In these recessionary times convincing building owners to spend money upgrading insulation is a tough sell, but energy auditors might have found the solution by providing owners with comprehensive energy audits that breakdown the detailed costs of an upgrade and its amortization period.

The key to meeting this objective is having the tools available to produce those energy audits. Accurate thermal imaging cameras and sophisticated computer software determine precisely how much and where insulation is required to improve a plant or factory’s energy efficiency.

“Without being able to identify the cost of repairs and the payback numbers, it would make for a very hard sell to owners,” explains Paul Desrochers, partner and director of operations for IMAP Audits Inc., a Sarnia-based auditor that has seen a significant increase in the number of auditors it employs due to the increasing demand for its services.

A good example of one of IMAP’s thermal imaging insulation audits involved a steam system at AbitibiBowater’s kraft pulp mill in Fort Frances, Ont. The owner was so pleased with the results that it hired the auditor to duplicate the work at its commercial printing paper mill. IMAP revealed that the annual heat loss along the piping system at the kraft mill was 59 billion; 9.5 billion BTUs were lost at the paper mill annually. The two audits further concluded that there were safety hazards along the existing piping networks because of deficient insulation.
The pulp and paper giant’s objective was to reduce its $50 million annual total energy costs by $2 million. Insulation was only one factor in its energy reduction program, but it was a key one. The insulation upgrades recommended by IMAP cut AbitibiBowater’s heat losses from 68.5 billion BTUs to 2.6 billion – a 96 percent reduction vs bare surfaces – translating to $284,355 in energy savings and a 1,800 tonne total reduction in CO2 emissions, says Desrochers.

He says when IMAP is retained to do an energy audit it provides a report to the owner that “very specifically” indicates how much insulation is required, the type of insulation or insulations to be used, and precise locations for the insulation. Its reports are based on generic insulation systems only.

The insulation contractor retained by AbitibiBowater to upgrade the two mills was Rugged Air Systems Ltd. of Thunder Bay. It’s unlikely that, without IMAP’s findings using infrared thermography and sophisticated software used to identify heat loss, the contractor would have landed the contracts, says Desrochers.

Insulation has the quickest payback of any energy-saving element in a plant, the auditor points out, adding that installing a well-designed insulation system can save a significant percentage of the fuel costs it takes to operate the equipment.

Insulation distributor/fabricator GlassCell Isofab Inc. has developed an energy audit program that is also proving to be a powerful tool in the promotion of insulation upgrades. Like IMAP, GlassCell Isofab uses calculations from the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association’s 3E Plus insulation thickness software program.

However, rather than simply calculating the efficiency on a computer program based on out-of-the-box insulation, GlassCell Isofab’s uses Microsoft Excel-based software to calculate the efficiency of the actual insulation on site, explains Denis Beaudin, technical services manager and developer of the company’s program. “How we do it is based on the actual surface temperature that the infrared technology allows us to determine. It provides us with things 3E would not provide us with.”

While a picture might be worth a thousand words in the publishing industry, in the world of energy audits, it is worth a thousand dollars, says Beaudin, noting that today’s thermal imaging cameras provide so much information on the condition of in-situ insulation systems.

The potential market being created by energy auditors for insulation contractors is huge – particularly when their findings show short payback periods are possible. “We’ve barely scratched the surface of the market,” says Beaudin, noting that beyond the money owners can save by upgrading insulation they also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which shows them how to be socially responsible.

He points to projects at Redpath Sugar in Toronto as an example of an owner doing the socially responsible thing and, at the same time, saving big money. At Redpath, it cost $443,438 to make insulation improvements recommended through an audit by GlassCell Isofab, but the annual savings were $226,735, translating to a payback in only 1.96 years. The improvements resulted in greenhouse gas emission reductions of 4.8mm lbs CO2 and carbon equivalent. The insulation contractor was Inscan Contractors (Ontario) Inc.

Another GlassCell Isofab audit was at the Centre Hospitalier L-H Lafontaine in Montreal where the insulation improvement cost was $111,221, resulting in an annual savings of $51,790 for a payback in 2.1 years. The resulting greenhouse gas emission reduction is 80,000 pounds. The contractor was Isolation Val-Mers Ltée.

Based on these kinds of results one might think that owners would be highly motivated to do energy audits, but that is not always the case. It’s often not easy for an energy auditor to get in the front door. However, they are getting some help from energy providers who are making it easier for owners to see the value of audits by offering them financial incentives to have them done. Subsidizing 50 percent of the cost of an audit that runs up to $10,000 is a case in point. Energy providers also offer subsidies on the insulation installation.

The subsidies are “an important tool” for the industry, says Beaudin. Insulation upgrades are “the cheapest and most energy-saving resource,” but a resource that many owners still don’t know enough about.

The software and thermal imaging technology used by companies like GlassCell Isofab and IMAP Audits has come a long way in the past few years to providing detailed findings on energy deficiencies.

“Unless [the auditor] can provide the cost of repairs to the client, you will find it difficult getting through the front door,” points out Desrochers, noting that the recession hasn’t hurt his company’s business. IMAP recently completed insulation audits for a large pulp and paper company in BC and a former client in Sarnia has come back to IMAP for a second plant audit. “In the past we had to knock on a lot of doors for business, but now we’re getting a lot more calls. It’s a fantastic market.”

Recession or not, insulation has value for building and facility owners. More than ever, auditing services are a great way to prove it to them.