May 12 2010
A critical mass of financial incentives for energy-efficient buildings continues to spike energy audits by electrical contractors around the country.
As more cities seek to gain funding through deadline activities such as the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Program, tax credits for energy-efficient buildings extended to 2013 and net-zero energy requirements, electrical contractors are increasingly performing comprehensive energy audits to help building owners and managers reduce operating costs—and lower their environmental impact.
According to Electrical Contractor magazine, the latest comprehensive energy audits can help building owners and managers control energy usage and costs, reduce consumption and comply with energy-efficiency legislation and mandates. Electrical contractors gather and analyze historical energy-usage data, study the building and its operational characteristics, identify potential modifications and/or operational changes that will reduce energy use and/or its costs, perform engineering and economic analyses of the potential modifications, prioritize and allocate resources to accomplish energy conservation opportunities and provide the customer with an actionable plan.
“Energy audits performed by electrical contractors can help building owners to better understand their facilities, take advantage of the various financial incentives and encourage green building and energy conservation,” said John Maisel, publisher of Electrical Contractor by the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), Bethesda, Md.
Energy audits generally include two phases: a screening survey to identify savings opportunities and a more comprehensive preliminary energy assessment to capture data. A screening includes a survey of a facility’s major systems and analyzes the possibilities for energy-efficiency improvements. Ideally, an audit is followed by retrofitting the building with energy-efficient measures such as highly efficient lighting and lighting control systems. The final step includes the application of renewable energy systems such as solar electricity.
Major legislative drivers include the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that provides substantial tax credits for more energy-efficient buildings. With a 2013 window, they’re designed to offset the costs of deploying new energy-efficient technologies. Another driver is the requirement for all federal buildings to decrease energy consumption by 75 percent by the end of 2015.
Source: http://www.ecmag.com/