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energy audit: a guide for choosing a quality auditor Energy John Avina, CEM,
CMVP Abraxas Energy Consulting

There are some problems that work against you if you try a company to find an energy audit performed well for you.

Everyone and their brother has now been out energy audits No one agrees exactly what an energy audit In this article I will cover these questions turned

, then tell you how to choose an energy advisor quality and not demolished be.

Everyone and their brother now claims, energy audits

this with the struggles of the economy in the U.S., anyone who is not looking to make money, to see which areas have money. Energy has been good advice. Consulting firms in energy are not released man, but you can set. And reduce the emphasis on costs, companies are beginning to realize that public services are not a fixed cost, but in fact, that a cost can be reduced by 10% to 30%. In addition, the promise to raise funds, and you have a new service offering for companies who see their sales fall. We find property managers, brokers, builders try to sell electrical and mechanical equipment suppliers and lead all energy audits. Added to this is that now some very large companies have entered the market. And then there are the legions of unemployed, who are constantly calling us asking us to teach them to be energy auditors. There is a good and a bad throw to the energy consultancy. The good news is that lower, more competitive, costs. The bad news is that the reduction of costs associated with the quality of work and suffering. New businesses audit often lack experienced auditors and produce poor quality audits Often, these entrepreneurs and real estate companies are not even making the checks themselves, but contract them out to others. They are cut a little.

Each company a different idea of what an energy audit

Energy Audit is a term that comes from too much sense. Two different companies could theoretically perform an energy audit, and you could spend 5 hours and the other 80 hours. had in this type of variation in the tests, the auditors and the customers often have different ideas in mind at all that needed to be done.

The American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has taken significant steps to clarify what should be taken include a control. ASHRAE has created the conditions for the three levels of audits, titled ASHRAE Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 defines ASHRAE ASHRAE audits. For example, a client request a review of level 1, and all providers should be able to the same level and quality of the report. Unfortunately, this is not true.

We have recently placed a bid for, 500 for the degree of control ASHRAE 1 Energy and from the competition were that the test for 3 hit. We usually spend about 40 to 50 hours on a Level 1 Audit ASHRAE. Assuming that our competitor has 40 hours to spend and pay 3, which is charged per hour for work, you know, they did not. We always thought. The listener who deliver the job still is not much more, the auditor testing of products and services or the auditor is paid very little for sale

luck, we could see three audit was completed it once. The auditor has to deliver much. It was 3 pages, and a handful of ASHRAE completed forms. Although it was sold as a Level 1 Audit ASHRAE, it was not. The audit did not examine most of the requirements of stage 1 ASHRAE. Customers who do not know what a Level 1 ASHRAE. That’s the problem.

You get what you think

Pay it, you get what you pay for. Now in San Luis Obispo, California, plumbers go 0/hr or more. Energy auditors, with the same amount of experience but who have studied the energy in the school (most have degrees in mechanical engineering) and have learned a very technical area should store more your plumber or electrician. If you receive an offer for an audit, just divide by 0/hr, and you will be an approximate number of hours they can be expected to spend in the job. Experienced, accredited energy auditors in the USA, around 0000 law commanding a year. Good auditors are expensive but good plumber. You get what you pay for.

Why do some companies offer audits for free or almost

Some companies offer free audits, or almost free. When this is done will, most often, the company tries to check to sell an “energy saving” device, or install perhaps on energy efficiency measures as soon as they are. I have no problem with the second type of provider that their checks can be good, but often the first type of seller is usually not provide a comprehensive energy audit, but an audit only focused around their product. What is important for customers is that the limited scope audits are real opportunities for energy savings due to the narrow focus of the auditor.

There are also agencies lack well-meaning non-profit conducting tests for free. These tests are often very short and are not performed by experienced auditors. Often this non-profit organizations will receive grants for energy saving. Scholarships are usually not for a lot of money, and therefore they can not hire experienced staff of energy audit. The result is a bad job.

Finally, some utilities are now leading energy audits for free. In some cases this can be a great opportunity. For Rent In California, for example, investor-owned utilities experienced professional energy consultant for the job. The test is free to the customer, but the utility is paying the price ranges of the test. You have good tests. On the other hand, some utilities use their own staff to perform audits, and sometimes their audit staff has experience is not necessary to perform a satisfactory job.

Experience really counts with

Energy Audits

energy audit is not only inefficient fixtures and replaced by more efficient appliances find their advice. Although it is part of the work, but it is the easy part. Audit requires a thorough understanding of the chillers, boilers, air conditioners and packaging systems and control components, not to mention water and compressed hot air.

You see, energy audits of commercial buildings are not something you can learn in a week. It takes years to learn, make mistakes, and watching others make mistakes before them fit for the energy audit. There are an infinite number of possible configurations of HVAC. experienced auditors to discover these new situations every year.

The problem with inexperienced listeners is that they will miss more opportunities to save energy, or they may submit suggestions that work not to make or that some may damage the equipment.

How to choose a good energy auditor

, so when selecting an auditor, it is very important that you go with someone or a company that has years of experience. I would say at least 10 years. The way to ensure that you are getting a quality audit is the resumption of who carried out the test and get references request. The auditor should be a professional engineer (PE) and / or Certified Energy Manager (CEM). If they are not, then take a chance. In addition, the examiner must be at least 10 years under their belts have. You do not want to learn to trade on your work. It will also provide a test or two examples. You pay what you. know with samples of hand, you can sense a range of prices will make potential energy auditors. Finally, ask for references and call them. To know if your listeners were professionals who met their deadlines and provided quality work.

If you evaluate the business:

Talk to 2 or 3 companies and selects the best places for curricula vitae, which is actually safe there, or that the lead auditor has 10 years experience .. more. Also, make sure that at least 10 years of experience to make energy audits. A lot of times you have summaries of the best and they are their junior on-site to send people. Make sure the resume will actually do the work. Ask the sample energy audits of the company. For all your produce at the different potential suppliers of quality audits is to assess and classify companies can now available. You can also now eliminate companies that do not quality analysis. Ask for references from some jobs they have done recently. They have yet to name them. First check and refer to the energy audit jobs, not another task. If you do not plan to call them, whether they completed the job on time, if the reports agree, and if the reports met expectations. 1

what the government is in general, although they sometimes requests for proposals (RFP) that are so sophisticated that they require companies providing energy for daily working trial, only an opportunity to have employment. I would say, if possible, avoid a detailed RFP process that can best listeners also the busiest and perhaps not the time to gather a response to the invitation.

The suggestions I should

to buildings with more than 100,000 SQFT apply. If you are on audits of small plants, such as planned 20,000 sq. feet, work and cost is not so big and take so much care in selecting the best companies in the audit is probably exaggerated. However, do not select an accounting firm based on price alone, or you will regret it.

1A colleagues mine warned me about the issue of reference. Suppose you have an energy audit. How many calls do you take to give a good recommendation? We do not charge that our customers have references for the next year or two to give. He’s right. Please be wise to call on our customers save too much interruption.

About the Author John

Avina, president of Abraxas Energy Consulting has worked in energy analysis and monitoring of electricity bills for 15 years. During his tenure application of thermal energy research center, Johnson Controls, SRC Systems, Silicon Energy and Abraxas Energy Consulting, Mr. Avina, the M & V for a great performance contractor managed to run the development of software applications to energy-analysis creates an energy-analysis software that is used by more than one hundred energy professionals, taught over 200 classes of energy management, created hundreds of models of buildings and databases tracking current bills on hundreds models of utility rates, and managed and conducted energy audits of over 300 buildings (over 15 million square miles of park buildings). Mr. Avina has a MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP).

Abraxas Energy Consulting traces electricity bills, energy audits, measurement and verification, retro-commissioning, testing of utilities bills and other energy management services to customers around the world followed. Abraxas Energy Consulting also offers a variety of surveillance and utility bill and the range of data packages for their customers. Abraxas Energy Consulting customers: energy services, utility companies, consulting companies in energy, government, universities, hospitals, school districts, private sector, property managers and owners
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