Risk Mitigation in Energy Efficiency Retrofit Projects Using Automated Performance Control

Abstract

Performance gap concerns limit investment in the building energy efficiency retrofit market. In particular, the ability of projects to deliver on promised energy savings is commonly drawn into question. Performance risk mitigation mainly occurs through energy saving performance guarantees. Contractual stipulations arrange the conditions of the guarantee, and ceteris paribus, a higher energy saving guarantee should reduce project performance risk. Therefore, methods that yield a higher energy saving guarantee could help accelerate the market. We review the ability of “smart,” automated, and connected technologies to: (a) intelligently monitor and control the performance of energy-consuming devices to reduce performance variations, (b) provide additional degrees of control over the project’s performance, and, by doing so, (c) motivate the energy services company (ESCO) to raise the energy saving guarantee. Our analysis finds that use of such automated performance control could significantly raise the energy saving guarantee, making projects more likely to succeed.