Tools for Energy Auditors

Understanding the characteristics of a good measurement tool will help you when it comes down to making a purchase decision. Especially since some tools can be expensive.

What do you think characterizes a good measurement tool?

Put your answer in the Q&A section, then watch the video for this lesson.

In this lesson we identify different categories of tools, and discuss a couple of useful tools that don’t fit into any of the categories.

Understanding electricity metering is an essential skill for an energy auditor. In this lesson you’ll learn how about how electricity metering can be useful, choosing what to meter, choosing what meter to use, and finally look at what can go wrong with electricity metering and what you can do to avoid having issues with electricity metering.

How do you think electricity metering can be useful? Put your responses in the comment box below, then watch the video.

In the resources section below are links to external videos showing the installation of power loggers.

In this lesson we focus on ultrasonic flow metering, and also look at thermal metering.

How do you think flow or thermal metering can be useful? Put your responses in the Q&A section below, then watch the video.

In the resources section below is a link to an external video showing the installation of a flow meter.

Often lighting systems represent an opportunity to get good energy savings. Having an understanding of illumination measurement will help you better understand and assess an existing lighting system.

Before watching the video download a lux meter app to your phone (such as the lux meter in the physics toolbox app) and measure illumination levels in a few different places.

Then watch the video.

In the resources section you can find some additional guidance on recommended lighting levels.

Temperature measurements can be very useful in an energy audit. They can be used to when assessing the performance of HVAC systems, refrigeration systems, industrial systems, domestic hot water systems, and for inexpensively logging on/off status.

In this lesson you’ll learn about a range of temperature sensors and what you can do with them.

In the resources section you’ll find links explaining the characteristics of different temperature sensors.

Enabling the movement of air, whether to provide ventilation, or to transfer hot or cold, can use significant amounts of energy. Air flow and pressure measurements can help in understanding what opportunities may exist to save energy.

Learn about the tools needed in this lesson.

The lesson looks at a range of other measurement tools that may come in handy.

There may be measurement tools that I haven’t covered in this section of the course that you believe are useful for energy auditors. Please list them in the Q&A section.

Many instruments enable you to take a measurement at a single point of time. Instruments with a logging functions can be much more useful, because they enable you to gather data when you aren’t on site, and under a range of operational conditions, including when the site is not operating.

Reflecting on the tools discussed in the first section – including tools for electricity measurement, flow measurement and thermal metering, illumination measurement, temperature measurement, air flow and differential pressure measurement - think which of these tools become much more useful when there is a logging function. Put your answer in the Q&A section below, then watch the video.

Accessing logged data may not be as easy as you think and cause some inconvenience. In this lesson we discuss and compare SD cards vs USB data transfer, and look at common problems and how to overcome them.

In this lesson we take csv data from 2 different sources – one from a power analyzer, the other from a temperature logger – and manipulate it into a useful format using Microsoft Excel. If you already know how to do this, feel free to skip the lesson.

In the resources section you’ll find links to the initial excel files and solutions

Spreadsheets have been the backbone of energy audits for a long time. They are readily available, affordable, and if you have some coding skills can be tailored to make it easy to do repetitive tasks.

In this lesson we provide a suggested structure for an energy audit spreadsheet.

The resources section links to some free spreadsheets you can download.

If you are familiar with any other free spreadsheets useful for energy audits, please share in the Q&A section.

Dedicated energy audit software can streamline the production of energy audit reports. The use of such software is well suited to situations where you are continually undertaking the same type of assessment.

In this lesson different categories of tools are introduced.

The resources section of this lesson lists some of the software tools covering the categories I’ve mentioned.

If you know of others, please list them in the Q&A section.

This lesson covers a range of apps on your phone and tablet that can be useful.

After watching this lesson, if you can think of other apps that are useful, please list in the Q&A section.

Visual communication tools play an important, and possibly under-valued role in energy audits.

This lesson briefly identifies a few categories.

If you can think of more, please list in the Q&A section!

In the resources section you’ll find links that can aid in the preparation of presentations

Thank you for taking this course. I hope you’ve been able to improve your knowledge of energy tools. If you have any suggestions or comments on how to improve the course, I’d love to hear from you. Please rate this course and share your comments.

In this short course we’ve looked at measurement tools, data logging tools and computing and visual communication tools. As you’ve gone through the course I hope that you’ve managed to identify tools which are of use to you.

Don’t forget you can hire (and share!) measurement tools. And also remember to check the battery before usage, and do a dry run when you have a new tool.