A systematic energy audit can be broken into four phases: planning, investigating, implementing and sustaining. Proactive facilities strive to continually improve energy efficiency by repeating these phases at regular intervals. This two-part column will highlight each of the four phases.
Planning phase: Once plant management commits to energy conservation, the following preplanning activities should be initiated: 1) determining the scope of the audit; 2) picking members of the audit team; and 3) developing audit tasks with a targeted timeline and assigning responsibility to members. These activities could take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months depending on the size of the facility and the scope of the audit.