Team Henderson is committed to the life of your building. We want to understand your past issues, current strategy, and future plans to ensure your facility is helping, not hurting your goals. Energy audits help us better understand where a building can be adjusted to help save costs and support sustainability initiatives such as decarbonization. Our team makes informed decisions from site visits, diving into the data, and collaborating with operational teams to make the most informed recommendations that will eventually impact your bottom line. 

The foundation of an energy audit is laid with data that tells a story through historical on-site energy consumption, highlighting potential inconsistencies and anomalies, allowing our team to get a good understanding of a facility’s needs before arriving on site.  With a minimum of two years of data, we can look at carbon accounting, seasonal and annual trends, programmatic changes, and normalize yearly carbon emissions depending on weather conditions. We can also see if space usage underwent change or increased occupied hours, or if one year experienced a cooler winter and another a warmer summer.  

That site visit will further be informed by collaborating with the facility’s operational team. Being able to have conversations around the past, present, and future of a space builds the walls. By understanding your pain points, current strategy, and future operations and maintenance plans, we can partner to create a solution that will extend the life of your building and support your operational goals. Working with as many facilities as we do, we understand that you’re not alone in your operational frustrations and are prepared to help you overcome them. 

Building off of the data and anecdotal insights, documentation will be reviewed as well. This includes as-built design drawings, temperature control submittals and sequences, prior testing and air balancing reports, and existing service contracts. These all provide context of how a facility currently operates versus how it was intended to at one point in time. 

Boots on the Ground 

Once our team has reviewed the data, documentation and had thorough conversations with your team, we move on-site to see the facility in action. The on-site audit seeks to bridge the gap between current and optimal operational performance. Picking up where the pre-inspection conversation left off, we tour the space with the facilities staff, starting at the heart of the facility in the main mechanical and electrical rooms observing existing equipment, conditions, sequences, and run times. We then branch out into the rest of the spaces served.  

As organizations evolve and time advances, plans naturally change and often affect space use. Programmatic changes trickle down and affect energy efficiency. We ask the operational team to consider questions like, is the dated installed equipment apt to serve the new space use? Or, would the current use configuration be better in a different space entirely? These questions help us prioritize what spaces need immediate attention and where the most growth potential lies.  

Building Management System (BMS) Investigation and Modernization 

A Building Management System (BMS), which may also be known as your Energy Management System or Automatic Temperature Controls, has a critical role in energy efficiency.  Henderson Building Solutions is familiar with progressive modern control theory and can readily identify opportunities to implement such in an existing system. Additionally, current setpoints, trends, and alarm conditions will be reviewed to identify further opportunities for optimization. Utilizing a BMS can ensure your building is running at its most efficient and optimal potential. A process that has started with data gathering and its related insights also ends with data gathering. 

Henderson Knows Energy Efficiency  

Once evaluating the facility through all outlets, our teams will come together in an initial debrief meeting. By combining qualitative and quantitative feedback we’re able to talk high-level theory and recommendations prior to providing a final deliverable. Recommendations can vary from deferred maintenance that needs near-immediate review to outlining utility savings that can be realized when we partner. 

After our site visit, our final deliverable will summarize our findings. Energy conservation measures (ECMs) will be prioritized and presented in a way that complements your facility’s long term sustainability goals. Beyond the initial audit and resulting investment plan, Henderson is available to remain involved through project implementation to savings measurement and verification. Together we can improve your facility’s current and future performance and extend the life of the building.