Few companies are able to retain the in-house expertise necessary to objectively identify their cost-effective energy saving opportunities, so most modern companies rely on outside assistance to help them save energy.
In-depth energy audits (usually priced according to a daily fee) generally offer poor value for money as they are both time consuming (expensive) and produce few additional benefits compared to the troubleshooting style audit of energy saving services. Auditors cannot ensure that the opportunities will be implemented, nor that they will be implemented effectively in order to obtain the savings initially predicted. For example, the new Romanian energy efficiency law (based on obligatory, in-depth energy audits) attempts to overcome this through an elaborate process of centralised reporting, policing of progress and fines for non-compliance (as described in this editorial), but it still does not address the issue of measures that do not obtain their savings potential due to poor implementation. In short, in-depth energy audits are ineffective and outdated.
Energy saving services base investigations on troubleshooting, energy saving best practices and the monitoring of energy use. Unlike audits, energy saving services often use a combination of technical and financial assistance packages that help to identify and to realise cost-effective energy saving opportunities. The financial savings achieved are often shared with the provider of the energy saving services, so that it is in the provider's interest to ensure that the energy saving opportunities are implemented properly and achieve the maximum savings possible. Energy saving services also try to take advantage of the opportunities that are often neglected (such as training and monitoring) which is seldom economically viable for either party without performance-related contracts (shared savings).
Note:
- there is often no correlation between the cost of implementing an energy saving measure and the amount of energy that the measure saves.
- implementing certain energy saving measures without comprehensive knowledge may result in other energy saving opportunities becoming economically irrecoverable.
- in order for recommendations to be objective and based primarily on economic principles, your provider of energy saving services should be totally independent from equipment suppliers.
