Understanding the Energy Audit: Why It’s Worth Doing?

An energy audit can help reduce your carbon footprint by pinpointing trouble areas in your home, commercial and industrial building that may be wasting energy.  And as you know, reducing your energy consumption can help save money on your energy bill.

What is an energy audit?

An energy audit is completed at a residential, commercial, or industrial building to determine its energy efficiency.  Simply put, energy efficiency means using less energy to do the same job.  The audit will provide you with a complete electricity consumption and energy efficiency assessment.

You can obtain important information regarding your energy usage and rating from the audit report.  With this information, you can identify and correct any energy usage issues to cut electricity costs.  It’s advisable to always undertake an energy audit before implementing a renewable energy system.

What is done during an energy audit?

There are three parts to an energy audit: evaluation, testing, and efficiency recommendations.  Once the audit is complete, the auditor will provide you with a report outlining energy consumption, a final energy grading, and improvement suggestions to cut energy costs on energy bills.

• Evaluation:  An energy auditor will come to your premise and conduct a walk-through of the inside and outside to determine your energy usage and problem areas.  While conducting their walk-through, they will analyze specific elements that contribute to your premise overall energy efficiency.  The auditor will analyze the heating and cooling systems and insulation levels.  In addition, they will measure and count how many doors and windows the building has and take external measurements.
• Airtightness and other tests:  The second part of an energy audit involves an airtightness test, also known as a blower door test.  During this test, an energy auditor will determine how tight a building’s envelope is by checking for air leakage in a building.  During an airtightness test, an air sealing procedure is done.  The auditor will seal the front door of the building, and they will place a large fan inside.  The testing fan will pull the interior air outside the building, which will force outside air to come through any cracks or holes.  Often, these air leaks are easily felt with your hand, but most auditors will use feathers or incense to accurately determine where the cracks are located.  In addition to the airtightness test, an energy auditor will assess your building energy use by conducting a thermographic scan.  Moreover, they will use various energy usage equipment items to measure energy consumption, such as infrared cameras, surface thermometers, and furnace efficiency meters.  Finally, the auditor will analyze past utility bills.
• Efficiency Recommendations:  Once your building has been evaluated and testing has been completed, the energy auditor will provide you with a thorough list of recommendations regarding energy efficiency improvements you can undertake.  If implemented, most of the recommendations will help you save money on utility bills.

Why is an energy audit important?

Conducting a routine energy audit ensures you’re reducing your carbon footprint and continuing to be energy efficient by continuously employing new energy conservation improvements.  Here’s a quick list of why an energy audit is important:

• An energy audit will identify energy-saving opportunities.
• It will help you understand your energy usage and ways to use energy better.
• An energy audit can identify safety concerns with electrical systems, wiring, and ventilation, thus making your building safer.
• It will increase the property value.
• An energy audit will help you identify how to reduce carbon monoxide production in the building.

Are there different types of energy audits?

Two types of energy audits are available: a preliminary energy audit and a detailed energy audit.  The type you choose will depend on your needs.

• Preliminary Energy Audit:  This type of audit is simply a data gathering exercise that offers a preliminary analysis.  Often the auditor will conduct this type of audit via a walk-through investigation.  A professional energy auditor will utilize readily available data and limited diagnostic instruments to complete a preliminary energy audit.
• Detailed Energy Audit:  This type of audit is completed by a professional auditor who monitors, analyzes, and verifies energy use to establish problem areas and ways to implement energy efficiency improvements.  They will present their findings and suggestions in a detailed technical report.  Additionally, during a thorough energy audit, a professional energy auditor will use sophisticated instrumentation such as a flue gas analyzer, a scanner, and a flow meter.

Is an energy audit worth doing?

Yes, energy audits are worth doing.  They assess how energy efficient your building is so you know where to make changes.  You can save from 5% to 30% on your energy bills by implementing your auditor’s suggestions.  Plus, by making such changes, you can positively impact the environment and reduce your carbon emissions.

An energy audit is an energy-saving endeavor

The reason for doing an energy audit is to identify energy efficiency problems and energy-saving opportunities in a building or business.  Essentially, with a detailed energy audit report, you can see what is using more electricity than it should.  This will help you determine where you can make improvements that will not only help you save money on electricity costs but will also help you better fight climate change.