Carbon Building test.
Select Custom to control all selections manually without any forced selections.
This CO₂e web application allows users to upload a year's worth of building energy consumption data for electricity, natural gas, propane, and fuel oil for a given proposed building with the option to upload data for a reference building as well.
After uploading the data, the program calculates the annual CO₂e for the proposed building and displays the results both numerically and graphically. If a reference building was uploaded too, then the program will also display the CO₂e Ratio of the proposed and reference building. If the building type is residential and an IAF is given, then the CO₂e Index is calculated as well.
There is also an option to download a PDF report.
The first page is where the actual building data gets uploaded.
Enter the address of the property and, if applicable, the permit number for the building project.
Select if the building type is permitted as commercial or residential. Next, select which analysis period to use. The analysis period is what projection should be used for the electric use. If the selected building type is commercial, then the default analysis period is the 2023-2043 projection. Likewise, if the selected building type is residential, then the default analysis period is the 2025-2050 projection. However, either analysis period can be selected for any project.
If Commercial is selected as the building type, a drop-down menu for selecting the building sub-type will appear. Choose the appropriate sub-type for the uploaded building.
If Residential is selected as the building type and the analysis period is 2025–2050, a drop-down option to include a Reference IAF will appear. If selected 'Yes', specify the IAF value.
Then, upload the annual use files containing the relevant data for the proposed building and the optional reference building. The only allowed file formats currently are csv files, parquet files, and Excel files (.xlsx/.xls). If an uploaded Excel file has multiple sheets, a prompt will appear asking you to select which sheet or sheets to use. If you want us to handle other formats please let us know.
Upload any files that contain columns of hourly electricity, natural gas, propane, and fuel oil use as the following page will ask to select which columns are relevant to each fuel type and will ignore all the non-selected columns. If a building's annual use data is spread across multiple files, upload each of those files in the appropriate building files field. If the same files contain data for both the proposed building and the reference building, upload those same files in both building files sections.
Afterwards, press the 'Upload Files' button to continue to the next page.
On this page, select the specific columns for each of the fuel types for the proposed building and optional reference building. Use the navigation buttons to choose which columns pertain to which fuel type. Use the search feature to filter the columns list to quickly find the appropriate columns. Multiple columns can be selected for the same fuel type. "No columns" can also be selected for a fuel type if no data regarding that fuel type exists or is needed. Do not worry about specifying units for the columns on this page.
If a Commercial building type is selected, the option to add an Emission Factor (CO2F) will appear. The Emission Factor is a positive value used to determine whether the proposed building, compared to the reference building, meets the emission factor target.
Two test methods are available:
The Ft. Collins test requires selecting the Ft. Collins CO2F value type. Alternatively, users may choose the Custom CO2F value type to perform an emission factor test with their own values.
If a Commercial building type is selected, the option to add off-site renewable data will appear. The first step is to provide a Renewable Energy Factor (REF) value and select either the Ft. Collins value type or a Custom value type.
To perform the 2024 Ft. Collins Draft Appendix CZ – Commercial Performance Path to Zero Carbon Building test, the REF value type must be set to Ft. Collins (unless no off-site renewables are added). Otherwise, the Custom option may be selected to define the effect of off-site renewables and perform the emissions factor target test using custom values.
For each off-site renewable, select the energy type from the drop-down menu. If the energy type is not listed, select Other and specify the type. Enter the annual amount of the off-site renewable in either MWh or kWh. Then specify whether the off-site renewable is located on property owned by the building owner. If not, enter the length of the purchase agreement in years.
Note that all off-site renewables must be either located on property owned by the building owner OR have a length of purchase agreement with a minimum of 15 years in order to perform the 2024 Ft. Collins Draft Appendix CZ – Commercial Performance Path to Zero Carbon Building test.
Lastly, enter the ZIP code for the area the proposed building is in. This ZIP Code will be used to locate the region the building is in in order to use the appropriate projection data for electric use.
Press the 'Continue to Unit Selection' button to continue to the next page.
On this page, all the selected columns for both the proposed and reference building are listed.
For each of the selected columns, use the drop-down menu on the right hand side to select what units the values in the column are in. There are default units that are selected by default.
This page also checks to see if each of the selected columns are valid. In order for a column to be valid, the following three conditions must be met:
If any of these three conditions are not met, the program will display an error message regarding which columns are not valid and why.
The column length determines how the program interprets the time resolution.
As the columns are all aggregated to 8760 values, columns of varying lengths may be selected to perform calculations.
Press the 'Back to Column Selection' button to redo the column selection screen.
Press the 'Calculate Results' button to move onto the next page or see which of the selected columns are invalid.
This is the final page that shows the calculated results.
At the top of the page, information regarding building type, analysis period, and region are shown. If the building type is Commercial, the building sub-type and the associated procurement factor (determined by the selected sub-type) are also displayed.
Next, a table regarding information of the proposed building is displayed. The first column of the table shows the four fuel use categories that were calculated. The second column shows the names of the selected columns that were used to calculate each fuel use type. It also shows what units the values of each of the columns were treated as being for the calculations. If there were no columns selected for a specific fuel, that fuel's row will not be displayed. The next column shows the raw sum of each of the fuels normalized to the same unit, either MBtu or kWh depending on the category and building type. The final column displays the calculated CO₂e of each of the fuel categories in terms of kg CO₂e, however, it can also be viewed in terms of US Tons CO₂e by selecting the drop-down menu above the table. A Total CO₂e value is also provided, representing the sum of all four fuel categories.
If off-site renewables are present, the table additionally displays the renewable type, the associated Renewable Energy Factor and Procurement Factor, the raw input sum, and the equivalent CO₂e. These equivalent CO₂e values are shown as negative, since they are subtracted from the Total CO₂e to produce the actual Total CO₂e.
An identical table is provided for the reference building. If a reference building is entered, the same calculations are performed to populate the values in this table. If no reference building is entered, no table values are displayed.
If both a proposed building and reference building were entered, then a CO₂e Ratio would be displayed that is calculated by dividing the CO₂e amount of the proposed building by that of the reference building. The lower the value the more efficient the proposed building is relative to the reference building.
For residential building types, a CO₂e Index can also be calculated. Note that most rating software products should have the same procedure already available. If both a proposed building and reference building are entered, the reference building has only electric energy consumption, and an Index Adjustment Factor (IAF) value is entered, and the time period selected is 2025 -2050, then a CO₂e Index will be calculated and displayed as well. The IAF is an ANSI/RESNET/ICC 301 methodology to adjust the Index such that larger and smaller houses will score similarly for the same energy features.
The 2024 Ft. Collins Draft Appendix CZ – Commercial Performance Path to Zero Carbon Building is a pass/fail test that determines whether the proposed building, relative to the reference building, meets the requirements to be on the path to a zero carbon building by the 2030 code cycle, in accordance with Ft. Collins.
This test is calculated if the building type is Commercial, both a proposed and reference building are entered, the selected time period is 2023–2043, an Emission Factor (CO2F) value is entered with the value type set to Ft. Collins, the Renewable Energy Factor (REF) value type is also set to Ft. Collins if off-site renewables are present, and all off-site renewables must be either located on property owned by the building owner or have a length of purchase agreement with a minimum of 15 years.
If instead the building type is Commercial, both a proposed and reference building are entered, either time period is selected, an Emission Factor (CO2F) value is entered with the value type set to Custom (or set to Ft. Collins if the REF is Custom), and, if off-site renewables are present, the REF value type is set to Custom (or set to Ft. Collins if the CO2F is Custom), then the emissions factor target test is calculated using the custom values.
There is also an interactive bar graph that is found at the bottom of this page. By default, the graph displays each fuel type's annual use by month and in kg CO₂e. However, viewing the graph results by day and/or in terms of US Tons CO₂e can be done as well using the appropriate drop-down menus. Displaying all fuel types at once on the graph is done by default as well, however only viewing some or just one of the fuel types by month or by day can be done by selecting the appropriate buttons. There is also an option to display both the proposed building data and reference building data at the same time for direct visual comparison, or the option to just view the reference building data.
Note that off-site renewables, if present, are not included in the graph.
Select the 'Download PDF Report' button to create and automatically download a PDF version of the report.
Select the 'Start Over' button to clear the current data and start again at the first page.