Technical Services

Energy Audits
With rising energy bills, more and more people are realizing that the best way to improve their existing buildings is to have a BPE, Inc. technician perform an energy audit. This comprehensive audit examines the entire building—top to bottom—to identify the “whole house” approach to saving energy and improving performance.

These audits uncover classic construction mistakes that hurt indoor air quality, hinder comfort, and waste energy. BPE offers energy audits on both residential and commercial buildings. To see a sample energy audit report, click here (PDF, 568k).

Visit these links for more information on home energy audits:

NC GoGreen

Energy Audit Benefits

TV News Story on a Home Energy Audit

Energy Audit Process

Home Energy Savings

HVAC Performance Testing
Many buildings today with comfort issues suffer from poor HVAC design or equipment installation. BPE offers Performance Testing to those clients who wish to investigate their mechanical systems to identify problems and create recommendations for solving those issues. Because BPE also specializes in mechanical design, our staff has the added advantage of understanding the heating and cooling load requirements for buildings, as well as typical HVAC installation problems.

Not only does Performance Testing solve comfort issues, but it also readily reduces the energy costs of buildings. Since on average in the United States only 50-70% of heated or cooled air makes it into a building’s conditioned space, identifying and sealing leaks in HVAC duct systems can lead to a 30-50% savings on heating and cooling bills!

Moisture Assessments
Modern construction has many challenges today, none of which compare to the problems presented by uncontrolled moisture in buildings. BPE applies its Building Science expertise to identify the source of moisture issues in structures. This “whole house approach” tackles the problem rather than focusing simply on the symptoms. BPE’s moisture assessments include investigation into the problems, as well as a report on how to fix the issues properly.

Building Failure Diagnostics
When buildings fail, they often have several variables that contribute to the failure. Using the “whole house approach,” BPE can accurately diagnose what issues are to blame when buildings don’t work properly. Once the issues are discovered, a report is generated in order to discuss improvement strategies.