BP03: Energy Audit & Planning

Official language

This best practice sets the stage for long-term efficiency planning for your building by quantifying the costs and savings associated with building-specific efficiency opportunities.

The auditing process helps diagnose the cause of inefficiencies, identify opportunities for improvements through minor projects or operational tuning, and set the stage for longer-term planning by evaluating potential capital projects. The energy auditor will examine your project’s historic energy consumption data and mechanical systems to identify potential savings opportunities.

The audit should be used as a tool to determine the project’s current energy performance, serve as a baseline for measuring all future improvements, and serve as a guide for evaluating and prioritizing energy efficiency initiatives.

This best practice intents to help participants identify energy-saving and operations and maintenance improvement opportunities through a holistic, qualitative evaluation of all energy-using systems within the building or tenant-controlled space.

 

Objective

At least once every 5 years, perform an energy audit to understand the project’s energy consumption profile and discover opportunities for improvements through no- and low-cost energy conservation measures along with considerations for capital improvements.

Submittal Requirements

The following are the required submittals in order to fulfill the objective of this best practice.

 

An energy audit report for the project performed within the last five (5) years that contains the following information:

  1. Date of audit.
  2. Current energy use analysis for the building or tenant-controlled space including:
    • Energy cost intensity (ECI)
    • Energy use intensity (EUI)
  3.  Breakdown of energy use by major equipment, systems, or end uses.
  4. Recommendations for conservation opportunities including no-cost and low-cost efficiency improvements.
  5. Economic analysis results.

 

Tenant-Controlled Space Participants

Tenant-controlled space participants may submit an energy audit for the building if 1) the submitted audit was performed within the last 5 years, 2) the participant was a tenant within the building when the audit was performed and 3) the audit includes the items outlined above.

Implementation Guidance

For additional details and recommended steps for implementing this best practice, please see the BIT Building Program Manual.

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BIT User’s viewpoint

Frequently asked questions

Online resources

Implementation toolkit

This best practice sets the stage for long-term efficiency planning for your building by quantifying the costs and savings associated with building-specific efficiency opportunities.

The auditing process helps diagnose the cause of inefficiencies, identify opportunities for improvements through minor projects or operational tuning, and set the stage for longer-term planning by evaluating potential capital projects. The energy auditor will examine your project’s historic energy consumption data and mechanical systems to identify potential savings opportunities.

The audit should be used as a tool to determine the project’s current energy performance, serve as a baseline for measuring all future improvements, and serve as a guide for evaluating and prioritizing energy efficiency initiatives.

This best practice intents to help participants identify energy-saving and operations and maintenance improvement opportunities through a holistic, qualitative evaluation of all energy-using systems within the building or tenant-controlled space.

 

Objective

At least once every 5 years, perform an energy audit to understand the project’s energy consumption profile and discover opportunities for improvements through no- and low-cost energy conservation measures along with considerations for capital improvements.

Implementation Requirements

For additional details and recommended steps for implementing this best practice, please see the BIT Building Program Manual.

Submittal Requirements

The following are the required submittals in order to fulfill the objective of this best practice.

 

An energy audit report for the project performed within the last five (5) years that contains the following information:

  1. Date of audit.
  2. Current energy use analysis for the building or tenant-controlled space including:
    • Energy cost intensity (ECI)
    • Energy use intensity (EUI)
  3.  Breakdown of energy use by major equipment, systems, or end uses.
  4. Recommendations for conservation opportunities including no-cost and low-cost efficiency improvements.
  5. Economic analysis results.

 

Tenant-Controlled Space Participants

Tenant-controlled space participants may submit an energy audit for the building if 1) the submitted audit was performed within the last 5 years, 2) the participant was a tenant within the building when the audit was performed and 3) the audit includes the items outlined above.

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