Many commercial office buildings in Colorado are interested in becoming more energy efficient. Doing so can reduce energy waste and operating costs, but most importantly, it ensures the building is compliant with the state’s and Denver’s new building performance requirements.
A commercial energy audit is the first step towards these goals. It can be used to identify weaknesses in the building envelope, giving you a strategy for performance upgrades. It can also be used to obtain a timeline adjustment for the new energy compliance regulations.
Curious about what an office building energy audit in Denver entails? Here’s what you can expect to learn from e3 Power’s assessment.
Calculate Your Office Building’s Air Leakage (and Energy Loss)
Air leakage can account for a significant portion of an office’s total energy waste. A key aspect of our commercial energy audits for Denver offices is a blower door test. This test will tell you the overall air tightness of your building and identify its main leak points. During the test:
- Our BPI-certified building analysts will close off every part of the building that lets air escape. This includes everything from windows to HVAC dampers and exhaust vents.
- They install a sealed, temporary door frame around one (or multiple) exterior doors in your building. This door frame has a large fan that either sucks air out of the building (depressurizes) or blows it in (pressurizes).
- Two pressure meters, one on the outside of the building and one on the inside, measure the pressure differential and send the data to a computer.
- The software on this computer then calculates the total airflow and leakage of the building.
- Throughout the pressure test, our building analysts will identify specific air leak locations. They use techniques like thermal imaging and smoke pencils to spot areas with unwanted air flow.
Find Money-Draining Ductwork Leaks
Ductwork is another main source of energy loss in a commercial building. It wastes the energy produced for heating and cooling, and causes excess HVAC strain, sometimes increasing fan power consumption by more than 50%. This directly translates to higher operating costs and higher net emissions.
To find leaks in your system, we perform a duct blaster test that’s similar to the blower door test. We isolate and pressurize the ductwork and measure the total airflow loss over a set pressure. If the results are unfavorable, we then do smoke tests to find the sources of air loss.
Locate Rooftop Insulation Gaps and Air Leaks
As one of the longest-standing commercial energy audit companies in Denver, we perform advanced assessments that others do not. We have FAA-certified drone pilots on our team who use thermal imaging to analyze your office’s rooftop.
Commercial flat roofs are prone to heat absorption from the sun. This increases the cooling load and forces your office’s air conditioning system to work harder, wasting energy and money. Insulation under the roof membrane reduces heat transfer, but many commercial buildings don’t have enough of it.
Using heat signatures, our drones can locate areas of your roof that have inadequate insulation. They can also identify air leaks, improper venting and flashing, and water damage.
Suggested Energy Efficiency Improvements
With the information gathered from blower door tests, ductwork leak tests, and rooftop drone inspections, e3 Power creates a detailed report. We outline the core issues, provide documentation, and create a roadmap for improving your office’s energy efficiency.
Unlike other commercial energy audit companies in the region, we are fully independent and unbiased. We do not perform any of the improvements we recommend, nor do we collect referral fees from the contractors we suggest. We have completed thousands of energy audits near the Denver metro area, and are solely focused on helping you improve your building’s energy efficiency.
