Electricity and natural gas prices have risen sharply since 2021, and the resulting increase in energy bills could be significant for building owners. A professional energy audit is the best starting point when you want to save electricity and gas, as it provides an assessment of all construction systems that use these resources. Here we will discuss 5 ways an energy audit can benefit your building.
Get a professional energy audit and reduce your electricity and natural gas bills.
1) Know your energy consumption accurately
Utility bills only tell you how much electricity and gas were used during a billing period and how much you should pay for them. However, utility bills do not tell you how each building system uses energy. If you only know the total consumption of a building, you will not be able to analyze the effectiveness of specific energy conservation measures. Each property has a unique consumption profile and the same update can have very different results between buildings.
An energy audit can reveal how your consumption is divided between different types of equipment, and also how your consumption varies throughout the day. Based on this information, energy consultants can design effective measures to reduce your utility bills. Space heating and air conditioning are typically the biggest loads in commercial buildings, but accurate decisions regarding these systems are only possible after an energy audit.
2) Improve the ROI of building upgrades
A major renovation of a building is an excellent opportunity to improve energy efficiency, as it is possible to update MEP installations without causing disruption to occupants. If you do an energy audit before your renovation project, you can identify the building upgrades that will provide the biggest savings. You can also learn the expected cost of each energy conservation measure and how your total project budget is affected by your choices.
Energy efficiency measures often qualify for grants and other financial incentives, which are not available for building upgrades that focus solely on appearance. You may also qualify for low-interest loans, which you can pay off with energy savings you make. Energy audits can help you make better investment decisions, increasing the ROI of your building portfolio.
3) Reduce your greenhouse gas emissions
The emissions produced by a building are directly related to its energy consumption, and also to the combination of sources used. Since an energy audit provides a detailed analysis of your building's consumption, you can determine its carbon footprint based on the emissions produced by each source.
The results of an energy audit can also be used to analyze the impact of switching between different energy sources. For example, you can determine the emissions avoided when upgrading from an oil-fired boiler to a newer gas unit or when upgrading to all-electric heat pumps.
An accurate calculation of building emissions is especially useful for property owners subject to climate mandates, such as Local Law 97 of 2019 in New York. This law sets emission limits for buildings based on occupancy classification and floor area, and there is a $268 fine per metric ton of CO2-eq above the limit.
4) Identify and fix equipment problems
Energy consultants typically have a professional background in mechanical or electrical engineering. This means they can identify many types of problems affecting building systems, not just those related to energy consumption. An energy audit will often reveal damaged components and other malfunctions, giving you the opportunity to make repairs before a serious breakdown occurs.
Building owners often save on maintenance and repairs thanks to energy audits, as they uncover problems that would have been more expensive to resolve later. There are also many cases in which breakdowns and energy waste are related; for example, an electric motor that experiences excessive friction and vibration is less efficient as more energy is dissipated as heat.
5) Comply with Local Law 87 of 2009 (NYC Buildings)
If you own a building in New York, Local Law 87 of 2009 makes energy audits mandatory at 10-year intervals. In this case, regular energy audits not only offer the benefits described above; they also keep your building compliant. This law applies to all buildings over 50,000 square feet, and you must meet the requirements for an ASHRAE Level 2 (or better) energy audit . Buildings covered by LL87 2009 will also be required to undergo retro-commissioning, ensuring that all systems function as designed.
