How often should I repeat an audit?

Answer by Helen Santalla (Creara)

After the first energy audit in a facility, a further energy audit should be carried out in the following circumstances:

  • There is a radical change in the use of the facility. For example, an entire floor of a building is no longer used as a warehouse but is dedicated to parking.
  • There is work on the building’s envelope changing the thermal properties, enlarging or diminishing considerably its surface, etc.
  • One or more items of equipment which consume high energy are replaced.

In general, it can be said that it is worth carrying out a new audit as long as a potential saving is detected at the facility.

We need to consider that redoing an audit is always easier and less expensive than doing it from scratch. Inventories of equipment, energy accounting, etc. can serve as a basis for the new revision.

In some countries there are regulations about this point. For example, at European level there is this requirement (ENERGY EFFICIENCY DIRECTIVE 2012/27 / EU):

“Member States shall ensure that enterprises that are not SMEs are subject to an energy audit carried out in an independent and cost-effective manner by qualified and/or accredited experts or implemented and supervised by independent authorities under national legislation by 5 December 2015 and at least every four years from the date of the previous energy audit”.

That is, the energy audit shall be valid for four years. After this time it should be repeated periodically.

In short, the recommendation is to carry out a further audit if the characteristics of the installation or its use have changed considerably, regardless of the time elapsed since the last study.