Commercial Solutions
Energy & Utilities are, in many cases, the single largest controllable operating expense for a commercial building, accounting for roughly 1/3rd of its operating costs.
Finding ways to rein in your building’s energy costs not only lowers your operating expenses but also reduces greenhouse gas emissions and increases the property’s value – a rare triple win.
RBG unlocks these benefits (and more) for commercial buildings across the Granite State and beyond. We simplify the complexities inherent in the process, deliver on our promises, and treat you with empathy and respect.
We would love to learn more about your building(s) and to explore how RBG can best help – or continue reading below to learn more about some of the commercial building energy efficiency services we offer.
Commercial Energy Audits
For existing structures, improved energy efficiency often starts with a Commercial Energy Audit. While customized to meet your needs and the unique requirements of your structure(s), every audit includes an assessment, analysis, and an action plan.
We assess your building through a variety of physical inspections, tests and diagnostics to paint a picture of where and when energy is used and potentially being wasted.
We are often asked to perform ASHRAE Level I or Level II audits so that our clients can demonstrate that they qualify for important rebates or other energy efficiency program benefits.
Depending on your needs, here are some of the energy audit activities RBG can perform:
- Reviewing energy bills and other usage data from monitoring equipment
- Inventorying energy usage inside the building
- Conducting blower door tests (checking airtightness)
- Performing thermal imaging scans
- Inspecting construction, insulation and installation techniques
- Assessing building management systems and controls
We then analyze the results of our inspections along with the critical energy-related data collected during the assessment. If desired, we will benchmark your building against similar ones to identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement.
Finally, we prepare our recommendations in a report which lays out the many options available to you. These can range from no-cost / low-cost advice through to highly sophisticated upgrades to your building envelope, energy & HVAC and renewable energy systems.
Our reports also include modeling of energy usage, costs, and payback / ROI calculations for the recommended improvements.
Commercial Energy Audits
For existing structures, improved energy efficiency often starts with a Commercial Energy Audit. While
Benchmarking
While benchmarking is often part of a Commercial Energy Audit, it can also be conducted as a stand-alone service. RBG will compare your building’s energy usage over time verses other similar buildings to identify any energy consumption patterns that might indicate inefficiencies that need correcting.
In addition, the benchmarking process allows RBG to examine in detail when and where your building uses the most energy – think HVAC, electricity, building systems and more.
The result? A report that benchmarks your building’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI) against ENERGY STAR’s Technical reference table, which compares your building’s EUI to the national median energy use of similar properties.
The EUI describes how much energy your building consumes per year, per square foot (kBtu / ft2 / year), and is broken down into two separate but related measures – the Site EUI and the Source EUI.
The Site EUI accounts for only the energy consumed on-site by your building and is best used for tracking the energy performance of a single building over time.
The Source EUI takes into account more than just the energy that arrives at and is used by your building, as it includes the losses associated with generation and distribution.
On average, the Source EUI is around 2.8x higher than the Site EUI, which means that for every unit of energy consumed on-site at your building, ~2.8 units of energy have to be created at the source.
The EPA and ENERGY STAR use Source EUI as their key metric because it captures the true impact of your building’s energy consumption on the system, since it includes the energy lost or wasted during production and as the energy travels through the grid.
In addition to calculating your Site and Source EUI, RBG will also provide you with your building’s Cost Use Intensity (CUI), which simply tells you your energy cost per square foot per year ($ / ft2 / year).
With this analysis in hand, RBG will help you unlock increased efficiency by recommending and prioritizing what steps you should take next.
Commissioning & Retro-Commissioning
While these terms may seem unfamiliar or even daunting, they describe a critical step in ensuring that your building is – and will continue to be – as energy efficient as possible.
Simply put, the goal of Commissioning (Cx) and Retro-Commissioning (RCx) is to ensure that your building’s systems (HVAC, lighting,building envelopeand more) are working as intended.
The main difference between these two processes is that Commissioning occurs throughout the process of building a new structure, while Retro-Commissioning is performed on an existing building, regardless of whether it has been Commissioned before or not.
To put it another way, Cx acts as a “dress rehearsal” for your building’s complex systems to confirm they work as intended before occupants move in, and RCx acts as a “tune-up” for the building, correcting any “drift” away from optimal performance standards.
Retro-Commissioning
Whether your building went through the Commissioning process when it was built or not, Retro-Commissioning allows you to restore (or bring) its systems to their optimal performance levels today.
Over time, sensors can fail, settings can be changed, and the occupancy loads can fluctuate. These issues, even if small, can compound and add significant cost and energy waste into the system.
RCx often focuses on identifying and prioritizing no-cost / low-cost adjustments and improvements you can make to your building systems (the low-hanging fruit, if you will) without having to rip out and replace existing building systems which would incur great expense and disruption.
Examples include items like: turning off lights and HVAC when the building is not in use; calibrating or replacing sensors (like thermostats); and fixing situations where, say, both the heat and the AC are fighting each other in the same room.
Multi Family Housing Projects
RGB unlocks critical energy savings for Commercial Property owners and managers of multi-family buildings all across NH and beyond. Since 2022, both residential and commercial energy costs have outpaced inflation (on average) and price volatility has increased.
As such, finding ways to improve your building’s energy efficiency can have a meaningful impact on your Net Operating Income.
Thankfully, you have options for both new construction and upgrading existing structures. Speak with RBG about how energy-efficient upgrades, cost-effective weatherization, benchmarking assessments and commissioning / retro-commissioning services could improve your building(s).
Past projects have included (but are not limited to):
- Introducing low-flow water fixtures or aerators
- Converting electric resistance heat to heat pumps
- Replacing old appliances with EnergyStar upgrades
- Adding insulation to walls and attics
- Upgrading and testing HVAC systems
- Air sealing the building to reduce leakage
- LED lighting upgrades
- Installing smart thermostats
Fast And Reliable Service For Your Project Or A Quick Fix, We Do It All!
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