In an effort to promote best practices in energy audits and to fill a void in available information on everything from how to hire an auditor to what to look for in an audit report, ASHRAE released updated guidance in late 2011.
Jim Kelsey, P.E. is a principal at kW Engineering and a principal author of "Procedures for Commercial Building Energy Audits, Second Edition," which was written in collaboration with a group of experienced energy auditors and ASHRAE members. He spoke with Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare Building Ideas, about the updated version of the book and how its guidance can be applied to healthcare facilities.
In the second part of a two-part series, Kelsey explores how energy audit reports can best be used, what common mistakes healthcare facilities make in energy efficiency, and what fixes won't break the bank.
What are some tips you can share on how to read a final energy audit report, analyze it, and use it moving forward?
That gets at another best practice that we discuss in the book. The energy audit ought to be actionable—that’s the word I like to use—something that is very clear to the owner on what they should do. Within the book, we have a standardized measure table—it’s referenced in the book as an EEM Summary Table. EEM’s are energy efficiency measures, and that table ought to make clear the cost-effectiveness of all the measures that are recommended. The audit should also contain plenty of supporting information. The owner ought to be able to hand that audit off to a vendor for a cost quote on the measures that are recommended there. If it doesn’t have that level of detail, then your auditor has shortchanged you.
