Imagine if, at every doctor’s visit, they just gave you a quick glance and sent you on your way if you appeared healthy—no questions, no tests, or deeper digging into how you’ve been feeling. You likely wouldn’t stand much of a chance of improving your health by ignoring what’s happening inside your body. That’s what happens with many buildings and their energy use.
In my first blog, we explored energy benchmarking—a useful way to compare your building’s performance to others and find quick wins to cut costs. But benchmarking alone only scratches the surface. Energy audits go further, exploring your building’s day-to-day operations to uncover inefficiencies and patterns you may not have known existed. Like a complete physical workup for your health, an energy audit can reveal what’s going on beneath the surface—turning a one-time snapshot into the starting point for long-term, measurable energy savings.
So, if, like many organizations, energy costs have become a big budget target, an audit that includes real-time equipment performance monitoring and benchmarking against similar facilities is the best way to start your journey toward significant cost reductions.
What’s in an audit
When talking with consultants about conducting an energy audit, it’s important to understand the level of detail you’re looking for. To help define expectations, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has outlined three levels of energy audits, based on their intensity:
- Level 1: Walk-through analysis. A basic audit that takes a high-level view of operations. This might involve interviews with key facilities personnel, reviewing energy bills, and walking the site. Results could include a basic report covering free or inexpensive changes owners could make to address obvious inefficiencies.
- Level 2: Energy survey and analysis. This effort goes further by breaking down energy consumption by end use and analyzing current utility rates to identify potential pricing adjustments. A report could target specific projects worthy of more study.
- Level 3: Detailed analysis of intensive capital improvements. This is an approach for larger facilities looking to make investment-grade improvements to their operations. It involves rigorous engineering analysis, system monitoring, and detailed simulations to help owners and managers trust that projects will pay for themselves in savings within a specified timeframe.
Advantages of diving deep
A Level 1 audit can provide a certain level of immediate savings by, say, suggesting some easy adjustments to scheduled runtime or lighting levels. But the significant cost reductions come as owners and managers move into Level 2 and 3 investigations. These can even be used together, with the results of a Level 2 effort identifying operations or equipment that would be good targets for Level 3 attention.
For example, a Level 2 audit could find temperature and humidity conditions that aren’t meeting Energy Star guidelines or compare unfavorably to the engineer’s data collection. At that point, auditors might outline possible improvements to control systems, along with a range of projected savings and payback periods, to address the issues. But it would take a closer Level 3 investigation to narrow those projections down to figures both the auditor and client can trust.
Energy auditors in a Level 3 project take a detailed look at facility operations. This could include:
- Submetering individual panel circuits.
- Close inspection and photography of every mechanical space.
- Examination of rooftop exhaust and cooling equipment.
- Testing the performance of all standalone systems.
- Sampling performance of terminal equipment and its related thermostats.
Developing a “digital twin”
A fantastic tool to utilize when performing energy audits is a digital twin. By pairing the data gathered in the audit with the consumption and cost information from related energy bills, auditors can use software to create a virtual version of the facilities. Here, they have a replica of the facility and its operations, including a 3D model of the facility’s mechanical systems. The digital twin, calibrated to reflect real-world energy use, allows the auditors to simulate, test, and validate potential energy efficiency improvements before implementing changes.
So, for example, they can see how strategies like setting back temperature setpoints in the evening could impact their bills. And, similarly, the digital twin could highlight that another proposed change might not offer the financial payback that engineers initially thought. And it also helps identify equipment upgrades or replacements that could make real improvements possible—like, say, replacing manual controls with digital models that automate operations to help lock savings in place.
The goal of a digital twin is to create the most accurate representation possible to make precise recommendations for energy efficiency projects.
An energy audit is just the beginning
What customers receive at the end of the process can vary by company. But the most important information includes action items, related costs, and the savings-to-investment ratio estimates. If the audit provider is also the contractor who would be performing the improvements, that deliverable can become a commitment, of sorts, of what customers can expect once a project is complete. It also becomes a baseline document as updated systems are commissioned and put into daily operation.
But making such an installation a long-term success doesn’t end with a project’s completion. Owners and facility managers considering such an investment need to ask prospective installers about the support they provide, including:
- How do they involve facilities staff in the audit and system design to help ensure their buy-in once improvements are in place?
- What kind of training do they provide to staff to help ensure savings are maintained through the length of the payback period and beyond?
- What ongoing monitoring services do they offer to help catch operational glitches that might set back payback targets?
Find the right partner
Bringing facility operations up to modern standards can provide big benefits, both in lower costs and improved conditions for building occupants. But these are expensive projects, and to ensure money is only being spent where it’s needed requires a clear understanding of current conditions. And the work doesn’t end with a project’s ribbon cutting— watchful eyes are needed to help ensure performance doesn’t start drifting back to previous levels.
So, while a detailed audit is a necessary foundation for success, it’s not a guarantee. That’s why it’s important to do your due diligence when seeking this kind of engineering support. Look for companies that emphasize partnership, because you’re going to be turning to these professionals for years to come.
Want to continue this conversation? Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn.
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