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Facilities Manager | january/february 2015 | 51 return. The desired strategy would boost the competitiveness of the building in energy costs when compared to similar buildings and increase the building's overall value. To do this, the owner requested the assistance of a mechanical consultant in developing the strategies for improve- ment in energy efficiency, who then conducted a Level 1 Energy Audit to assess the current energy efficiency of building envelope, mechanical, electri- cal, and lighting systems at the National City Tower. THE LEVEL 1 AUDIT An ASHRAE Level 1 Energy Audit typically includes a site visit to ob- tain visual information and diagnostic information on the building's energy consuming systems; obtains one to three years of energy billings for evaluation and estimating potential energy savings of opportunities identified; develops recommendations for energy cost reduc- tion measures (ECRMs); and develops preliminary cost estimates, approximate payback, and rates of return for the ECRMs. The Level 1 audit identifies and provides a savings and cost analysis of en- ergy conserving measures. The audit also provides a listing of potential capital im- provements that merit further consider- ation and provides opinions on potential installed costs and energy savings. The Level 1 energy audit analyzes the utility usage and costs, and then BISDSISDdetermines an annual Energy Utilization Index (EUI) and Energy Cost Index (ECI) for the building. The EUI depicts the total annual energy consumption per square foot of build- ing, and is expressed in British Thermal Units (Btus). Energy records reviewed from the subject building indicated that the annual Btu usage is within the typical range of buildings of similar age, size, and physical location in this geographic area. In this case, the consultant developed ten opportunities for ECRMs, esti- mated the installed costs, and estimated their payback and rates of return. The ECRMs included installing pre- mium efficiency motors on pumps and air handling units, re-commissioning the HVAC system, installing heat recovery equipment, installing high-efficiency burners at the boilers, installing variable speed drives at the chillers, completing a lighting retrofit, and retrofitting the perimeter induc- tion units. The estimated savings were considered incremental and exclusive as individual ECRMs are completed. OTHER OBSERVATIONS Other building systems that could represent additional opportunities for energy reduction included installing digital controls and variable speed drives on the remaining elevators, converting the HVAC systems to variable air vol- ume systems, installing a high-perfor- mance coating on the remaining exterior glass, and installing a high-efficiency cooling tower. Due to the potential installed cost and complexity of estimat- ing energy savings with these options, further analysis was recommended, such as conducting an ASHRAE Level 2 or 3 energy audit. A Level 1 Energy Audit provides an institution with a prioritized list of energy cost reduction measures that may be implemented during general mainte- nance activities and provide an im- mediate impact on energy costs. Other measures identified during the audit may be implemented within existing capital improvement budgets and represent more significant reductions in energy costs. An ASHRAE Level 1 Energy Au- dit can further be utilized to develop to long-term plan for upgrade of a facility's energy consuming systems. It is a power- ful tool for institutional facility managers to support their energy improvement agenda. Jeffrey Miller is senior associate and senior mechanical engineer – facilities services, at Terracon, in Houston, TX. He can be reached at jamiller@terracon.com; this is his first article for Facilities Manager. If you'd like to write a Power Tools column, contact Bill Johnson at wcjohnson2@ terracon.com.