|
What is an Energy Audit? |
|
rev. 10/29/2010
|
|
|
What is an Energy Audit? |
|
|
rev. 10/29/2010
|
|
|
An Energy Audit is a technical and financial report identifying building energy use patterns and recommending cost-effective and practical energy conservation investment opportunities. The energy audit report is a blueprint for an energy management program in one building or a group of buildings. It is different from the Energy Analysis or Invoice Analysis offered by utility companies in that it looks beyond the meter, at the details of energy usage within a building. Very simply, a high quality Energy Audit is the due diligence that should come before making significant energy management investments in buildings. The ManagingEnergy process includes a complete management system for ensuring that an Energy Audit Report is technically rigorous and financially reliable, and that it is created making effective use of available resources. |
In the guideline document Procedures for Commercial Building Energy Audits, ASHRAE defines four levels of energy audit according to increasing levels of effort and reliability:
| • | Preliminary Energy Use Analysis |
| • | Level I - Walk-Through Analysis |
| • | Level II - Energy Survey and Analysis |
| • | Level III - Detailed Analysis of Capital-Intensive Modifications |
ManagingEnergy is fully compliant with ASHRAE procedures and includes tools to save time and money at all four levels of effort. Normally we are retained to provide Level III Investment Grade energy audits.
Undertaken together, Energy Auditing and Energy Accounting form the foundation for the management and control of utility costs in buildings.
