Energy and Water Audits at the International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF) Covered Facilities at the Headquarters (HQ) Complex
This Contract required the provision of all engineering services necessary for the accomplishment of ASHRAE LEVEL 1 Energy Audits, and to identify and analyze Energy and Water Conservation Measures as described on agency task order. The HQ Complex consists of eight buildings. This energy and water audit only included seven of those buildings with a gross square of about 20,580 square feet.
Team assessed the buildings’ utility cost and efficiency by analyzing utility bills, and conducted on site interviews with the end users in particular with the laboratories personnel given the complexity of their equipment and systems. The analysis identified and provided a savings and cost analysis of low-cost/no-cost measures and initial judgement of potential costs and savings of other capital improvements that merited further consideration. Concurrently, water use utility data was also analyzed. A particular challenge of this audit was that out of the seven buildings audited six of them are serviced by a single electric meter, and the entire HQ Complex (eight buildings) are serviced by a single water meter.
The audit team developed preliminary cost estimates for Energy and Water Conservation Measures to determine payback period of the different measures. The results were presented in a format that would provide the information needed by IITF to decide if any, some, or all of the recommended no cost and/or low cost conservation measures should be implemented or if those recommended merited further analysis. In combination, conservation measures presented would reduce annual energy cost by 75% and annual water cost by 11%.