ASHRAE Level II Energy Audit
rahway Housing Authority
Overview
Facility Strategies Group (FSG) worked with the Rahway Housing Authority (RHA) to complete a Level II energy audit to satisfy HUD’s RAD application requirements. HUD’s requirements for RAD Energy Audits include 1) provide a description of existing site conditions, 2) perform utility analysis including energy and water usage benchmarking and rate analysis, 3) establish energy and water consumption baselines, 4) analyze ECMs, 5) assess the feasibility of various alternative energy technologies, and 6) identify any additional recommendations for the RHA.
To meet these requirements FSG performed site inspections of each development to observe existing conditions. During these inspections, FSG observed and recorded all relevant information for building envelopes, HVAC, appliances, plumbing fixtures, lighting, and ventilation.
To perform a benchmarking analysis, utility data for the last three-years along with several normalizing parameters were entered into the Energy Star Portfolio Manager which scores each site's energy consumption relative to a database of developments with similar age and characteristics. The Energy Star Scores for RHA energy usage ranged from the 21st to the 76th percentile while water scores ranged from the 55th to the 90th percentile. Lower percentile scores are indicative of sites with poorer energy performance that can potentially benefit the most for retrofits. Costs from the most recent 12-months of utility data were used to establish the average rate for each utility.
Based on the observed site conditions, potential ECMs were identified and analyzed for energy and utility cost savings as well as installation costs. The energy analyses included detailed calculations of energy consumption for pre-retrofit and post-retrofit conditions and installation costs based on RS Means construction cost data. Energy cost savings were calculated by applying the average rates from the rate analysis to the energy and water savings estimates for each ECM. From the estimated costs and savings, a simple payback period was determined for each ECM. ECMs with payback periods within the expected useful life (EUL) of the retrofit were recommended for immediate implementation while ECMs with paybacks in excess of their EUL were only recommended to be installed on an incremental basis at the end of their useful life. The ECMs recommended included plumbing fixtures, interior lighting, and exterior lighting. Other measures including windows, exterior wall insulation, space heating, and DHW equipment were not recommended due to having high installation cost and low annual savings, or because the equipment was recently replaced with significant useful life remaining.
For each site, various alternative energy technologies were assessed and a recommendation for further study was provided for feasible technologies. In total FSG identified ECMs with total annual savings estimated at $49,955 and a total installation cost of $1.4 million. The RAD Energy Audit report was submitted to the RHA to include with its application for RAD conversion to HUD. RHA has indicated plans to convert its public housing properties to RAD in two phases with senior developments planned for RAD conversion in 2020 followed by the family developments later.