5 Ways to Fund an Effective Energy Audit That Will Pay Back Year Over Year

Today organizations are looking to aggressively manage energy costs, reduce effective emissions of greenhouse gasses, and put less burden on environmental quality. As supply chain leaders in contemporary healthcare and life sciences organizations we are in a great position to develop strong, collaborative relationships with plant engineering to help promote an energy management program inclusive of the strategy of a comprehensive energy audit. 

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) defines three levels of energy management audits. Each audit level builds on the previous level. As audit complexity increases, so does thoroughness of the site assessment, the amount of data collected and the detail provided in the final audit report. This effort can translate into higher energy savings.

• Level I: Site Assessment or Preliminary Audits identify no-cost and low-cost energy saving opportunities and a general view of potential capital improvements. Activities include an assessment of energy bills and a brief site inspection of your building.
• Level II: Energy Survey and Engineering Analysis Audits identify no-cost and low-cost opportunities, and provide EEM recommendations in line with your financial plans and potential capital-intensive energy savings opportunities. Level II audits include an in-depth analysis of energy costs, energy usage and building characteristics and a more refined survey of how energy is used in your building.
• Level III: Detailed Analysis of Capital-Intensive Modification Audits (sometimes referred to as an “investment grade” audit) provide solid recommendations and financial analysis for major capital investments. In addition to Level I and Level II activities, Level III audits include monitoring, data collection, and engineering analysis.

5 Funding Sources for an Audit

How much will a comprehensive energy audit cost? Considering the comprehensive costs of an energy audit you can expect $0.12 to $0.52 per SQ foot. Consistent industry practice advises that an audit should cost no more that 10% of the annual utility bill.

Options for financing an audit:

• Funding Source #1 – Shared savings with energy service companies: ESCOs will finance and manage comprehensive energy efficiency improvement projects for a premium share the energy savings.
• Funding Source #2 – Utilities: Utilities often make grants available to pay for audits as well as consultation during the audit and continuation grants for installation of energy saving measures.
• Funding Source #3 – Universities: Many universities have technical assistance centers that provide energy assessments, often at no cost as a regional economic development activity.
• Funding Source #4 – Disintermediate: With some specific direction, a large, multi-plant engineering staff can be marshaled to provide an in-house assessment. The book Thumann, A., Younger, W. J., & Niehus, T. (2010). Handbook of Energy Audits. Lilburn GA: Fairmont Press has a great section on self-audit including many checklists with economic and operational scoring schema.
• Funding Source #5 – Vendor-funded audits: Often geared toward specific product offerings and agendas vendors and industry non-profit organizations often offer complimentary services that highlight simple individual energy efficiency recommendations but overlook other significant opportunities. While these courtesy services can be helpful, beware of unqualified auditors and double check recommendations to be certain that the benefits they point to are real, and compatible with current facility engineering equipment and practices. Examples of these helpful-but-focused vendor-supplied assessments would be energy asset consultants who install software to monitor existing assets and recommend operating adjustments or a microturbine manufacturer who can deliver a small footprint plant to use exhaust energy efficiently to heat and cool facilities and reduce emissions. http://www.pnnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/pnnl-20956.pdf

As always, until next we meet, I appreciate all you do to fill the hands that heal!

TH

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