Description
The City of Los Angeles requires all buildings over 20k square feet to be professionally benchmarked annually, then audited AND retro-commissioned every 5 years. 3fficient delivers fully compliant audit and commissioning package for LA’s EBEWE compliance. Choosing 3fficient will save you money on your audits over other providers. Our audits and commissioning are more comprehensive and easier to implement resulting in better energy, water and cost savings over time. We make your buildings more efficient, productive and sustainable. Guaranteed!
Finding out where your energy and water use is going and knowing what you can do about it is a job for a seasoned energy and water professional engineers. Fortunately, 3fficient has decades of experience performing thousands of energy and water audits on every building and campus type imaginable, meeting or exceeding standards. Following is a summary of what we deliver for your LA EBEWE audit/retro-commissioning compliance:
ASHRAE Level 2 Audit
The ASHRAE Level II audit provides the building owner with a more detailed building survey and energy and water analysis. Energy and water using equipment (lighting, HVAC, process, office machines, irrigation, etc) and operating hours are inventoried, analyzed and benchmarked against annual baseline utility meter data. Engineering recommendations and financial impacts are provided. This is often used as the basis of an energy or utility master plan. As such, it should only be performed by seasoned, unbiased professional engineers.
A detailed fuel use analysis is performed and the building is benchmarked to gauge overall performance. Utility consumption is broken out by end use such that building owners and operators can easily understand which areas of operation may present the greatest opportunities. Utility rates are analyzed to determine if there are rate change opportunities or if specific utility rate demand response programs are available to the building. Key building representatives (owners, managers, operators and occupants) are interviewed to gain a thorough understanding of the operational characteristics of the building, to explore all potential problem areas, and to clarify financial and non-financial goals of the assessment.
The site assessment may include a variety of diagnostic testing. Depending on the types of systems the building has and the reported problems or issues the building may be experiencing, diagnostics may include any of the following:
- Lighting level assessment (foot candles and lighting power density)
- Blower door testing
- Duct leakage testing
- Air flow and temperature measurements
- Water flow and temperature measures
- Tracer gas analysis
- Infrared thermography
- Combustion analysis and steady state efficiency testing
- Solar shading analysis
- Electrical testing
- Relative humidity testing
Once the detailed site assessment is completed, an energy and water model and engineering calculations are developed in order to create a detailed and cost effective scope of work. The scope of work will include the cost and savings analysis of all practical measures that meet the owner’s economic criteria, along with a discussion of any changes to operation and maintenance procedures and health and safety recommendations.
3fficient has an arsenal of proprietary and professional software tools for use depending on the specific project. We are experienced in many types of energy and building modeling simulation tools (such as eQUEST, DOE-2, Energy Pro, EA-Quip, TREAT, Energy Plus, as well as system specific design tools such as Polysun, F-Chart, RetScreen, Hydronic System Simulator etc.), and can utilize whichever is necessary for program requirements or is best suited for the particular building type.
In addition to the energy and water model, the engineer will also generate an audit report that thoroughly documents building conditions, operational characteristics, and proposed energy savings measures. It will list low and no cost measures such as those we make during commissioning along with other capital upgrades illustrated with associated costs, savings and payback estimates. We don’t stop there. We’ll even provide direction in how to best acquire those more expensive upgrades without using your own capital.
ASHRAE 0.2 Building Commissioning
Commissioning is the art and science of tuning a system, building or facility to function as it was intended. According to the US Department of Energy, retro-commissioning pays for itself in less than 2 years. Even faster when integrated into a retrofit or new design. At 3FFICIENT, we utilize the latest high-tech tools to maximize your system and building performance.
We’ll root out the causes of operational problems before they happen or persist. While the corrections or enhancements are made, we’ll work with your operations staff, train them and document the final results to ensure sustainability.
3fficient examines your building hardware, software and energy systems, compares them to original designs (and state-of-the-art best practices), and works with your staff to implement necessary tune-ups and improvements to get energy and building systems to peak performance.
Some of the benefits include:
- lower energy costs
- fewer trouble calls
- enhanced overall comfort
- longer lasting equipment life.
Your retro-commissioning report will address, at a minimum, existing : Heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems and controls; Indoor lighting systems and controls; Water heating systems; and Renewable energy systems. Since we will be testing and adjusting your building systems, a more active role of your staff will be required. This ensures that your systems will operate efficiently and with maximum comfort and savings. And of course, it will be in meet or exceed LA’s EBEWE Code requirements.
LA EBEWE Compliance Calendar
Exemptions
Some buildings may be fully or partially exempt. We automatically look for exemptions as part of our process, but don’t hesitate to point that out if you think your building(s) may be partially or fully exempt from EBEWE requirements.
Professional Service Terms & Conditions Apply. Travel, correction of missing or incorrect submittals or project data and municipal reporting fees are extra.