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Energy Assessment for Your Home

 

An Energy Assessment (or Energy Audit) is an analysis of your home using a "Building as a system" approach with the goal of improving home performance. In order to find the best opportunities for improvement, the assessment focuses on several fundamental elements of your home:

 

  • Air quality

  • Comfort

  • Durability

  • Moisture

  • Heat Flow

  • Air Pressure

  • System Efficiencies

 

All of these elements interact and affect overall home performance. The byproduct of gaining control over these elements is a healthy, sustainable, and efficient home.


There are 4 key steps to the audit that help us find these opportunities:

 

Step 1: Perform an initial assessment interview where we listen to your unique concerns and goals for improving your home.

 

Step 2: Perform key diagnostics on your home pertaining to the elements listed above using blower door tests, manometers, infrared imaging, combustion analyzers, moisture meters, and other diagnostic equipment.

 

Step 3: Analyze information gained and make targeted recommendations with accurate cost/benefit analysis. Recommendations are tailored specifically to your needs, concerns, goals, and budget.

 

Step 4: Produce a comprehensive report with all recommendations, diagnostics gathered, and eligible financial incentives/rebates/grants available.

 

Once the Energy Assessment is complete, we will sit down with you and go over the comprehensive report for your home and answer any questions you may have. Atrix will be able to perform many of the recommended services, however we also offer a list of trusted and qualified contractors that can also perform the work. (Note: we do not receive any payment or incentive from contractors we recommend).  

 

Our goal is to improve your home performance. Thus, regardless of the contractor you choose, we perform exit diagnostic testing on all efficiency improvement projects to ensure performance goals are met.

 

Want a better understanding of the diagnostic tools involved with Home Energy Assessments? Check out the DOE Energy Saver 101 Energy Audit pamphlet!

Energy Assessment for Your Business

 

Atrix offers Level I and Level II Energy Assessments per ASHRAE Energy Audit standards. Energy Assessments for businesses can vary greatly depending on the size of the facility, the business type, and what the owner wants to gain from the process. However, there are several key elements that should be part of every business or commercial energy assessment.

 

Level I Assessments generally involve a preliminary interview to obtain information regarding the owners general efficiency concerns, planned improvements (if any), budget, and desired ROI for improvements made. The assessment will also involve a preliminary Energy Use Analysis and Walk-Through Analysis:

 

  • Preliminary Energy Use Analysis: Includes compiling and analyzing your facility's energy usage (12-36 months) along with facility size and type to provide a comparison with other similar facilities. This typically includes the use of EPA’s Portfolio Manager program for initial and future benchmarking of energy consumption. Also includes analysis of current utility rate stucture and possible improvements.

 

  • Walk Through Analysis: Includes visual inspection of facility including structures, listing of equipment, and operation/maintenance procedures; space function analysis; and discussion with owners/staff regarding any known problems (comfort, air quality, faulty equipment, etc.) or planned upgrades.

 

The results of this analysis are recommendations for utility rate structure improvements, energy consumption breakdown and reduction goals, a list of low-cost/no-cost improvements and potential capital improvements with estimated costs and savings.

 

Level II Assessments include the above along with the additional measures below:

 

  • Review Mechanical/Electric Design & Condition

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  • Analysis of Energy Using Systems: Observation of operations, data collection, and energy usage calculations for specific processes and equipment

 

  • Review Operation & Maintenance Practices: Identify known issues and calculate costs/savings for capital improvements and/or changes in practice.

 

  • Measure/Record Key Parameters: Include operating schedules, water/air temperatures, ventilation, lighting levels, production capacity, etc.

 

  • Capital Improvements Analysis: Analysis of current building structures and equipment, recommendations on changes that would provide cost/energy savings, consideration of synergistic effect of changes, detailed financial analysis of all recommendations based on life-cycle cost assessments

 

  • "Practical Measures” (as deemed by owner) grouped to maximize energy use reduction and tailored to specific budget and investment return goals

 

Due to the increase in depth of analysis, the Level II Assessment provides a more accurate and comprehensive collection of data for making informed investment decisions. Level II Assessments are recommended for any company that is interested in making substantial efficiency investments. It not only better ensures maximizing the ROI, but also can qualify the measures for Federal and State grants and incentives. 

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