Commercial Energy Audits

The Level 1 audit can be referred to as a scoping audit, simple audit or walk-through audit and is the most basic. It involves minimal interviews with site operating personnel, a brief review of facility utility bills, and a walk-through of the facility, for the identification of obvious areas of inefficiencies or energy waste.  Based on the findings from the walk-through, the auditor will then furnish a report detailing low-cost/no-cost Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) and potential capital improvements for further study. Typically, a Level 1 audit will only uncover major problem areas. Corrective measures are briefly described, and quick estimates of implementation costs, potential operating cost savings, and simple payback periods are provided. This level of detail, while not necessarily sufficient for reaching a final decision on implementing proposed measures, is sufficient to help prioritize energy efficiency projects and to assess the need for a more detailed audit.

A Level 2 audit will include the preliminary ASHRAE Level 1 analysis, but also includes more detailed energy calculations and financial analysis of proposed energy efficiency measures. The financial analysis or Life Cycle Cost Analysis provides the facility owner with comprehensive understanding of the financial benefits of implementing specific energy efficiency measures. Utility bills are collected for a 24 to 36 month period to allow the auditor to evaluate the facility’s energy/demand rate structures and energy usage profiles. This type of audit identifies all energy conservation measures appropriate for the facility given its operating parameters. A detailed financial analysis is performed for each measure based on estimated implementation costs, site-specific operating cost savings, and the customer’s investment criteria. A Level 2 Audit should provide sufficient detail is to justify implementation of ECMs.

This level of analysis focuses on the potential capital-intensive projects identified by the Level 2 analysis and involves more detailed field data gathering and a more in-depth engineering analysis. It provides detailed project cost and savings calculations with the high level of confidence required for major capital investment decisions. This audit can be referred to as a detailed audit or comprehensive audit.  It expands upon the Level 2 audit by providing a model of energy use characteristics of both the existing facility and all energy conservation measures identified. The building model is calibrated using actual utility data to provide a realistic baseline against which to compute operating savings for proposed measures. A Level 3 audit provides an understanding of not only the operating characteristics of all energy consuming systems, but also the situations and behaviors that may cause load profile variations on both an annual and a daily basis. Existing utility data is often supplemented with sub-metering of major energy consuming systems and monitoring of system operating characteristics.