Building Energy Center

The University of Dayton Building Energy Center provides low-cost energy audits of commercial buildings.

Three steps of an energy audit:

• Client provides energy bills and base data on building and equipment at least two weeks prior to site visit. UD-BEC team analyzes data prior to site visit.
• UD-BEC team visits the site for one or two days depending on building size.
• UD-BEC team delivers confidential report within four-weeks of site visit.

Your UD-BEC commercial building energy audit reports include:

• Building description
• Energy using equipment description
• Statistical analysis of electricity and natural gas use
• Benchmarking comparison of building's energy use to similar buildings in region
• CO₂ footprint analysis and information on purchasing wind energy
• Hour-by-hour energy simulation model calibrated to baseline energy use
• General advice on quantifying energy efficiency opportunities
• ETracker software for tracking weather adjustments
• List of specific energy savings opportunities: specific recommendations, estimated savings, estimated implementation cost, estimated simple payback.

Energy savings on utility bills for commercial buildings are about $2 per conditioned square foot per year. The cost for a UD-BEC assessment is generally about $0.10 per conditioned square foot of floor area.

UD-BEC can provide engineering and economic analysis to support the design of net-zero energy buildings. Net-zero energy building design assistance helps integrate energy efficiency and renewable energy options under a unified approach.

Assistance can include:

• Development hour-by-hour energy simulation model of baseline design
• Hour-by-hour simulation of solar photovoltaic/solar thermal/wind turbine system performance
• Baseline sizing of solar photovoltaic/solar thermal/wind turbine systems
• Identification of energy efficiency opportunities
• Integrated approach for selecting most cost effective energy efficiency and renewable energy options.

The cost for this service is generally $2,000; payable within 30 days of receipt of the final report.

UD-BEC can provide independent engineering and economic analysis of renewable energy systems including:

• Solar photovoltaic
• Active solar thermal
• Passive solar
• Daylighting
• Wind power

The cost for this service is negotiable, depending on the scope of the work.

UD-BEC has experience in the analysis and application of phase-change materials and thermal mass in buildings to reduce peak loads and moderate temperatures.

The cost for this service is negotiable, depending on the scope of the work.

UD-BEC can help building owners track weather/occupancy/sales/production adjusted energy use and CO₂ emissions by single or multiple buildings from utility or sub-metered data. This information:

1. measures the impact of energy efficiency initiatives, and
2. identifies energy-efficiency opportunities through comparisons over time and between buildings.

The cost for this service is negotiable depending on scope of work.