AUDITAC "Field Benchmarking and Market Development for Audit Methods in Air Conditioning"

AUDITAC is the project acronym for "Field Benchmarking and Market Development for Audit Methods in Air Conditioning".

The core aims of the AUDITAC project are to provide tools and information that will enable air-conditioning system Inspectors, Auditors, Owners and Operators across Europe to confidently identify actions that will save them money, and reduce the emissions of green house gases.

The project is timely in that it addresses the practical mechanisms needed to enable Member States to implement Article 9 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive which became law in January 2006.

The work is organised into a number of Work Packages each coordinated by the best expert on the subject, having its own deadlines and specified inputs and outputs from/ to the other tasks.

This two-year project, largely funded by the European Commission through its "Intelligent Energy - Europe" programme started in January 2005. It has participants from France (the project coordinators), UK, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Italy. Eurovent is also a participant.

Summary

In the coming years the stock of Air Conditioning (A/C) equipment in use in Europe will partly become obsolete. Most systems will be renovated for the first time (after 10-15 years of operation) and an opportunity exists to introduce higher efficiency systems. Out of the 2 200 Mm²  of air conditioned building area in use in 2010 in Europe, 800 Mm² will be more than 15 years old and will need urgent renewal.

The AUDITAC project will:

- Allow Member states to accelerate the adoption of Air Conditioning inspection as described in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD),

- Generate a number of field demonstrations and benchmarks of Inspection and AUDITs in Air Conditioning (hence the name AUDITAC),

- Help promote best practice examples and procedures in such audits and consequent retrofits,

- Provide the information needed to allow the Inspection and Audits to progress into investment-grade audits and actual works on the existing Air Conditioning facilities in EUR-25.

The first objective is to disseminate the information about measures taken at EU level to increase the motivation of the actors to take advantage of the opportunities created.

The second objective is to accelerate the adoption of best practice in Inspection (that may be defined in CEN, studied in this project or concerted between the countries) by generating success stories.

Standardisation is one way to accelerate the adoption process of the EPBD legislation. The project will also deliver other ways  to accelerate savings, without compromising health and comfort requirements.

The third objective is to increase the percentage of inspections followed by investment grade audits in AC. This involves providing the information required by the new inspection markets, in order that inspection and other regulatory measures are followed by actual renovation of underperforming plant or fabric. This will be achieved by providing information to assist in lowering the barriers between pre-audits and investment grade audit. The objective of an "inspection" is to give a broad view of the design and performance without putting a numerical value on its likely or actual performance. Other steps should follow, which represent the largest part of this study, even if it starts by promoting the CEN standardised inspection.

Renovation needs a pre-audit and detailed audit. However renovation requires mostly the detailed audit phase, because it’s the availability of “investment-grade” audits which makes the return on investment possible.

The fourth objective is to produce tools for the transformation of audits into actual renovation works. This will be done by providing computer and paper-based tools to assist decision making, and to support these through Case Studies showing what has already been achieved. Renovation of Air Conditioning systems is a big challenge for the coming years, and the EC generally should be aiming at the development of a renovation market if it wants to produce a successful realisation of potential improvements.

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