Energy Audits: Knowledge is Power

THE BEST TOOLS AND TRAINING

MANDATORY COMPLIANCE IS COMING

With the regulatory environment moving toward mandatory energy auditing, now is the time to get started. Most major metropolitan areas either already require energy audits for commercial sites, or are on track to make this a requirement in the near future. Are you ready to operate your sites in this new paradigm? SRG can help ensure that your portfolio remains in compliance, with the added benefit of energy cost reductions.

NO JOB TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL

SRG provides all levels of ASHRAE energy audit for sites all over the world. From the smallest retail bodega to a 5,000,000 square foot production facility, SRG teams dig in to the tiniest details of site energy use and find all the hidden ways that a facility wastes energy. If a full ASHRAE audit is not precisely what you need, SRG can also execute targeted energy studies for a bespoke report that suits your energy and sustainability requirements.

What a High-Quality ASHRAE Level II Audit Looks Like in Practice

Across a representative large-facility engagement — a complex, mixed-use commercial and entertainment building totaling approximately 670,000 square feet — SRG’s audit team identified 13 individual Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) spanning 7 major operational categories. The work drew on three days of intensive field observation, spot readings, interviews with facility and engineering staff, and review of 12 months of utility billing history.

The facility’s baseline showed annual electric consumption of roughly 13.5 million kWh, thermal use of approximately 456,000 therms, and water consumption exceeding 25 million gallons — totaling just over $4 million per year in utility costs, or roughly $6.07 per square foot. Through careful analysis of the identified ECMs, the team projected achievable annual savings of approximately $837,000 — a reduction of more than 20% from the baseline — bringing utility cost per square foot down to around $4.66.

That kind of result doesn’t come from software alone. It comes from auditors who know what to look for, how to read equipment schedules and BAS data, and how to connect what they see in the field to what the utility bills are telling them. The ECM list covered lighting controls, HVAC scheduling and setpoint optimization, domestic hot water system upgrades, building envelope improvements, water conservation measures, and refrigeration system upgrades. Each measure was documented with observed conditions, proposed conditions, savings methodology, estimated costs, and simple payback — giving the client everything needed to prioritize and act.

Patterns We See Across Portfolios

Our portfolio-level work regularly reveals patterns that individual building analyses miss. Across a recent nine-building municipal portfolio encompassing over 1.1 million square feet of institutional space, a consistent finding emerged: outdoor air conditioning was the dominant recoverable heating load across the majority of buildings. At five of the eight analyzed sites, ECM 1 — outdoor air reduction and demand-controlled ventilation — was the single highest-saving individual measure by gas consumption.

The underlying cause is well-documented across public school portfolios in cold-climate regions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ventilation requirements were almost universally increased, and in many cases those elevated delivery rates have remained in place long after restrictions were lifted. Poor controls performance — dampers manually fixed open, economizer linkages disconnected, AHUs running at 100% outdoor air — is common. These are individually significant and collectively suggest systems that have not been commissioned as a whole in some time. Conditioning outdoor air from subzero winter conditions to 70°F setpoint across continuous 24/7 delivery schedules is an enormous and largely avoidable thermal penalty.

The combined RFP savings identified across that portfolio totaled approximately $1.3 million per year against a total baseline utility cost of $2.9 million — representing a 45% reduction opportunity against a multi-building baseline. Savings ranged from under 10% at well-operated smaller sites to over 70% at facilities where operational and controls issues were most significant. This range is precisely what a rigorous portfolio-level audit is designed to expose: not just the average, but the outliers that justify early, targeted investment.

Multi-Site Energy Monitoring: Knowing Where You Stand Month to Month

For large corporate and institutional campuses managing multiple buildings under a single energy program, ongoing energy reporting is as important as the initial audit. Across a large technology campus with more than 20 metered buildings, monthly electrical consumption varied dramatically by building size, use type, and operational intensity. The largest buildings on such a campus can consume 1.5 to 1.8 million kWh in a single month, while support and utility buildings may consume as little as 4,000 to 15,000 kWh.

The value of regular, building-level reporting lies in the ability to compare current consumption against prior-year baselines and to track peak demand. When a building shows unexplained year-over-year growth or a significant deviation from its expected load shape, that signal — if caught — becomes an investigation trigger. Without it, the problem persists invisibly until it shows up in an annual utility summary. SRG’s energy management support services are built around this principle: continuous monitoring and regular reporting as a foundation for ongoing performance management, not just a one-time audit event.