There are numerous ways for companies to increase their bottom line, many of which come at the expense of their customers and employees, such as increasing the price of products or services and staff cutbacks. But today, many companies favor a profit enhancer that doesn't result in unemployment or customer defection: energy saving retrofits. Energy efficient retrofits benefit large and small companies alike, with some companies experiencing as much as a seven-figure reduction in their annual utility costs. But before you contract with a retrofitting company to replace your current energy systems, it's important to realize that finding the right solutions is contingent on analyzing your building's energy performance using three key performance indicators: tracking utility bills, benchmarking and trend logging.

Tracking Utility Bills

Tracking your utility bills helps to analyze your building's energy consumption over a longer period of time, and can reveal period of time when your energy consumption is inordinately high. The standard length of time for utility bill tracking is one year, after which time an assessment can be made about what energy efficient retrofits should receive first priority in terms of commercial energy savings. For example, if you own a warehouse whose gas usage from September through April accounts for 56 percent of its annual energy bill, then the sensible option is to implement retrofits that lower heating bills first.
Benchmarking

Benchmarking is used to compare your building's current energy performance to its past energy performance, and can also be used to compare its present performance to the present performance of similar buildings on a regional and/or national basis. As a result of these comparisons, benchmarking allows you to identify areas for improvement and then measure improvement once the problem areas are addressed. Benchmarking for energy efficiency is conducted using one of two metrics: energy use per square foot or energy cost per square foot. Energy use per square foot is considered more reliable due to differences in energy sources and utility rates.

Trend Logging

Unlike utility bill tracking, trend logging focuses on gathering data in short intervals, with 15-minute intervals being common. By collecting data in short intervals on an entire building or one of its systems, trend logging gives companies insight into how their utility bills transpire on a micro level. For example, whereas utility bill tracking may reveal an entire season where electrical usage spikes, trend logging may reveal periods within a single day when electrical usage spikes, and what elements are responsible for the spike. Common forms of data that support trend logging are utility interval demand meter data, direct digital control (DDC) systems data, electrical submeter data and weather data.  Johnathan D. Smith