Efficiency Services

Using on-site measurements and testing, along with any available historical fuel data, 3E Thermal will model the existing conditions of your building in our proprietary energy modeling software to understand how the building is currently performing. Different energy improvement measures can then be added to this model to give the owner an accurate representation of how much energy and money they can expect to save with different project scopes. We have conducted hundreds of energy models over the years and use this experience to continually improve and tune their modeling software to provide the most accurate energy modeling for your building.

3E Thermal uses several different testing devices to help pinpoint areas of energy loss and conduct verification throughout the course of a project. Smoke pens are used in conjunction with blower doors to visually check for areas of air leakage around known trouble spots like doors and windows. Infrared cameras are utilized to find gaps in insulation layers, potential condensation points, and can be used in conjunction with blower doors to identify areas of air leakage more easily. 3E Thermal also conducts combustion analysis and draft testing to determine how your heating equipment is operating, if it needs a tune up, and ensures that it has enough free air to draft properly up the chimney.

Air leakage is the largest contributor to heat loss in a building. 3E Thermal utilizes blower doors to determine how leaky your building is and give you an estimate on how well your building can be tightened up through various energy improvement measures. At the end of the project, another blower door test is conducted to verify how much air leakage was reduced and also identify any areas that may have been missed during the course of the work.

For larger renovation projects, 3E Thermal will conduct reviews of the specifications and architectural drawings, providing feedback/comments to the design team to help ensure that our scope is properly incorporated into the project.

3E Thermal can utilize smoke tests to identify air flow paths through your building. Artificial smoke is used to see where air is moving into a building, out of a building or through the space itself. Oftentimes, a blower door is used to either pressurize or depressurize a building. While the building is under either one of these situations, handheld smoke devices can be used to create puffs of smoke around areas like windows, baseboards or electrical fixtures and one can determine where the air can travel, based upon the flight of the artificial smoke.

In select cases, a theatrical smoke machine can be used to fill the interior of a space and one can determine how air can flow through the space and due to the large volume of smoke, one can even see where the air can escape from the building while standing outside.

3E Thermal can utilize an infrared camera as another tool in the toolbox for building diagnostics. An infrared camera displays temperature differences in a similar way as a regular camera displays light differences. For an infrared camera to be effective, the interior building temperature should be at least 20 degrees different from the outside temperature, either warmer or colder. An infrared camera is often paired with a blower door that is depressurizing a building, so that the infrared camera can identify where the outside air is traveling into or through a building.

It can be a helpful tool to quickly and easily scan a building to understand where pathways to the exterior exist in the structure. An infrared camera can also be used to identify moisture problems, as water soaked areas will appear colder than surrounding dry areas of a wall or ceiling. The infrared camera is not the silver bullet of building diagnostics like many people might think, but it is a very helpful tool in the right situation.

Building Commissioning is the process where a trained expert, the Building Commissioning Agent, is an advocate for a building owner from the beginning of a project all the way through the completion of construction and occupancy. Multi-family building/renovation projects are complex, with many involved partners, all of whom have different motivations in the project.

A Building Commissioning Agent will help distill the initial vision of an owner. With this goal in mind, the Building Commissioning Agent will ensure that the rest of the team has a clear understanding and can provide the best proposal for their portion of the project. The Building Commissioning Agent’s role continues throughout the construction phase, doing testing and site visits/inspections to ensure that each piece of the scope is being done properly.

After construction is complete, the Building Commissioning Agent will assist with the transition from the construction phase into the occupancy phase. They will work with the maintenance staff and occupants to ensure all parties are aware of how and when to maintain the building.