Screening Audits

A Screening Audit is a high-level assessment of the systems in a facility with the goal of identifying which energy efficiency meaures (EEM) will be most likely to meet your needs and offer you good payback.

There are five major steps in the Screening Audit process. We start by ensuring that we understand your situation, goals, and constraints, proceed through several data collection and analysis activities, and conclude with a report on our findings and recommendations.

A Screening Audit includes a walk-through of your facility by a qualified auditor, and provides the benefit of looking at the whole facility (and the facility "as a whole") for a wide variety of possible EEMs. During this assessment, the engineers note the age and status of the existing equipment including the type of maintenance that has been done on the equipment. In the Screening Audit, the engineers find out the typical hours of operation to estimate the load factor of the facility.

Considering the facility "as a whole" is important:

• Let's say you know it's time to replace the HVAC system. Instead of simply replacing the chiller, it is important to recognize the interrelationship between the HVAC system and other facility features and how they have an impact on each other. Implementing several individual energy efficiency measures will have an additive effect.

• For example, if you implement EEMs such as window tinting or a "cool roof" you may be able to reduce the total cooling load and may be able to install a smaller, less expensive chiller.

Based on the results of the Screening Audit, the we can develop a proposal for a Preliminary Energy Assessment for the selected EEMs.

The list that follows has a few of the many items engineers look for during the Screening Audit as possible energy efficiency measures at the facility. Not all of the EEMs listed below will be evaluated for a given facility — only those that appear to be practical and economically feasible.

• Widow tinting

• Roof insulation or "cool" roof products (reflective products that lower roof surface temperature and decreases heat transfer into a building)

• Lighting measures

  • Retrofit existing lighting systems: interior, parking structure, or outdoor

  • Motion sensors

  • Exit signs

• Replacing standard-efficiency electric motors with premium-efficiency motors

• Air distribution systems

  • Convert double-duct air systems to variable-air volume

  • Integrate an economizer cycle (free cooling)

  • Eliminate or minimize simultaneous cooling and heating (also known as end-reheat)

• Install variable frequency drives on equipment such as:

  • Chillers

  • Cooling towers

  • Pumps

• Upgrade cooling equipment

  • Reciprocating or centrifugal chillers

  • "Pony" chiller to handle low-load conditions

  • Hybrid central plant (electric and natural gas chillers).

  • Cooling towers

  • Air-cooled package units

• Convert chilled water constant-flow to variable-flow system

• Boiler plants

  • High efficiency boilers

  • Condensing boilers

• Heat recovery systems (using waste heat from boilers for secondary purposes)

• Building Automation System (BAS) or Energy Management Systems (EMS)