Research opportunities for rebates or incentives to perform energy audits in your facility. Local power utilities often offer rebate programs for companies making an effort to improve energy efficiency.

Take photos and make video during your walkthrough to document current conditions and opportunities for upgrades to mechanical equipment. This type of documentation may be used to help convince building owners and operators of the need for improvements or as a training tool for new hires.

The ASHRAE Procedures document clearly defines the required tasks for both a Level I: Walkthrough and the Level II: Energy Audit. The Level II Audit requires a more detailed building survey and cost-benefit analysis of all practical measures to improve energy efficiency, including identified capital improvements, and also requires that you explain your rationale if you deem certain capital improvement opportunities impractical.

If you plan to pursue EAc2.1: Existing Building Commissioning—Investigation and Analysis, you have the option of meeting those credit requirements with completion of an ASHRAE Level II: Energy Audit. EAc2.1 can also be earned by starting a commissioning process, but this is unrelated to EAp1 requirements. If you do choose the auditing option for EAc2.1, coordinate your efforts now, and complete the requirements for both the Level I and Level II audits at the same time. 

Produce an audit report that details the findings and specifically documents the following for your LEED application (see the Documentation Toolkit for an example):

If performing the analysis in-house, closely review the “Procedures for Commercial Building Energy Audits” (see Resources) before beginning the process to ensure that you will be collecting the proper data during your building walkthrough.

It is common for the Level I analysis to be performed by a qualified third-party consultant; however, knowledgeable in-house staff can also do it.

If a Level I analysis has been conducted within the last five years, you don’t need to repeat the procedure during the performance period; however, you must update the audit report to reflect any significant changes in operating procedures or building systems.

The ASHRAE Level I Walkthrough evaluates a building’s energy performance and energy consumption by analyzing building energy bills and conducting a brief visual survey. You’ll need to gather energy consumption data for the entire building to derive performance indicators and identify low-cost and no-cost opportunities and capital improvement measures to improve overall performance.

Complete an ASHRAE Level I: Walkthrough as defined in “Procedures for Commercial Building Energy Audits.” (See Resources.) This ASHRAE document describes the general procedures to guide a proper walkthrough and provides a uniform method of reporting the required information.