Commercial Energy Audit & Improvements-CostsTerraLogos EG

Commercial Energy Projects – Costs

February 11th, 2013 by Peter Van Buren | Posted in Blog

What Are the Typical Costs and Savings?

For commercial buildings, the costs of an energy audit and the first recommended projects vary depending on the size and complexity of each property. The combined costs can range from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars for very large facilities.

As a rule of thumb, consider your total yearly utility costs.

The total cost for a commercial energy audit and the initial projects usually range from 10% to 125% of your annual utility bill.

Immediately after completing these improvements, owners usually save anywhere from 10% to 35% of their energy costs each month. The more you invest up front, the bigger your savings. Plus, the savings continue after the project is paid-off, going straight to your bottom line as profit.

The following table shows possible outcomes, although each project will vary depending on the building and the improvements completed:

Property	Annual Utility bill	Audit + Initial project costs	Monthly Energy Savings	Savings per year	Projects paid for in	Return on investment	Bottom line benefit over 10 years
Small property, Small Investment	$48,000	$9,600	$400	$4,800	2 years	50%	+$38,400
Small Property,Big Investment	$48,000	$48,000	$1,000	$12,000	4 years	25%	+72,000
Larger property, Small Investment	$120,000	$18,000	$1,000	$12,000	1.5 years	66%	+$102,000
Larger Property,Big Investment	$120,000	$120,000	$2,500	$30,000	4 years	25%	+180,000

When utility rebates are added in, these projects provided an even higher return on investment and quicker payback.

Paying the Cost Either Way

If you continue doing what you are doing now, you WILL pay this money to the utility company. So, why not invest in an audit and projects that will make a difference for the long term? Basically, you are pre-paying your utility bill to make it less every month thereafter.

If you invest in audit-guided improvements, you get your investment back, plus all the added benefits. And when the project costs are paid off, you continue to reap dividends in energy savings for many years to come.

Best Single Projects

An energy audit will identify the specific projects that are best for your property. In many cases, we find that lighting upgrades and HVAC projects are the best places to start. With the incentives available from utility sponsored programs, these projects often pay for themselves in 1 to 3 years.

Lighting rebates typically account for 30% percent of an upgrade project, but climb to 50% when installing exterior LEDs, such as in parking garages and on exterior walls. Some projects pay for themselves in months!

According to a DOE study, if your building’s HVAC system has not been retro-commissioned (basically, a major service tune-up) within the last 5 years, you can save approximately 15% of your heating and cooling costs by performing this service. The utility rebates vary project to project, but typically cover around 25% of the retro-commissioning cost.