Energy Auditing for Office Spaces

EMAT offers professional energy auditing services for office spaces and other commercial buildings. All buildings have the potential to show energy efficiency improvements, but office buildings often are among the most inefficient.

Traditional offices require a great deal of power to run things such as HVAC systems, computers, lighting that’s on at least 8 hours per day, and other specialized needs. The more people you have in an office, or the more varied work spaces you have in a building. Thus, the greater the potential for energy loss.

To determine just where the largest loss of energy is coming from, and how it can be improved, conducting a thorough energy audit is necessary. This step identifies areas of weakness and opportunities for improvement.

ASHRAE Level 1 Auditing for Office Spaces

An ASHRAE Level 1 audit is the most basic type of energy audit. It’s designed to give your business a starting point to show you where to make immediate changes. In addition, it allows you to determine if you need to conduct further, more in-depth audits.

Your office building’s ASHRAE Level 1 audit will include:

• Interviews of key operations personnel
• Reviews of your facility’s utility bills
• A walk-through of the site 

This type of audit is meant to identify glaring areas of inefficiency. A report from a Level 1 audit will identify low- or no-cost changes as well as other bigger-ticket improvements.

ASHRAE Level 2 Auditing for Office Spaces

If you determine you’d like to know more about your building’s energy usage, an ASHRAE Level 2 audit offers more intense data collection and reporting.

Your office space’s ASHRAE Level 2 audit will include:

• A breakdown of energy consumption by end-use to identify areas that present the greatest opportunities for improved efficiency
• An analysis of utility rates to find opportunities for a lower rate
• Interviews with important building personnel to gain insight into building operations, and potential problem areas, and to define financial and non-financial goals

For most businesses, this level of audit will be sufficient to provide enough data in order to justify moving forward with energy-saving projects.

ASHRAE Level 3 Auditing for Office Spaces

If you’ve already completed an ASHRAE Level 2 audit, but require more data before making an investment in specified improvements, an ASHRAE Level 3 audit may be helpful.

At this stage, there is detailed field gathering of data, and the data is analyzed more intensely to determine areas of improvement and the potential costs of those improvements.

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• What the Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk Means for Businesses
• Guidance for Making Buildings More COVID-Safe without Wasting Energy
• 6 Ways State Energy Efficiency Mandates Are Impacting Businesses

Audit Your Office Space Faster with EMAT Field Auditor

If you’re looking to complete your office building’s energy audits on your own, but want to find ways to make the process more accurate and faster, EMAT Field Auditor can help. This cloud-based software allows you to take photos, capture data, and make notes as you’re walking around the building, saving you time and frustration over a traditional pen-and-paper audit. Schedule your demo today!