Diving Deeper: What to Look for in an Audit Partner
July 22, 2024
In our previous post, Navigating the Sustainability Journey in Business, we touched on the importance of accurately measuring your current environmental impact. Now, we dive deeper, outlining exactly what you should look for in an energy audit partner.
This article considers the key capabilities a partner should have, including conducting audits with the correct depth and scope, having the necessary experience, offering and implementing custom recommendations and supporting an ongoing partnership. With a comprehensive audit in place, you'll have a solid foundation to achieve true sustainability.
Some Energy Audits Are Better Than Others
Not all energy audits are the same. Reviewing energy bills and conducting a basic walkthrough of your facilities only scratches the surface. To collect the detailed and accurate data you need, it’s critical that your audit partner engage with employees across various departments to understand operational processes and how they impact energy consumption. This integrated approach leaves no stone unturned, highlighting every possible area for energy optimization and improved cost efficiency.
An effective energy audit serves as the fundamental baseline for constructing a robust energy efficiency business case. Through the audit's findings, businesses can set clear goals and objectives that support capital approval processes and align with project timelines and guidelines. By systematically identifying opportunities for improvement, audits provide a detailed roadmap that prioritizes sites across extensive portfolios, enabling companies to focus on the most critical areas first. This strategic prioritization ensures that the most impactful energy optimization initiatives are addressed promptly, thereby maximizing resource allocation and ensuring that sustainability goals are met efficiently and effectively.
The Backbone of Effective Energy Audits
Accurate data serves as the backbone of any effective energy audit, while faulty or incomplete data leads to poor strategies and wasted resources, making it harder for your organization to hit its sustainability targets. Ask your audit partner about their track record in audit accuracy. They should strive to minimize errors and reduce the need for site revisits with their established processes.
Accurate audits ensure that efforts to cut energy use and boost efficiency are well-informed and strategic, focusing on the most significant inefficiencies and opportunities. The result? Enhanced trust from stakeholders, including employees, customers and regulators who recognize a genuine commitment to sustainability.
The result of this audit is a detailed report that points out inefficiencies and suggests a prioritized list of actions. These recommendations range from easy fixes, like adjusting thermostat settings, to bigger investments, such as implementing energy saving technologies. A well-crafted report serves as a roadmap for sustainable operations, offering clear, actionable strategies to reduce energy use and carbon footprint.
What Qualifications Should an Audit Partner Have?
There are reasons why energy audits vary so greatly in quality and depth, so consider these key qualifications when choosing a partner:
- Expertise and Experience: Not all firms have the same level of expertise or experience. Those with decades of experience and employees who bring deep industry knowledge offer more insightful and practical recommendations.
- In-House, Self-Performing Audit Teams: Qualified partners offer dedicated audit teams whose analysis informs the design and implementation work that follows. These teams, who are exclusively focused on energy audits, bring expert knowledge and attention to detail to every project. This direct oversight enhances accountability and leads to more thorough and accurate audits, providing a solid foundation for effective energy-saving strategies.
- Data Accuracy: When implemented correctly, an auditors' tools can greatly enhance both audit speed and quality. Consider a partner who can capture and process data using software that outpaces traditional methods. If their tool is synchronized with solutioning software, it's all the better.
- Established Review Processes: Comprehensive energy audits keep quality at the forefront. Thorough review processes, including multiple review stages during and after data collection increase the findings' accuracy and reduce the need for future corrections.
- Commitment to Actionable Results Beyond the Audit: Beyond recommendations, a good audit partner can also provide and execute an implementation strategy. By transforming audit findings into an actionable plan, you save both time and money, with clear guidance on how and when to implement energy-saving technologies.
Selecting a partner with these qualifications helps ensure that your energy audit lays a solid foundation for making informed, impactful decisions toward sustainability.
The Value of a Holistic Approach
When assessing environmental impacts, understanding the different scopes—Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3—is essential for a comprehensive energy audit. Each scope represents various aspects of your organization's greenhouse gas emissions and requires distinct audit approaches and qualifications.
Scope 1: Direct Emissions
Scope 1 covers all direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. This includes emissions from on-site power generation, company vehicles and other company-controlled sources. An audit focusing on Scope 1 must examine facilities and operations in detail, identifying areas where emissions can be reduced. Tactics may include optimizing equipment efficiency, upgrading to cleaner technologies and enhancing operational practices. A qualified audit partner for Scope 1 should possess solid technical expertise in industrial processes and energy systems.
Scope 2: Indirect Emissions from Purchased Energy
Scope 2 emissions result from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating and cooling consumed by the organization. Auditors examining Scope 2 emissions need to evaluate energy procurement practices and the efficiency of energy consumption within facilities. This includes reviewing electricity usage patterns, assessing the potential of renewable energy sources and recommending energy-efficient upgrades to buildings and systems. A capable partner for Scope 2 should have experience in energy management, procurement strategies and a track record of implementing energy-saving technologies.
Scope 3: Other Indirect Emissions
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in an organization’s value chain. This scope is the broadest and can include emissions from sources such as purchased goods and services, employee commuting, business travel, waste disposal and even end-of-life treatment of sold products. Auditing Scope 3 requires a holistic approach that encompasses supply chain analysis, lifecycle assessment and collaboration with external stakeholders. A competent audit partner for Scope 3 must have expertise in supply chain logistics, environmental impact analysis and sustainable procurement practices.
Choosing a partner who understands these scopes and applies targeted strategies for each can ensure an effective, comprehensive audit process. This holistic approach not only addresses every facet of your sustainability efforts but also enhances your organization's ability to make informed, impactful decisions in reducing its overall carbon footprint.
Beyond the Audit: Tailored Recommendations and Support
To truly optimize the impact of an energy audit, recommendations should align with your business's overarching objectives. Every business is unique; hence, the audit recommendations and implementation strategy should be equally customized.
A tailor-made strategy ensures that solutions are feasible, balancing specific sustainability goals with operational constraints. Customization involves a deep-dive analysis that identifies unique opportunities for energy savings, efficiency improvements and integration of renewable energy sources. This analysis should be based on a company's unique operational dynamics.
For instance, a company focused on cost reduction might prioritize energy efficiency measures that have the quickest payback period. Conversely, a brand aiming to bolster its market position as a leader in sustainability might invest in long-term renewable energy projects or innovative building technologies, even if the initial investment is higher.
The role of an audit partner at this juncture can be incredibly valuable. As experts in managing complex energy projects, your partner should be able to advise, provide tangible payback calculations and position their case as to why they’re the best. You should feel like you have complete visibility into what you can expect in terms of ROI on your energy projects.
Ongoing Partnership: A Marker of Value
A true partner doesn’t just audit and run; they can implement the design, taking the burden off you by managing the implementation of energy saving technologies and servicing the work. They check in along the way, track performance and adjust strategies as needed. It's this level of involvement that turns sustainability efforts from routine compliance into key components of your business strategy and operations.
Conducting a comprehensive energy audit offers confidence and peace of mind, serving as an effective roadmap towards achieving sustainability. By spotting inefficiencies and areas for improvement, an energy audit can lead to substantial cost savings and more efficient operations. Teaming up with the right experts for the audit accelerates this impact, ensuring your sustainability efforts are effective over time.
Understanding and acting on your environmental impact offers great benefits—not just for the planet, but for your company's long-term success and reputation. If you’re ready to start an audit or have questions, contact us to start the discussion.
