The potential to recover energy energy cost is tremendous. According to the U.S. Department of energy, in 4.2 million commercial buildings nationwide, 30% of energy bills are pure waste. During 2007 (latest figures available), that waste cost property owners and their tenants $60.7 billion.
Given this environment, it is not surprising that interest in commercial energy audits is rising. And, it is also not surprising that thousands of "energy auditors" are coming forth to provide that service. The situation is kind of a gold rush. And, as in any gold rush, it is difficult to seperate the good energy auditors from the bad energy audits and from the ugly.
To bring some clarity to this increasingly confusing situation, the energy engineers at Big Green Zero polled property owners and their facilities managers, financial people and accountants. They asked them what they wanted and also what they have experienced with respect to conducting an energy audit. Based on these conversations, Big Green Zero suggests that commercial energy auditors be selected based on the following score card:
1. Will be audit be conducted by a degreed engineer who understands both the energy-
related structural issues and the energy systems typically found in your type of
buidling?
2. Will your energy audit be analyzed through the use of specialized software designed
specifically for that purpose?
3. Will your energy auditor weigh energy-related business risks as inputs to his or her
findings and recommendations?
4. Can the prospective energy auditor provide a list of commercial customers who are
raving fans?
5. Does the energy auditor have any "axes" to grind. Does he or she sell any products
that the audit may just happen to recommend? Or, does the auditor happen to be a
contractor (who will sell their services to fix your energy-related problems?).
6. Does the energy audit cost being proposed make sense?
Questions 1 through 4 are pass/fail. If the answer is "yes" a prospective auditor may be a good candidate. If the answer to any one of these four questions is "no" the prospective auditor is not a good candidate.
Questions 5 and 6 are more subjective.
For Question 5, product sales people simply cannot be unbiased. They are not good candidates. On the other hand, some contractors are degreed engineers and they may be able to be objective and unbiased despite their self-interest. The decision to retain them as an auditor really comes down to making a judgement about their honesty, objectivity and transparency.
Finally, Question 6 can really separate the good energy auditors from the bad and the ugly. Any would-be auditor who offers a "free" audit or an audit for a few hundred dollars is going to be a very poor choice. As previously discussed, commercial energy auditing requires an engineering or extensive contracting background. It also requires the use of special purpose software and a great deal of financial savvy and insight. All of that comes at a price (which typically ranges from a few thousand to perhaps ten thousand dollars).
A commercial energy audit can be very worthwhile. Typically, it will provide due diligence guidance for reducing energy bills form 20% or 30% to as much as a Big Green Zero. But, commercial energy auditing is a gold rush. So, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). As commercial energy auditors proliferate, property owners would be well advised to select them with a score card.
Big Green Zero helps commercial real estate owners turn energy pennies into equity dollars. Big Green Zero Energy Due Diligence™ reduces risks, recovers cost and increase capitalized equity value in commercial and industrial properties.View the original article here
