Audits
An Energy Audit is the first step in making a measurable impact on your building’s energy performance. Cochran can work with you to determine what level of audit is necessary based on your specific concerns and goals. We can perform audits to help you understand how to reduce your carbon footprint for internal use or provide detailed analysis to assist with LEED certifications or strategic, long-term investment strategies.
Level 1 Audits – Typically geared toward medium to large businesses concerned with their energy consumption or those looking to achieve LEED Existing Building Certification – a Level 1 Audit will include a full day walk-through of the facility, a building benchmark using the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager, a list of no-cost/low-cost measures, and a list of higher cost energy conservation measures (ECM) and any utility rebates that are applicable to the work. Level 1 Audits satisfy LEED EB Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite 1 & 2 and can help attain EA Credit 1 points.
Level 2 Audits – Typically geared toward businesses looking to achieve a high level LEED Existing Building certification. – a Level 2 Audit satisfies EA Prereq 1 & 2, EA Credit 2.1 option 2, can help attain EA Credit 1 points, and provides 2 additional points toward final certification. The Level 2 Audit is similar to Level 1 in time frame, but includes a more detailed building survey and energy efficiency study of capital intensive components. For each Energy Conservation Measure (ECM) you will you will be provided with the the amount of energy and cost savings, cost of the measure and the payback period. Additionally, an analysis of beneficial operations and maintenance changes are included in the audit report.
Level 3 Audits– Typically geared toward large businesses with large energy demands – The Level 3 Audit is a comprehensive, investment grade audit for commercial, institutional and industrial facilities. These Audits typically include 3-7 days on-site, including measured data collection and thorough surveys of building systems. Cochran’s engineer’s will conduct an in-depth investigation of the facility(s) and develop a DOE-2 based energy model calibrated against the historical energy billing history. The robust nature of this Audit process ensures that long-term investments in energy Conservation Measures are based on the most accurate and estimates of project cost and energy savings.
