Virtual Audits: The Promise and The Reality

Abstract

A good energy audit is a valuable owner's guide to making the best energy efficiency investment decisions. When the best energy conservation measures (ECMs) are identified and implemented, the facility owner will make the smartest choices, and receive the greatest return on investment. When the best ECMs are not identified and implemented, then the opportunity for reducing utility costs has been squandered, and the facility owner suffers financially as a result. Traditionally, developing energy audits involved hiring professionals to identify and communicate the ECMs. Typically, the more seasoned and skilled the energy auditor, the better the energy audit. With the advent of advanced databases and the availability of electricity interval data, new software and services are now available that provide some impressive analysis of building energy usage. One of these new services, virtual audits, often offer inexpensive energy audits, attractive web graphics and the capability to provide fast analysis of individual buildings as well as aggregates of buildings without an energy auditor having to set foot on site. The question addressed in this paper is whether these companies that provide virtual audits are making claims that are unsupported. The main claim is that a virtual audit can produce an actionable energy audit without having an energy auditor set foot on site. This article endeavors to evaluate these potentially overreaching claims by considering the differences between traditional and virtual audits.