ASHRAE Level 1, 2 & 3
Commercial Energy Audits
Interested in saving energy in your facility? We’ve performed hundreds of commercial energy audits all over the world, and can perform any type of building energy audit desired, from a preliminary audit to a full-scale investment-grade audit.
A good building energy audit will point the way to reduce your energy costs by 10% to 40%.
Why Have a Building Energy Audit Performed?
There are several reasons having an energy audit done is the right decision for most building owners.
There is no better way to save energy in your facility than by having a building energy audit performed.
01
To Reduce Your Operation Expenses, Increase Your Profit
In these days of uncertainty, it is important to keep operating expenses to a minimum. One difference between companies that weather these difficult times and those which do not survive, will be that the survivors will have reduced their unnecessary expenditures before it is too late.
Unnecessary costs include costs for energy you don’t need to use. In the past, many companies have just considered utilities as “a cost of doing business.” By running an inefficient building, you are overpaying your utility for energy. It just doesn’t make any sense.
A good building energy audit will point the way to reduce your energy costs by 10% to 40%. For large organizations, this can be substantial, and could mean the difference between staying afloat and going under.
02
To Determine Which Are the Best Building Energy Efficiency Measures
There are so many vendors peddling their energy efficient devices which are supposed to save energy–most of them do, but some don’t. Just because a device saves energy does not mean it is a good investment. And even if it is a good investment, there may be better energy efficiency investments available.
For example triple-pane windows that you hear advertised on the radio usually save energy, but for some buildings, they will actually result in an increase in energy usage. It is usually a better investment to replace your incandescent light bulbs with CFLs than it is to change out your windows.
So how do you determine what are the best energy conservation measures for your building? That is what an energy audit is for.
The table below lists energy conservation measures from an audit we recently performed on a large office. In this format our client is able to easily evaluate and prioritize the different energy efficiency opportunities.
ECM Table — Energy Conservation Measures
(If triple pane windows were on this list, the simple payback would likely have been over 15 years. It may sound good on the radio, but a sober analysis shows that there are better ways to spend your energy efficiency dollar.)
03
To Increase the Value of Your Building
We understand the argument that if your tenants are paying the utility bills, then there is no reason to invest money in making your building energy efficient. After all, you won’t be reaping any energy savings.
Keep in mind that increasing the energy efficiency of your building will increase in value. If you have a “green” building, your tenants will be happy to pay higher rents to occupy your building.
On average for every dollar spent in energy efficiency improvements, appraised building value increases several times.
Definitions
What is a Commercial Energy Audit?
The term energy audit appears to refer to two distinct things: An energy audit is the process of having a professional energy auditor assess your building for energy savings opportunities. The term energy audit also is used to refer to the result of the energy assessment process, the energy audit report. We will try to keep these terms separate by referring to the report as an “energy audit report.”
An energy audit report is a carefully thought out plan, which, if followed, will lead you to reduced energy costs. Every building is different, and each contains different opportunities which can reduce energy usage. This is why every different building requires its own unique energy audit.
During the energy audit, an energy auditor will visit your site and interview your facility manager, inspect your lighting, air conditioning, heating and ventilation equipment, controls, refrigeration, air compressors, water consuming equipment, and anything else that is using energy. Depending on the type of audit, the auditor may take measurements of temperatures, pressures, light levels, power draw, and other things.
An energy audit report typically contains a description of the building’s existing energy consuming equipment, an energy balance and most importantly, a presentation of feasible energy conservation measures (ECMs). Each of these measures are developed so that the report includes:
- a description of the existing conditions
- a description of the proposed ECM
- expected annual savings associated with the ECM
- expected cost to implement the ECM
- simple payback and/or other financial measures, such as return on investment or life cycle savings
Some of the ECMs identified in the audit will take decades to pay for themselves, while others will start paying for themselves within months. Once you have the audit in hand, you can make good decisions as to where to invest your energy efficiency money.
Sample audit reports
What You Receive
Some of the sections of an ASHRAE Level 2 energy audit are presented below.
Facility Summary
A description of the building and its energy consuming equipment.
Energy Balance
A breakout of facility energy usage into end uses.
Written Descriptions of Each Energy Conservation Measure
Example page 1.
Written Descriptions of Each Energy Conservation Measure
Example page 2.
Savings, quality & audit levels
How much money/energy can be saved by getting an energy audit?
When talking about possible energy savings in a facility from performing an energy audit, it’s impossible to make a reasonable estimate without understanding how the building operates and uses energy.
With that said, we’ve seen savings upwards of 40% on some facilities, with the average savings being around 10-20%. If the facility has already had energy audits in the past, and the identified measures were implemented, it’s possible that the facility is already efficient, and in that case, there might be much less energy savings potential. If the facility has been in operation for many years without having had an energy audit, it’s very possible that an energy audit can save you a significant amount of money.
If you want to make an easy estimate, for a building that has not aggressively pursued energy efficiency in the past 10 years, assume 20% savings potential. For a building that has been pursuing energy efficiency in the past 5 years, assume 10% savings potential. These estimates cannot be too far from the truth.
Since it’s extremely difficult to assess how much your facility can save without knowing more about your company, we will gladly provide you with a Free Energy Audit Consultation.
By having this consultation, we can decide whether or not you need an energy audit at all, and if you do, what kind would best suit you and your facility. Here’s an example of energy wasted. This is an over-lit, air conditioned server room — click on the image at right to see the lack of servers in it.
Don’t All Auditors Produce the Same Quality Work?
Sadly, no they do not, nor do energy auditors have the same degree of proficiency at their craft. And what is worse is that most commercial energy audit customers may not be able to tell qualified energy auditors from novices. Energy auditing is a profession, like lawyering. Not all lawyers can produce the same results–the same applies to energy auditors.
The quality of your energy audit report really matters. A poorly done audit can result in you:
- Wasting thousands of dollars in installing the wrong energy conservation measures. Most facilities have a limited budget for energy efficiency. It is best to use that budget on the best energy conservation measures. Poorly done audits often miss these.
- Wasting thousands of dollars installing energy conservation measures that won’t save money, or that will save much less than the audit would lead you to believe.
- Wasting thousands of dollars in wasted energy from not knowing about no-cost/low-cost measures that could have saved you money. These measures often are related to HVAC control, and inexperienced auditors often miss these.
There are more ways a poorly done audit can lead you astray, and these are addressed in detail in our whitepaper Eight Ways in Which a Poor Quality Energy Audit Can Prove Costly to the Building Owner.
If you plan on acting on the recommendations presented in the energy audit report, then be wise when you choose an auditor. Be sure to pick an auditor who:
- is vendor neutral
- is solution neutral (i.e. who won’t be pushing a performance contract or service on you)
- has experience. Be sure to look at resumes, and descriptions of past projects.
For more information on picking the right energy auditor, see our whitepaper How to Avoid Energy Audit Disasters.
Remember, bad advice is worse than no advice.
What is the Difference between an ASHRAE Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Energy Audit?
Because there was so much variance in the industry as to what exactly composed an energy audit, ASHRAE kindly stepped in and defined varying degrees of energy audit rigor. These different levels of audits are now called ASHRAE Level 1, ASHRAE Level 2 and ASHRAE Level 3 audits.
Some buildings don’t require hundreds of hours of engineering time, and a smaller audit will suffice, whereas for other buildings, the additional time and analysis is well worth the investment. A rightly sized energy audit will provide the right balance between energy audit cost and value of the audit.
The ASHRAE Level audits are recommendations. They are not law. You can always pick and choose what they want and don’t want in the audit. What is most important is that you get value for your money.
Preliminary Energy Use Analysis
All three levels of audits require a Preliminary Energy Use Analysis which involves the following:
- a site visit to assess the building and energy consuming equipment
- analysis of the utility bills to determine whether savings can be had by changing the utility rate
- a summary of utility bill data
- calculation of the energy use intensity (EUI)
- benchmarking to compare the site’s energy usage to that of similar sites in the same region
- estimate of the energy and costs saved if the building met an energy use intensity target
Comparing an audit with retro-commissioning? An ASHRAE Level 1 or Level 2 energy audit is like a snapshot of a building, whereas retro-commissioning is more like a video of the building.