Energy Auditing

ENERGY AUDITING
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Literature Review
Energy auditing is the survey, inspection, and assessment the flows of energy in a building to help come up with a way of conserving the energy in the building. One can also define it as a system or process designed to reduce the energy getting into a system with no adverse effects on the energy outputs of the system. In industrial and commercial real estate, an energy audit is often the first step towards discovering avenues through which carbon footprints and energy expenses and carbon footprints can be reduced. This article reviews the literature around the issue of energy auditing.
Home Energy Auditing
Home energy auditing is the process by which one assesses the energy efficacy of a house using professional devices like infrared cameras and bowler doors. The aim of home energy auditing is to enhance the energy effectiveness in cooling and heating the building. The energy audit of a home might incorporate noting the different characteristics of a building envelope like the ceilings, walls, floors, skylights, windows, and doors. The people carrying out the process either estimate or measure the heat flow and resistance for each and every one of these components. If there is any leakage or air infiltrating the building envelope, usually because of poor quality door seals or poor window construction, then there is cause for concern. In essence, a home energy audit intends to evaluate the programming, physical condition, and effectiveness of mechanical systems like the air conditioning equipment, heating, thermostat, and ventilation.

Home energy auditing might involve writing a report that estimates the usage of energy with regards to the thermostat settings, solar orientation, roof overheating, and the criteria for the local climate. This report could estimate the energy usage for a given time frame, say 12 months, and the effects of any suggested upgrades after every similar period (Ryan, 2008: p. 5). The accuracy of these estimates is greatly enhanced if the billing history of the home owner is available to show the amounts of natural gas, fuel oil, electricity, or any other sources of energy that were used up over a one to two-year period.
Some of the greatest impacts on the use of energy are the behavior of the user, the age of the house or home, and the climate. Therefore, an energy audit might include an interview with the owner of the home to understand their energy usage patterns over time. The people involved in the process can also calibrate the billing history of the house’s energy using “heating degree day and cooling degree day data” gotten from the latest data on the local weather together with the building’s thermal energy framework (Hoşgör and Fischbeck, 2015: p. 70). Developments in the “computer-based thermal modeling” might consider several variables that affect the use of energy (Zhu, 2006: p. 425). Most of the times, home energy auditing is used to identify pocket-friendly ways of improving the efficiency and comfort of buildings. Apart from that, the home audit reports could also be used to qualify homes for “energy efficiency grants” (Hoşgör and Fischbeck, 2015: p. 74). Recent developments on smartphones allow owners of homes to carry out simple energy audits in their homes. Experts identify this method as one that has the potential of accelerating the energy efficiency of buildings.
Industrial Energy Audits
For the past many decades, there has been an increasing need to lower the ever rising costs of energy and take a step towards a sustainable future. This need has seen an explosion of industrial energy audits within the said timeframe. The magnitude of energy expense to many industries makes the need for energy audits even more intense. Almost 10% of the costs of manufacturers go to electricity; therefore, it is important to carry out energy audits to come up with cost-friendly ways of optimizing the energy usage. Energy audits in the industrial sector are similar to those done in homes; however, they need a different set of skills. Insulating and weatherproofing a house are the key “focus of residential energy units” (Hoşgör and Fischbeck, 2015: p. 73). “For industrial use, the primary focus of the” audits is the production, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), and lighting equipment that consume the most energy (Hoşgör and Fischbeck, 2015: p. 74).
The process of Energy Auditing
The energy audit process can be divided into two major sections; “walk-through analysis and energy survey and analysis” (Kumbhar and Joshi, 2012: p. 313). In the walk-through analysis, the auditor carries out several tests on the building. He interviews the owners of the buildings as well as the occupants , takes measurements, and tries to find opportunities to save energy. This process ordinarily takes about two to four hours to conclude. In the second process, the auditor will give a complete description of the areas with energy problems and give recommendations based partially on the energy tendencies of the occupants. This stage also involves writing the report and implementing the recommendations of the report.
Benefits of Energy Auditing
Saving on Energy: Accepting the energy inefficiencies of a building and updating them automatically lowers the energy demand of a building. Other than this, energy audits help the owners of buildings to know more about the operating systems of the building and assist them in devising ways to reduce the usage of energy even further.
Saving money: Financial savings go hand-in-hand with energy conservation. When a person identifies and commits to implementing strategies that lessen the consumption of energy, they significantly cut on the money that would have been used to pay for the initially wasted energy.
Worthy investment: Although energy audits require some initial investment, they produce far more benefits than they cost. If one attends to the underlying energy issues in their building, they avoid possibly heavier costs and repairs in the future. Besides, home buyers nowadays prefer energy friendly houses, hence when one carries out an audit and improves the energy efficiency of his house, its market price goes up. A study by the Appraisal Institute indicated that for every 1 dollar drop in the annual costs of energy, the value of house increases by 20 dollars (Hoşgör and Fischbeck, 2015: p. 75).
The improved comfort of the occupant: Managing specific systems in a building can help improve the indoor quality of the environment and the overall comfort of the occupants. For instance, if one upgrades the HVAC system, the heating and cooling would be provided only when needed. As a result, the occupants would get to enjoy comfortable room temperatures all through.
Preparing for an Energy Audit
Anyone thinking of having an energy audit done on their building should ensure that they have chosen an auditor that conducts thermographic inspections or contracts someone to help them do it. This kind of inspection enables one to see where the heat exists in their space and from which points the heat escapes (Ryan, 2008: p. 6). This kind of information might be crucial for the audit’s outcome. The homeowner could also make preparations like:
Preparing a list of energy-related issues that he has noticed within the home.
Wipe out the ashes from his fireplace and shut the flue dumper.
Ensure all the doors and windows are closed before testing the envelope.
Gather electricity and gas utility bills for the past one to two years.
Conclusion
Energy auditing indeed is an advantageous process. Results emanating from the process could aid owners of homes and industries to come up with ways of saving their energy and, as a result, save on their finances. However, audits alone are not enough to lower the consumption of energy, the owners of the homes and industries have to implement the recommendations for them to get results. Even so, the payback does not follow the implementation immediately; one needs to allow a period of between one and four years to see the real benefits of the audit.
References
Hoşgör, E. and Fischbeck, P.S., 2015. Virtual home energy auditing at scale: Predicting
residential energy efficiency using publicly available data. Energy and Buildings, 92, pp.67-80.
Kumbhar, N.R. and Joshi, R.R., 2012. An industrial energy auditing: basic
approach. International Journal of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER), 2(1), pp.313-315.
Ryan, W.A., 2008. Energy Auditing-a Step by Step. In The 2008 Regional Meeting, Chicago, IL.
Zhu, Y., 2006. Applying computer-based simulation to energy auditing: A case study. Energy
and buildings, 38(5), pp.421-428.