Today, businesses large and small exist in a fiscally challenging landscape; with rising energy prices and ever-thinning margins, businesses need to save money and improve their efficiency wherever possible.
Energy costs may be high, but there are almost always steps a business can take to mitigate them. Conducting a commercial energy audit can detect inefficiencies and find long-term solutions for money and energy savings.
How Do Commercial Energy Audits Work?
The purpose of a commercial energy audit is to assess a business’s energy usage, detecting problem areas to come up with a comprehensive list of solutions. A certified auditor will analyze how energy is used in a commercial building.
This process includes inspecting appliances and fixtures like lighting, insulation, and heating and cooling systems in the hopes of finding any areas where gas and electricity can be conserved. The auditor also studies a business’s energy bills to keep an eye on how money is being spent on energy and, in turn, how those bills can be decreased.
While audits come in different forms, some more in-depth than others, the end goal is to determine a plan of actionable steps a business can take to reduce its energy costs. At EnergyMark, our audits include reviewing contracts and potentially changing your energy supplier. As an ESCO, we’re consistently able to supply energy at lower rates than a utility company.
The Levels of Auditing Energy Consumption
While all commercial energy audits share the same purpose, they aren’t created equal. Based on the scale of a business, how exhaustive an audit they need, and their budget, three different levels of auditing exist. Each level means a more thorough assessment, potentially finding more avenues for energy efficiency and cost savings.
This standard is upheld by ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, and the levels go as follows:
- Level 1: Auditors perform a walkthrough of a business to assess the building’s energy performance. For more info, auditors speak with business employees and investigate past energy bills.
- Level 2: In addition to what is performed in a level 1 audit, level 2 adds testing procedures and personnel interviews for a more thorough assessment. If your business could benefit from changing energy suppliers, a level 2 audit can determine that. Level 2 audits also perform level 1 responsibilities on a more in-depth basis. Smaller businesses should choose between levels 1 and 2.
- Level 3: The most detailed (and costly) tier of audit. On top of everything in a level 1 and 2 assessment, level 3 audits include professional analysis to recommend investments a business can make that will improve their energy efficiency and lead to paying less for energy long-term. These are recommended for much larger businesses.
How to Know It’s Time for an Energy Audit?
While any business can benefit from an energy audit, it’s especially important if your business is looking for the following:
- Ways to reduce energy bills and streamline how your business uses its energy.
- Understand how other businesses in similar fields are using their energy.
- Setting constructive energy-management goals that your business can strive to meet.
- Developing a better, more efficient energy strategy for your business going forward.
How Can Conducting an Energy Audit Benefit Your Commercial Business?
Energy efficiency has a direct impact on energy costs. While the relationship between energy use and money savings is evident to any business owner, an energy audit can also help business owners understand that relationship and how to continue saving money on energy on a much deeper level.
The most compelling benefits of a commercial energy audit are:
- Understanding how your business uses energy, how that contributes to costs, and how similar businesses use theirs.
- Discovering problems that may be driving up energy costs and how to fix them.
- Futureproofing your business from upcoming federal and state energy regulations.
- Receiving professional advice from certified experts provides your business with what it needs to save money and energy for years to come.
Some of the most common easy wins we find are:
- Tax Savings
- Compressed Air Leakage
- Process cooling and refrigeration improvements
- Energy Supply rate improvements & service classification corrections
EnergyMark: Auditing and Energy Management for Businesses at Any Scale
If you’re looking to assess the energy efficiency of your business, save money, and get ahead of future state and federal energy regulations, EnergyMark has everything you need to manage how your business uses and pays for energy. For gas, electric, and renewable energy management solutions, trust EnergyMark, and contact us for more information.
