Building Envelope
Bob introduced Steve Rothwell who has been to the Club before. He is an energy manager and envelope consultant and an advisor to Natural Resources Canada.
Steve said that last time he'd talked about residential building but this time he wanted to look at commercial, as many members of the Club have facilities. He suggested that an efficient use of energy could contribute to maximising profits and, while reducing costs, also reduce greenhouse gases. He says he can do audits of varying depth and cost.
A commercial/social audit establishes how much energy it takes to do a certain task, such as making widgets. If you can reduce that amount of energy, you widget becomes cheaper. The best time to make improvements is when a building needs work - if it needs a new roof, put the most efficient roof on you can. But don't replace a fairly new roof - your payback period gets too long.
A Benchmark audit involves more analysis and establishes a benchmark against which the owner can compare the performance of the building. Type 1 is a basic walkthrough and identifies the 'low hanging fruit' - the easy fixes that provide the bigger return. Type 2 involves testing, a cost/benefit analysis and a record analysis. Type 3 goes into more detail, establishes a life cycle cost and a ROI.
It is all based on Heating Degree Days which is the difference between 18 degrees Centigrade and the outside temperature. For example either 16 degrees or 20 degrees each equal 2 degree days, one heating and one cooling.
It is not all based on insulation. One customer of Steve's owned a banquet hall and left his coffee machines running which not only used electricity when the place was empty, they created heat which had to be dealt with by the AC. By turning them off when not in use he saved twice. He had three half full freezers that were all frosted up so filling up fewer freezers and servicing them saved. Certainly the fact that the building was simply concrete block meant insulation was required so they put a layer on the outside with a new finish and it looked better too.
Surprisingly, newer buildings are less efficient than ones built even in the 90's, especiallly the ones that have a lot of glass. That has an R value of about 2 and its life expectancy is maybe 25 years so the owners are pumping heat through something that will have to be replaced very soon. Even older buildings have less glazing, more mass and are probably longer lasting.
Many buildings will have similar examples to the ones above - take a look and safe yourself some money.