Feature
Issue No. 44 - December/January 2008
Energy audit task
What’s involved in a carbon reduction audit? Carbon Cap Manager, Steven Angeli describes a process that quantifies the client’s power usage to identify savings and plan equipment replacement to minimise energy consumption.
Steve makes a point of giving ample warning about the initial site visit, to managers and staff, to avoid disruption.
“We power down computers and all other electrical devices, then fire them up again to monitor them for a time and measure their power consumption,” Steve says.
The result is an estimate of cost per kilowatt hour for the various classes of equipment - heating, A/C, lighting, office equipment, etcetera - and a greenhouse gas emission estimate according to Australian/New Zealand Standard Energy Audits AS/NZS 3598:2000.
The audit then extrapolates a basic breakdown of power consumption levels for equipment over six months. Results are matched against the client’s power bills for the same period.
“We compare those against usage benchmarks for a business of that size in the Australian Standard and
report on whether the client is higher or lower,” Steve says.
“If the consumption is high we offer tips to reduce cost through behavioural change, and dollar estimates
for equipment changes.”
This process describes a Level 1 audit under the three-level Australian Standard.
Level 2 involves a more detailed and accurate power consumption assessment and details power consumptio...
