The ASHRAE Level 2 report
Choose the ASHRAE Level 2 report when a program asks for an ASHRAE Standard 211 Level 2 energy audit. It adds the pages the standard asks for, and a qualified energy auditor completes them after a site visit.
For: Analyzer (others: view-only)Where: Energy Auditing, Report in the building bar and the Site visit tab
- Which report to use
- Choose the report
- The Site visit tab
- What the report adds
- Draft until it’s complete
- Download the PDFs
- What the auditor still decides
- Related
Which report to use
Both reports come from the same calibrated model and the same calculations.
- InverseAudit - The usual report. It needs no site visit, so it suits remote screening, owner reports and planning.
- ASHRAE Level 2 - The InverseAudit report plus the pages ASHRAE Standard 211 asks for a Level 2 audit: a site visit, a description of the building and its systems, an equipment inventory, the energy data and calibration results, and more about each measure and the package. Use it when a program asks for a Standard 211 Level 2 audit, for example C-PACE financing, LEED O+M or a city’s audit ordinance.
The standard doesn’t cover remote audits: a Level 2 audit needs a site visit by a qualified energy auditor. InverseAudit’s analysis alone isn’t a Standard 211 audit, which is why the ASHRAE Level 2 report stays a draft until the auditor’s entries are done.
There’s no separate Level 1 report: the Level 2 report covers what Level 1 asks for.
Choose the report
- On Energy Auditing, choose the building.
- Next to Download PDF, click ASHRAE Level 2 under Report.
- Click Use ASHRAE Level 2 to confirm.
The page reloads with a Site visit tab, and the Download PDF menu lists the ASHRAE report’s parts. Each building keeps its own report type, and new buildings start on InverseAudit.
You can switch back at any time; the site visit entries are kept for when you switch again. Only the building’s analyzer can switch, and not while the audit is posted: unpost it first.
The Site visit tab
The qualified energy auditor fills in the Site visit tab after visiting the building. Its sections are listed on the left, each with how many of its entries are done:
- Site visit and interviews - The dates, who was there, the areas and systems visited, what was checked, the interviews, operation and maintenance observations, and the main findings for the Executive summary.
- Items to verify - What the owner entered and what the calibration found, for the operating hours, setpoints, lighting, heating, cooling, outside air and water heating. Tick Confirmed when the site visit agrees, or write what was found.
- Facility and contacts - Renovations, earlier audits, landmark status, the owner and bill payer, other space types, the occupancy schedule, and the walls on each side of the building.
- Envelope, HVAC and Water heating, lighting, loads - What the model can’t know, such as construction, condition, controls and nameplates.
- Equipment inventory - The units installed, one row for each unit or group of identical units.
- Utility accounts and rates - Account and meter numbers, and the tariffs.
- Measures and package - The review with the owner, planned dates, reasons for measures not evaluated, funding, O&M and M&V costs, and the assessment of solar PV and combined heat and power.
- Compliance page - The building owner, the auditor and their qualification, and the dates the Level 1 and Level 2 audits were completed.
Each entry saves when you leave it. For tables, click Add a row to add a row and × to remove one. The entries lock while the audit is posted, and only the building’s analyzer can change them. The number on the tab is how many entries are still empty.
Narratives
Envelope, HVAC and Water heating, lighting, loads each have narratives for describing the building as found, for example “Systems installed” for the HVAC. They’re optional: a narrative left empty doesn’t print at all, not even its heading, and doesn’t keep the report a draft.
Measure text and priorities
The measure summary uses InverseAudit’s text for each kind of measure: the system it changes, and its comfort, other non-energy and O&M impacts. Under Measures and package, the auditor can replace that text, or a measure’s priority, for this building.
What the report adds
| Where | What |
|---|---|
| Cover | The Standard 211 Level 2 title, the site visit date and the auditor’s statement |
| After the cover | The compliance form (Form A) |
| Executive summary | An audit overview at the top: scope, energy data, method, key dates, contacts, energy use and the recommended package |
| New sections after the Executive summary | Site Visit and Interviews, Facility Description, Building Envelope, HVAC Systems, Water Heating, Lighting and Other Loads and Equipment Inventory |
| Analysis | Energy use by end use with all fuels, before and after the measures, and Renewable and Distributed Energy |
| Recommendations | The measure summary (low-cost and capital measures), the review with the owner, costs and economics, measures considered but not recommended, the savings check by end use, the recommended package, where the savings come from, measurement and verification, and measures for a Level 3 analysis |
| Utility analysis | Historical Energy Use (accounts, rates, the measured data and the benchmark) and Calibration Results |
Each figure is marked with where it comes from: Model (the building’s inputs and model), Modeled, verify (estimated by the calibration, for the auditor to check), Calculated, or Auditor.
Equipment as the model’s totals
The calibrated model simplifies the building’s geometry and systems; for example, it may have one air handler per floor. So the report gives equipment as the model’s totals, such as the total cooling capacity, supply air and fan power. The auditor lists the units actually installed in the equipment inventory, and the report adds up their nameplate capacities next to the model’s totals.
Draft until it’s complete
While any required site visit entry is empty, or the energy data is incomplete (for example, natural gas is used but there are no gas bills), the report is a draft:
- Each empty entry prints as a yellow placeholder.
- Every page header says DRAFT, with how many site visit items are open and what data is missing.
- The compliance form shows Not yet for the standard’s requirements, and its signature lines are marked not to be signed.
- Full report in the Download PDF menu shows how many items are open.
Enter 12 months of bills for each fuel on the building’s meter data to complete the energy data. See Meter data.
Download the PDFs
Under Download PDF, the ASHRAE Level 2 report has Full report, Cover and compliance, Executive summary, Site visit and facility, Analysis, Recommendations, Utility analysis and, for US buildings, Appendix A: ESG/carbon. The parts show the same pages as in the full report. See Reports and PDFs.
What the auditor still decides
- Measures without calculated savings - Keep each, with the reason, or drop it.
- Measures not evaluated - Where the building is below the energy code and no measure was run, give the reason. A measure is listed as not recommended, with no reason needed, when the building already meets the code.
- Priorities - They come from the payback. The cost, savings and ROI bands are InverseAudit’s, not values from the standard.
- Solar PV and combined heat and power - The report sizes them and asks for the auditor’s assessment. Solar PV savings come from the Solar PV measure, when you run it; combined heat and power needs a Level 3 study.
- Costs - Material, labor and markup come from the cost table’s shares for each kind of measure. A cost typed in on the Recommendations tab is shown as its total.
Check the standard’s own reporting forms and the program’s requirements before you submit the report.