Facility managers: why use EASEE energy audit software?
EASEE is a web application that enables you to carry out energy assessments, build action plans, prioritize investments and easily monitor energy KPIs.
By Antoine BAGUETTE
Business Developer
What is an energy audit?
An energy audit can be defined as a diagnosis highlighting the energy performance of a building, a factory, an industrial process, a site, etc. The objective of the energy audit is to optimize* energy consumption and the carbon footprint.
This is usually the first task to be carried out if one wants to begin an energy efficiency and transition process.
The audit has two distinct phases:
- Energy assessment: in this first phase, the energy consumed (electricity, natural gas, diesel oil, etc.) and the elements that consume this energy (boilers, air handling unit, compressors, etc.) are identified. The results of the energy assessment are then generally represented in the form of an “Energy Consumption Analysis” (ECA).
- Action plan: once the ECA has been established, the weak points are identified and suggestions for improvement made. The action plan summarizes these improvement pathways and characterizes them not only on the basis of their financial profitability (return on investment – ROI) but also on the basis of their technical and economic feasibility.
(*) Note that “optimize” does not necessarily mean “reduce”. It is a question of “doing more” with the same amount of resources OR “doing the same” with less.
What does a facility manager do?
As the name suggests, the facility manager is responsible for the management of one or more buildings/sites/plants. Their main task is to ensure that safety, health, environmental and cost control standards are met, and that all of these are in line with the needs of the workers and the company.
Facility management and energy
Energy efficiency and transition are often part of the facility manager’s remit! While these issues are increasingly being addressed, companies still tend to entrust (sometimes blindly) their energy management to external companies (engineering offices, energy service companies, independent consultants, etc.). Whether or not the results are satisfactory will depend on the quality of the external service provider and the budget allocated to the mission. However, facility managers may also be required to manage the energy issues internally.
What problems tend to arise?
We have observed a major problem that prevents the effective and non-discriminatory deployment of energy strategies. Whether the audit is carried out internally or by an external consultant, the problem comes from the use of EXCEL in the energy audit process!
- Before the audit: EXCEL does not enable healthy collaboration between the auditor and the facility manager. A large number of documents need to be provided (energy bills, plans, site surveys, etc.) and this requires numerous email exchanges (which are sometimes unnecessary). Furthermore, these documents are often stored and archived in a somewhat chaotic manner. Lastly, it is difficult to work on the same document/file at the same time (due to synchronization issues and errors).
- During the audit :
- EXCEL makes the energy audit process opaque. Once the necessary documents have been sent to the energy auditor, the facility manager loses transparency regarding the calculations and assumptions made by the auditor. This lack of transparency can work against the auditor, and is why the energy audit process can sometimes seem unnecessarily mysterious or complex. The facility manager does not then have the possibility of easily taking charge of the audit and the energy transition strategy.
- EXCEL does not make energy assessments easily accessible. In fact, only a few experts are able to carry out accurate energy audits, simulate complex improvement pathways and establish cost-effective action plans. This also has an impact on the availability and cost of such expertise.
- After the audit: EXCEL makes it very difficult to consolidate multi-site information (consumption, costs, energy balances, ECAs, KPIs, improvement pathways, etc.). This makes it difficult (if not impossible) to monitor energy use in the short, medium and long term on the scale of a large number of buildings/sites/plants/etc.
As you can see, the crucial missing element here is a software tool to carry out accurate energy audits and enable the efficient and non-discriminatory deployment of energy strategies.
Why use our energy audit software?
“With EASEE, infrastructure managers can easily consolidate their results and investment plans for one or more sites at the same time. Traditional tools present major difficulties in this area. EASEE is there to solve them”
Hervé Delporte – CEO
Boost your energy transition with EASEE!
Save valuable time when analysing and monitoring your energy KPIs. With EASEE, the problems of consolidating Excel numerous files are over. Now you can easily view consolidated information across a range of sites or buildings! This functionality is particularly appreciated by large property managers, multi-site companies, public authorities and federations
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