ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 28

Frequency of Occurrence in Audits (%)

5. Poor improvement selection: 63% of audits.

90% 80%

To be categorized as 70% having this problem, an 60% 50% audit needed to have an improve40% ment with a payback longer than 30% the anticipated life of the improve20% ment. Examples included crawl10% space insulation with a payback of 0% more than 100 years, a large-scale n n g is w ts gs pe ng sts tio tio tin in en lys vie co Lo ip os Co av lec replacement of individual boilers na o Re em cr tS C e S A d s To te ov le en g tS lle ed De pr ua m ife yc serving apartments with a payback at en llin g sta Im ve eq -C tL m Bi in In im o e t e en ad ild te ed pr g) Lif es ov of 39 years, and a wind turbine In m in ua Bu iss Im er pr ve No M eq iss or Im Ov ak ro e recommendation with an anticip ad Po or rM W In Im (O Po w pated payback also of more than Lo 100 years. In some cases, we recognize that Figure 1: Ten most common problems identified in a survey of 300 energy audits. long-payback improvements may still be attractive to a building owner, for non-energy reasons; exit light replacement might have a 10-year life. The simple but in many cases it appears that the payback is simply not payback cannot capture the difference, whereas life-cycle compared to the anticipated life of the improvement. We have costing will give a better picture of the cost benefits of the seen many examples of audits where long-payback improve- exit lights, over the expected life of the improvements. For ments were recommended while several short-payback im- the purpose of this study, “no life-cycle costing” meant the provements were not evaluated. absence of any of a variety of life-cycle metrics, such as The energy audit that recommended the long-payback wind savings-to-investment ratio, net present value, return on inturbine missed such common improvements as attic insula- vestment, etc. tion, air sealing, lighting controls, and laundry improvements. We have observed that a variety of stakeholders can influence 3 (tie). Improvement life too long or not prothe energy auditor to include recommendation of poor imvided: 73% of audits. provements in the energy audit. Improvement life is used for life-cycle costing and For example, vendor-driven improvements arise when an is also used as a check against the anticipated payequipment vendor has been calling on the owner or energy back to ensure that an improvement is not recommended if auditor to promote their products and has influenced consid- it will take longer to pay back than it is anticipated to last. eration of product-specific improvements, which might not If an audit showed an improvement life longer than typically be the best investments. Improvements may also be owner- recognized anticipated life,2 or if the anticipated improvement driven. For example, a maintenance manager may advocate life was not provided, it was classified as having this problem. for a specific technology. Just because one individual advocates for a specific technology does not necessarily mean that 2. Weak improvement scope: 77% of audits. the technology makes sense, or that others at the property (for An energy audit has to clearly convey the scope of example, the board of directors) agree that this poor energy the conceived improvement from the energy auditor investment should be made. Our experience has shown that to the owner, and to the professionals or contractors poor improvements are often selected by energy auditors who who will work to implement the improvement. Without a clear are seeking to “push the envelope” to consider less proven description of the scope, chances are likely higher that an intechnologies. complete or incorrect scope will be implemented, and full energy savings will not be delivered. 4 (tie). No life-cycle costing: 73% of audits. The criterion used for this problem was two out of three Life-cycle costing has gained wide acceptance in of the following conditions were missing for the majority federal and state programs, as a more holistic met- of improvements: location/quantity; energy rating; and testric for energy improvements than simple payback. ing requirements. For example, for a lighting improvement, Simple payback cannot distinguish between the merits of location/quantity would mean the rooms and quantity of fixtwo improvements with the same payback, which may have tures, the energy rating would mean the wattage of the new dramatically different expected lifetimes. For example, con- lamps, and testing requirements might be a requirement to sider two hypothetical improvements with the same one-year visually inspect the lights to ensure that there is no objecpayback. A boiler tune-up and an exit light replacement. tionable flicker. Almost none of the audits provided any reThe boiler tune-up has a one- to two-year life, whereas the quirements for testing, so the 77% result ended up represent28	 ASHRAE	Journal	 ashrae.org	 	 February	 2011



ASHRAE Journal - February 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - February 2011

ASHRAE Journal - February 2011
Contents
Commentary
Industry News
Letters
Meetings and Shows
Feature Articles
Thermal Coupling of Cooling and Heating Systems
10 Common Problems in Energy Audits
Hall of Fame Feature: History of the Changing Concepts in Ventilation Requirements
A Guide to Wireless Technologies
Building Sciences
Solar NZEB Project
Emerging Technologies
People
Special Section
InfoCenter
Commissioning
Products
Washington Report
Classified Advertising
Advertisers Index
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - ASHRAE Journal - February 2011
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Cover2
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 1
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 2
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Contents
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Commentary
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 5
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Industry News
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 7
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Letters
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 9
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 10
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 11
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 12
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 13
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 14
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 15
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Meetings and Shows
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 17
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Thermal Coupling of Cooling and Heating Systems
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 19
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 20
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 21
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 22
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 23
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 24
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 25
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 10 Common Problems in Energy Audits
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 27
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 28
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 29
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 30
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 31
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 32
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 33
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Hall of Fame Feature: History of the Changing Concepts in Ventilation Requirements
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 35
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 36
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 37
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 38
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 39
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 40
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 41
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 42
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 43
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - A Guide to Wireless Technologies
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 45
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 46
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 47
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 48
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 49
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Building Sciences
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 51
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 52
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 53
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 54
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 55
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 56
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 57
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 58
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 59
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 60
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 61
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Solar NZEB Project
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 63
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 64
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 65
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 66
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 67
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 68
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 69
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Emerging Technologies
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 71
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 72
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 73
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 74
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 75
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - People
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 77
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - InfoCenter
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 79
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 80
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 81
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 82
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 83
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 84
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 85
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Commissioning
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 87
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 88
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 89
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 90
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Products
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Washington Report
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Classified Advertising
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 94
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 95
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Advertisers Index
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Cover3
ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - Cover4
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