Energy Audit
The South Barwon Community Centre (SBCC) is Belmont’s local Neighbourhood House. The Centre runs a range of events and activities and offers a friendly meeting space for community groups and other local organisations
It is in the SBCC culture to have a keen eye on energy and resource consumption by ensuring minimum use during the day and a rigorous regime turning appliances off at the end of the working day.
The Centre Manager decided to engage an energy auditor to gain further knowledge and certainty of the Centre’s energy consumption and possible reduction strategies.
Billing data and data from electrical and gas appliances from SBCC were collected, analysed and translated into recommendations for energy consumption, cost and carbon reduction potential.
The Solution
Three of the key recommendations and findings:
- Decommissioning an old hot water urn, reducing annual total electricity consumption by 5%
- Draft proofing for managing large air leakage and eliminating draft discomforts in the workplace for staff and visitors
- Uncovering incorrect billing procedure from electricity provider and reducing energy costs by 33%
Based on the audit, analysis of SBCC bills and conversations with Centre staff the energy audit report indicates savings of approximately 40% to be possible (excluding the uncovered billing error). This is the equivalent to cutting SBCC’s annual GHG emission by 11,205kgCO2e, the same as not burning 4,700litres of petrol or not driving 44,767km.