5-Step Guide To Having Your Energy Audit Work For You

An energy audit ensures that your facility is doing its part in conserving energy. Not only will energy conservation be good for saving your business money on energy bills, but it’ll also do a whole world of good for the environment.

However, running an energy audit can be hard work, especially if you’re doing so on your own. In fact, energy audits involve the following tasks:

• Intense planning
• Data collecting
• Information analysis, AND
• Establishing a suitable format

This guide will introduce you to 5 steps on how to make the best out of an energy audit on your facility, should you do one on your own:

1. Don’t Be Afraid To Set Limits

“When preparing for an energy audit, you’ll need to set some boundaries,” says Stanley Toole, a career writer at Draft Beyond. “Whether you wish to audit a portion of your building, or all of it, you’ll need to set limits on how much time and effort to put in your audit. Not setting limits can result in incorrect calculations and solutions.”

2. Determine Which Energy Audit Is Right For You

It’s important to choose the right energy audit; otherwise, energy conservation efforts will do your establishment more harm than good. Therefore, take the time to look over various types of energy audits, and then decide which is best for your initiative.

With that said, there are 3 types of energy audits based on detail and level of accuracy:

• Type 1 Energy Audits are basic assessments for facilities, only evaluating energy usage and energy-saving opportunities.
• Type 2 Energy Audits are more detailed assessments, not only looking at energy usage, but also in more comprehensive energy saving and costs evaluations. A bigger scope of energy efficiency means more opportunities for facilities to reduce energy consumption.
• Type 3 Energy Audits are the most precise of the three types. With stricter requirements and a long audit timeline (usually 12 months or more), this method is more cost intensive than its predecessors.

3. Make A Plan

Now that you’ve set some boundaries and selected a suitable type of energy audit, it’s time to formulate a plan!

Not having a plan can be detrimental to your initiative. In fact, going into an audit without a plan can cause you to make costly mistakes along the way. That’s why it’s important to seek assistance in your team, as well as other professionals, so that you and the team stay on track as you run your audit.

4. Assign Roles

With a plan in place, it’s time to assign roles to your team. Such roles will focus on the scope of your energy audit, and what your goals are for said audit.

Here are some of the roles that you’ll need to consider when assigning your team things to do:

• Data collecting
• Data analysis
• Data reporting
• Testing proposed adjustments in energy usage, etc.

Even if you’re conducting the audit on your own, it’s important to keep in mind the various roles that come with doing so. And, if you have a team, assigning roles can help you make the auditing process easier, since you’ll be having extra hands and extra eyeballs for your auditing.

5. Don’t Rush

“The last thing you want is to rush in an energy audit,” says Carol Jefferson, a business expert at Research papers UK and Writinity. “Rushing into things will only cause incorrect computing and inaccurate results. That’s why it’s important to take your time during an audit, so that everything is accounted for, and calculations are as accurate as possible. Plus, don’t be afraid to check things more than once, so that you and your team are sure that your audit has been done correctly.”

Conclusion

So, there you have it!

These 5 steps are practical, and can make your energy audit run a little smoother.

Now, if you ever need additional help on energy audits, don’t be afraid to reach out to professionals to help you find solutions to problems, as well as to offer feedback on what can be done better. It’s better to be well-prepped and confident about your audits, so that mistakes won’t happen so often, and you’ll get more of the desired results that you’re looking for as you and your team work to conserve energy.

We hope that this quick guide will make your next (or first) energy audit a success!

Good luck!

Alex Dubinski is a writer and editor at Nursing assignments and Gum essays. He is also a contributing writer for Coursework writing service As an online marketing strategist, he helps companies improve their marketing strategies and concepts.