ASHRAE Journal - February 2011 - 31

ing audits missing either or both the location/quantity of the improvement, or the energy rating.

1. Missed improvements: 80% of audits.
To be classified as having missed improvements, an audit needed to have neglected at least three improvements from the following list: high-efficiency HVAC; high-efficiency domestic hot water; high-efficiency lighting; lighting power density (not applied to single-family homes); lighting controls; wall or roof insulation; motors/ drives; HVAC controls; and fenestration improvements. We believe that the importance of comprehensiveness in energy audits has been widely recognized as critical for many reasons (economy of scale, allowing full owner choice to achieve deeper savings, societal needs to achieve substantial energy conservation, and more). But this study finds that many readily available improvements are still being missed. We speculate that energy auditors miss evaluating good improvements for many reasons, including lack of training, insufficient time spent in the building, insufficient budgets, and owner directives to not evaluate specific improvements. But we believe that our responsibility as energy auditors is to evaluate all generally recognized and reasonable improvements. This is the purpose of the energy audit in the first place: to give the owner options from which to choose improvements for implementation. The majority of energy audits fail to give owners a reasonable selection of such options.

Other Findings
The survey of energy audits turned up other interesting findings. Audits in single-family residential buildings are more likely to have problems, averaging almost 8.1 out of 10 types of problems per audit, compared to audits in commercial buildings that averaged only 4.6 types of problems per audit. Audits that were performed as part of state, federal, or utility company energy programs were less likely to have probFebruary 2011

lems. There were 6.3 types of problems, on average, for energy audits in commercial buildings not participating in energy programs, compared to 4.0 types of problems, on average, per audit for energy audits that were part of energy programs. For residential audits, there were 8.4 types of problems per audit for non-program audits, compared to 7.5 types of problems, on average, for audits that were part of energy programs. Clearly, there is a benefit to the standards and quality control that are set by energy programs. Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, energy auditors who perform commercial energy audits appear to favor lighting and HVAC systems, while energy auditors who perform residential energy audits tend to focus on the envelope (insulation, infiltration). This is captured in the building descriptions: 93% of commercial energy audits describe HVAC systems, and similarly 93% describe lighting, but only 53% describe insulation and also only 53% describe infiltration. Meanwhile, only 53% of residential energy audits describe HVAC systems, a whopping 0% (0 out of 15 audits) describe lighting, while doing much better in describing insulation in 67% of audits and describing infiltration in 73% of audits. We speculate that this discrepancy between commercial and residential energy audits is attributable to differences in training. Commercial energy auditors are likely engineers, of whom many may have come out of the consulting/design field, where they have designed HVAC and lighting systems. They generally are not trained in envelope improvements, even though it is increasingly recognized that large buildings have many insulation and infiltration issues, exacerbated by stack effect in multistory buildings. Meanwhile, residential energy auditors are trained in envelope issues and in the use of tools such as blower doors to diagnose infiltration and infrared cameras to diagnose deficient insulation. But they are not trained in lighting or HVAC. This discrepancy is likely the

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ASHRAE Journal

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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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