Reduce energy usage and costs up to 40%.

An energy audit (also known as an electricity audit) of your apartment building is the first step towards reducing your strata energy usage and costs. We have consistently helped sites to reduce energy usage and costs by 20% to 40%.

 

The business case for an electricity audit

• Common area electricity can cost up to $1,000 per unit. The good news is there are many options to reduce energy usage and costs.
• Our audits typically costs less than 5% to 10% of energy costs.
• Our audits typically identify options to reduce energy usage and costs by over 30%.
• Electricity prices in NSW have risen by.
• The energy efficiency market is flooded with suppliers trying to sell you their products. Don’t be fooled by their spin. And Don’t waste money on inferior products. Get expert independent advice and start saving.

Apartment building energy audit

A strata, or apartment building electricity audit refers to an audit that looks at common area energy usage and costs. This includes common area lighting (houselights), car parks, ventilation systems, centralised air conditioning systems (e.g. cooling towers, chillers) and other equipment. The energy audit does not look at the usage of individual apartments, retail or commercial lots.

How much does an electricity audit cost?

Our energy audits typically pay for themselves through identifying cost savings, energy wastage and cost-effective energy saving opportunities. A level-2 energy audit may cost anywhere from $800 to over $2,000 depending on the size and complexity of your site. As a rough guide our energy audit should cost < 10% of your annual electricity costs.

 

Who conducts the energy audit?

Our audits are conducted by qualified by engineers with experience energy auditing strata plans and commercial properties across Australia and New Zealand.
We are professional energy consultants… not backpackers with clipboards trying to sell you light globes.
Make sure your energy audit gives your independent and unbiased advice and is conducted to the Australian Standard by a qualified energy consultant.

What areas do we work?

We are based in Sydney and conduct energy audits across the Greater Sydney Region.

We do travel outside of NSW for work, however this is generally only cost effective for our larger clients; for buildings with over 150 apartments or for large multi-use strata complexes than contain a number of residential, retail or industrial lots.

What’s involved in an energy audit?

We first conduct a desktop anaylsis of your sites historical energy consumption and costs

We then conduct a site inspection where we inspect all major energy using equipment including hot water systems, car park lighting, lobby lighting, ventilation fans, air conditioning systems, pools, lifts, exterior lighting, fire stairs and pumps

We issue you with a comprehensive report outlining our findings. The report includes a detailed cost-benefit analysis of oall energy saving opportunites (both technical and managerial) identified by the audit. This typically includes options to upgrade lighting, upgrade hot water systems, install solar panels, install controls on fans and pumps.

Our reports also include our bill and tariff analysis where we assess options for you to reduce your electricty costs

What’s included in our energy audits?

Our energy audits cover all major energy using equipment. A sample of what we cover in an energy audit of your apartment building and strata complex includes:

• Fluorescent tube lighting: we asses options to de-lamp, install controls, replace entire fittings with energy efficient options or replace tubes with T5 tube (using T8 to T5 converters) or LED tubes.
• Halogen downlights: we assess options to replace with high efficiency infra red reflecting halogens, CFL downlights or LED downlights.
• Car park lighting: Does your car park lighting run all day and night? If so it is wasting energy and costing you money. We assess options to install occupancy sensors, time clocks, de-lamp and upgrade lighting. Remember that car parking lighting over spaces, over passageways, emergency lighting and lighting and in fire stairs is not the same and different energy savings options apply for each.
• Ventilation: ventilation fans running unecessarily are a common source of energy wastage in apartment buildings. We assess options to reduce fan run-times and make sure you are blowing money down the drain.
• Pumps: we assess options to install variable speed drives, generating savings of up to 25% or replacing pumps near the end of their life with high efficiency motors.
• Corridor and lobby lighting: Is your corridor lighting on all day when no once is around? We conduct a cost benefit analysis to assess options to install occupancy sensors, use pneumatic push timers or upgrade light fittings or lamps. New LED circular fluorescent lamps may be suitable to replace circular fluorescent tubes which are commonly found in apartment building interior areas.
• Hot water: hot water usage can be a major energy user in residential apartment buildings, we assess a range of energy saving options such as solar systems, heat pumps and high efficiency natural gas boilers.
• Swimming pools: Swimming pools are expensive to run and maintain, we assess options for solar heating, replacing electric systems with heat pumps, options to heat water on off peak rates to save money. We also investigate options to install manual or automatic pool covers (blankets) to reduce evaporative heat losses and liquid pool covers (for exterior pools).
• Demand management and power factor correction (PFC): For large sites on a kVA demand tariff it is critical to assess options to reduce peak kVA demand by using power factor correction. These days small capacity units are available (<50kVAr) which are suitable for use in apartment buildings. This is important for apartment buildings which often have many inductive and reactive loads (fluorescent lighting, fans, pumps etc…).
• Our bill and tariff analysis has shown one client how to save 28% off electricity costs by simply moving onto the most cost effective billing and metering configuration.

Our energy audits include our bill and tariff analysis. This is a crucial part of any energy audit to identify simple options to reduce electricity costs. It includes:

• Checking whether you are on a default rate, and if so what options are available to move onto a fixed term contract and achieve energy savings of 10% to 15%.
• If you are on a fixed term contract assessing options to move retailers onto a cheaper tariff or negotiating a cheaper rate with your current electricity supplier.
• Checking you are on the most appropriate and cost effective network tariff.
• Assessing options to move from a general supply to a time of use tariff.
• Checking whether you are appropriately on a residential or business account.
• We dont give you any sales spin. We analyse your data and give you impartial and unbiased facts to show you how easy it is to be energy smart and save.

Want more information on energy audits? Have a look at our energy energy fact sheet. Or view some of our latest projects and see how we have helped our Sydney clients reduce the energy usage and costs of their apartment buildings and strata complexes.