Current Energy Leakages in Egyptian Buildings - Energy Efficiency in the Urban Environment - page 237

4. The selection and the evaluation of ECMs
5. The estimation of energy-saving potential
6. The identification of customer concerns and needs
Common types/levels of energy audits are distinguished here, although
the actual tasks performed and level of effort may vary with the consultant
providing services under these broad headings. The only way to ensure that
a proposed audit will meet your specific needs is to spell out those require-
ments in a detailed scope of the work. Taking the time to prepare a formal
solicitation will also assure the building owner of receiving competitive
and comparable proposals. Generally, four levels of analysis can be outlined
(ASHRAE):
1. Level 0 — Benchmarking: This first analysis consists of a preliminary
whole building energy use (WBEU) analysis based on historic util-
ity use and costs and on the comparison of the performance of the
buildings to those of similar buildings. This benchmarking of the
studied installation allows the determination of whether further
analysis is required.
2. Level I — Walk-through audit: A preliminary analysis is made to
assess building energy efficiency to identify not only simple and
low-cost improvements but also a list of ECMs or ECOs to orient
the future detailed audit. This inspection is based on visual verifica-
tions, study of installed equipment and operating data and detailed
analysis of recorded energy consumption collected during the
benchmarking phase.
3. Level II — Detailed/general energy audit: Based on the results of the
pre-audit, this type of energy audit consists of an energy use sur-
vey to provide a comprehensive analysis of the studied installation,
a more detailed analysis of the facility, a breakdown of the energy
use and a first quantitative evaluation of the ECOs/ECMs selected
to correct the defects or to improve the existing installation. This
level of analysis can involve advanced on-site measurements and
sophisticated computer-based simulation tools to evaluate precisely
the selected energy retrofits.
4. Level III — Investment-grade audit: This is a detailed analysis of
capital-intensive modifications focusing on potential costly ECOs
requiring rigorous engineering study.
9.4.2 Benchmarking
The impossibility of describing all possible situations that might be encoun-
tered during an audit means that it is necessary to find a way of describing
what constitutes good, average and bad energy performance across a range