Unlock a prosperous future with an energy audit! Unveil the benefits of completing an energy audit for your business, curbing costs and cutting waste.
An energy assessment audit will provide you with the knowledge you need to make changes across your business. Your business could cut its light energy use by up to 80%, realising a significant financial saving!
Read on to discover how an energy audit can lead your business to brighter opportunities!
What is an energy audit?
An energy audit is an assessment of your business’s energy consumption. This type of audit examines how energy is used by the business and identifies energy consumption patterns.
An audit can help you understand and identify areas of inefficiency and where energy is being wasted. As a result, almost every business can reduce its costs and implement energy savings!
Why is an energy audit important?
Energy audits provide an assessment of how you use energy across the business. Australia’s businesses emit around 146.5 million tonnes of the nation’s carbon emissions annually, so action must be taken to reduce this.
An energy audit will provide exceptional insight into your energy consumption patterns. You can then make informed decisions to enhance energy efficiency and reduce your costs.
South Coast Junior Aquatics Warrnambool cut its gas bill by 65% after implementing the recommendations of the energy audit. After installing solar panels, an industrial hot water pump, and pool blankets, the business reduced its monthly gas bill from $2,600 to $890 per month!
Image: Synergy Engineering
Here are the top 6 reasons why an energy audit is important for your business:
1. Identifying if energy is being used efficiently
A focal point behind an energy audit is to identify energy waste inside your business. Energy waste may involve outdated lighting. Lighting can account for 10 – 25% of your bill or even up to 50% of your bill!
Additionally, excessively using heating or cooling appliances, or failing to turn off equipment when it is not needed. You can reduce your heating or cooling energy by 5 – 10% by keeping the thermostat at the correct temperature.
An energy audit will also assess the premise’s insulation and help you prevent heat loss or gain. Many buildings benefit from new door seals and exhaust fan seals to prevent heat loss.
Did you know that seals can be obtained for no cost in some circumstances? Get in touch with Ecosaver today to find out more!
2. Identify cost savings
Once your business has adopted the new changes recommended by the energy audit, you may need to invest in new equipment, technologies and training as initial costs.
However, once the energy-efficient changes have been implemented, you will begin to see reduced energy costs as a result. This leads to the business saving phenomenal amounts of money over time!
Prom Country Cheese halved its energy bill as a result of energy audit recommendations. After installing solar panels, an efficient boiler, and an electric hot water service, the business now saves up to $9,000 per year from its energy bill!
Relevant financial incentives may contribute to the initial purchase of energy-efficient equipment in the form of grants and funding. Other incentives could be applicable to your business, such as tax incentives or Australian government rebates.
Check out your local energy comparison site for the latest incentives such as a Power Saving Bonus payment for Victorian residents!
3. Identify opportunities for saving energy
An energy audit will highlight areas of energy waste in your business so you can make changes and implement energy-efficient measures.
This will lower your business’s greenhouse gas emissions! As a result, your business will reduce its carbon footprint and ensures you are contributing to benefitting the environment.
Your business may be subject to certain energy efficiency regulations and compliance requirements. This will depend on the state or territory you reside in and the nature and size of your business.
Completing an energy audit may help your business to comply with requirements. The energy audit can provide you with evidence of compliance and help you to avoid penalties.
4. Highlight potential improvements to existing systems
Once energy-efficient measures have been implemented by your business, you can start to optimise energy usage. This will lead to enhanced productivity and improved efficiency across the business.
Ultimately, a better workspace improves the well-being of your employees and enhances their productivity.
A further benefit of accessing an energy audit for your business is that other risks can be highlighted and resolved.
For example, the energy audit may identify faulty equipment or outdated systems. This may have serious safety implications for your employees.
5. Assist in planning for future expansion
The world’s community is officially environmentally conscious. As a result, implementing the opportunities raised by an energy audit can offer your business a competitive advantage.
Customers and competitors will view your energy-efficient improvements as attractive prospects and a secure competitive edge.
This business advantage will help in planning for future expansions and growing your business exponentially!
6. Creating a data database
Compiling your energy data and the energy performance of assets into a database helps you to assess continuous improvement and streamlines decision-making across the business.
You can see your energy data and the savings that are made as a result of the improvements made.
Furthermore, you can monitor costs and usage in the future and make changes if you witness rising data figures.
Are energy audits only for commercial buildings?
No, home energy audits are used for residential properties and can measure the energy performance of the property. Australian households could save thousands of dollars through energy-efficient solutions!
Completing a home energy audit and improving the energy services of your home can improve the comfort of your property.
The nationwide house energy rating scheme (NatHERS) is offered for home energy assessments, specially created for residential properties. Always check the star ratings of the energy auditors you use, however.
How is an energy audit completed?
There are several stages of an energy audit, although this differs depending on the complexity of the premises and the task at hand.
Image: ResearchGate
Here are the 8 steps to completing an energy audit:
1. Agreement with client
The terms of reference for the Energy Audit are set and an agreement with the client is reached.
2. Kick-off meeting
Presenting the objectives to the auditing team and highlighting the key factors of the client‘s business.
3. Surveying the site
An expert energy auditor conducts a physical inspection of the premises, assessing the roof, walls, windows, lighting and equipment of the premises.
4. Collecting data
Important information about the premises and the energy consumption of the business is collected using special equipment.
5. Evaluating data
The current systems in place are analysed. Industry standards are used as a benchmark to compare existing performance.
6. Evaluation of measures
The energy auditor will measure a series of improvements. Each recommendation will offer an analysis of how much money will be saved if implemented.
7. Follow-up implementation
An assessment of the recommendations, when implemented, is completed, providing an overall costing if all recommendations were adopted.
8. Presentation
The audit report is presented in full to the client with costed recommendations.
How can you implement energy audit recommendations?
Once you know the energy-efficient recommendations to implement, what should you do next? You need an energy-saving expert like Ecosaver.
Why choose Ecosaver?
Contact Ecosaver straight away and we will put in place all relevant energy-saving installations as recommended by your energy audit. We will take care of the entire implementation program for you!
Contact us today to talk to an expert about HVAC, providing a complete solution that heats and cools your building.
Or, take our free audit and quote to see whether your building could benefit from our heat pump solutions.
