Clearing the Path to Building Energy Efficiency in California
Posted August 7th, 2012
With just enough patience, companies who invest in building with energy efficient techniques can see a well-worthwhile return over a span of a decade. Investing in green building is as economically sound as it is environmentally responsible.
But why is it that, despite the positive ROI, companies are slow to fully transition into total green building?
Energy-efficient projects are complex and involve a series of steps to go from theory to practice.
One of the trickiest pieces of the puzzle is finding a building that fits the criteria necessary to proceed with a green building project. Other impediments to proceed include securing money for auditing and retrofitting as well as key management to ensure everything is running so as to make a profit for everyone.
To help combat the cost issue, Retroficiency, a start-up company out of Boston, has created an Automated Energy Audit (AEA). This AEA is designed to cut energy auditing costs by 80% by sorting through and organizing public and proprietary data for energy models.
North American utilities companies are spending just under $3 billion in industrial energy efficiency efforts. Because a lot of money is set aside for things like marketing, technical assistance, management, and administration, a lot of these dollars aren’t actually aiding in concrete green building. Thankfully, as government regulators begin mandating higher percentages of buildings being built by an efficient energy model, that number and product is likely to rise.
Though there is still a lot of work to be done to make the entire process of green building a more efficient and cost-effective process, the introduction of Retroficiency has made a lot of headway. Their AEA tool has sped things up six times over by increasing the number of audits from five buildings a month to 30 buildings.
Want more information on green building options and how to make the process more efficient? Visit the Bayside Solutions website for ideas.
