Commercial Energy Audit

Boost profits by driving down energy costs. Blue Ocean collects and analyzes energy data to identify and implement cost-effective measures to achieve significant energy cost reductions.

Energy Audit Services for Buildings

Why audit energy? You can’t manage what you don’t measure holds true for energy efficiency.

An energy audit is the benchmark by which all future energy efficiency improvements must be measured against. In order to calculate savings, return on capital expenditure, and payback times, the energy profile of a facility must be generated as a benchmark.

Far too often, an energy audit is used by product manufacturers as a poorly disguised attempt to sell their products. Blue Ocean does not manufacture or sell equipment. The sole purpose of our commercial energy audit service is to improve our clients’ energy efficiency, thereby reducing energy costs. We always tell our clients “Don’t buy expensive capital equipment without first doing an independent energy audit!” Why? Because current equipment should be assessed at or near design parameters before any replacement decision is made. For this reason, we recommend that you do not let your equipment manufacturer or equipment service provider conduct your energy audit. Blue Ocean is 100% committed to representing our clients’ interests, not selling capital equipment.

Blue Ocean Energy Management is a team of commercial energy consultants that uses state-of-the-art technologies to monitor critical electrical loads. We use web-enabled load monitors that collect data for energy consumption (kWh), Peak Demand (kW) as well as Power Factor. A comprehensive energy audit provides the basic understanding of how a building uses energy and provides solutions/strategies for ways to use energy more efficiently.

The energy audit becomes the cornerstone for the development of the Energy Management Strategy, where Blue Ocean will deliver a client-specific set of prioritized recommendations and an action plan to implement these changes. All Blue Ocean’s audit findings and recommendations are presented in an Energy Audit Report, designed as a roadmap for the building owner/manager to achieve future energy savings.

While our clients can customize the energy audit to meet their specific needs, we have developed three standard levels of energy audits:

i

Comprehensive Energy Audit

  1. Facility inspection
  2. Historical consumption and cost analysis
  3. Electricity “Demand” (kW) analysis
  4. Electricity “Power Factor” (PF) and Load Factor analysis
  5. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission calculation
  6. Climate normalization of energy consumption
  7. Energy cost development and forecasting
  8. Tenant sub-meter invoicing audit
  9. EPA (ENERGY STAR®) Rating analysis
  10. Real-time monitoring of major electrical loads for 3-9 months
  11. Load profiles to analyze overall electrical usage
  12. Load shifting analysis (reduce peak demand)
  13. HVAC performance analysis
  14. Operational efficiency analysis
  15. Weekly load analysis
  16. Work with site staff to improve efficiency
  17. Assist with the implementation of any cost savings strategies identified
  18. Monthly cost monitoring to determine actual savings
h

Walk-through Energy Audit

  1. Facility inspection
  2. Historical consumption and cost analysis
  3. Electricity “Demand” (kW) analysis
  4. Electricity “Power Factor” (PF) and Load Factor analysis
  5. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission calculation
  6. Climate normalization of energy consumption
  7. Energy cost development and forecasting
  8. Tenant sub-meter invoicing audit
  9. EPA (ENERGY STAR®) Rating analysis
  10. Work with site staff to improve efficiency
  11. Assist with the implementation of any cost savings strategies identified
  12. Monthly cost monitoring to determine actual savings
l

Basic Energy Audit

  1. Historical energy and water consumption analysis
  2. Electricity “Demand” (kW) analysis
  3. Natural gas and electricity conversion to British Thermal Units (Btu) facilitating cost comparison
  4. Greenhouse gas emission calculation
  5. Normalized energy consumption
  6. ENERGY STAR® Rating analysis
  7. Energy cost development

Blue Ocean offers energy audit services to multiple clients, including:

Commercial Office Buildings, Retail Shopping Centers, Medical Centers, Automobile Dealerships, Churches, Country Clubs, Restaurants, Hotels, Schools, Light Industrial and others.

Office Building, Austin, TX

During our Comprehensive Energy Audit for this client, Blue Ocean found that the rooftop HVAC units were running with no particular schedule and frequently during unoccupied hours. We recommended new thermostats with a web integrated “dashboard” for automated control capabilities. As a result, our client realized a 22% reduction in energy consumption over the next year. The “payback” period for our services was less than six months, and our client continues to realize energy savings year after year.
Z

Hotel, Dallas, TX

The energy audit identified that the hotel had been overcharged by the utility company while the hotel was going through renovations. Blue Ocean negotiated a refund from the utility provider for the hotel. In addition, during the Blue Ocean’s study, CO2 levels were found to be exceedingly high on several floors, resulting in thermal discomfort for the hotel guests. Blue Ocean located the source of the problem and arranged for the repair of two of the hotel’s exhaust fans.

Office Building, Austin, TX

Blue Ocean’s real-time monitoring quickly found that the building had extensive simultaneous heating and cooling. To resolve the issue, Blue Ocean recommended the installation of an outside air temperature sensor. This sensor would prevent the chillers from coming on when the outside air temperature is below a certain threshold. Blue Ocean also calibrated the pneumatic thermostats, resulting in an additional energy reduction of 19%.