Many companies cannot afford a dedicated energy expert on staff and systems sometimes go for long periods without even a basic energy evaluation. Unfortunately mostly-comfortable buildings, occupied by people busy with their daily work, are often assumed to be working properly and major energy wastes can go on for years undetected. An Energy Audit is one of the best tools to address this scenario and does so by utilizing utility benchmarking, and identifying energy wastes.
Pinnacle Energy Services offers energy auditing services that identify and prioritize utility cost-saving opportunities for individual projects and buildings.
We use ASHRAE’s (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) energy audit model that matches the rigor of the audit to the needs of building owners, facility managers, or government entities. We follow the models for audit levels described below:
The Level I Audit is best employed when an owner is unsure of the energy savings potential of a building or when an owner seeks to identify those buildings and systems with the largest potential for energy savings. The results of a Level I Audit can be used to prioritize which buildings and systems should be considered for a Level II or III Audit.
The Level II Audit is commonly employed for buildings and systems already known to suffer from poor energy performance. This energy audit provides a detailed survey and analysis beyond that of a Level I Audit and itemizes energy usage information in more detail. Generally speaking, a greater level of rigor is used throughout the survey, analysis, and reporting work for this level of audit.
The Level III Audit is an investment grade audit geared towards capital-intensive projects identified in Level II Audits. Significant work is involved for field data gathering, engineering analysis, cost analysis, and savings analysis, which are all intended to provide substantial support for major capital investments decisions.