Tuesday, April 29, 2014
1 pm EST (60 min)Conference Number: (415) 854-0868

Compile and discuss available resources, tools, and best practices regarding quality assurance methods.

QA Checklist Elements:

• Data - historical energy usage
  
• completeness of data collection and validity of data
• utility data analysis - stability and normalization
  
• retrofit isolation baseline development

• Data - and building system operation / building asset data
  
• building data collection methods and processes
• asset data collection
  
• operational and performance data collection
• Data - load profile
  
• data collection and analysis
  
• Investment criteria
  
• SPB, SIR, IRR, NPV
  
• Cost estimates
  
• Implementation cost reasonableness
  
• Energy modeling
  
• quality assurance and calibration
  
• ECM modeling
  
• Spreadsheet calculations
  
• quality assurance regarding methods and assumptions
  
• reasonability review methods
  
• Operational performance verification
  
• resources
  
• report templates
  
• system manuals - concise
  
• Operations, maintenance and monitoring
  
• FDD tools / resources
  
• RCx tools / resources
  
• Operator’s manual templates
  
• Training
  
• M&V
  
• Automated tools
  
• Resources
  
• Templates (M&V plans and reports)
  
• Uncertainty and risk
  
• methods for determining / quantifying uncertainty
  
• methods for determining risk
  
• Roles of third-party evaluators
  
• currently suggest third party performance of Cx
  
• currently suggest third part performance of M&V; at least require third party review of M&V
  
• Other QA topics that should be addressed?

The Investor Confidence Project (ICP) is pleased to announce our next Technical Forum call, which will focus on the development of the Quality Assurance (QA) Specification.  This significant undertaking will address areas of an energy efficiency project that require greater levels of scrutiny and QA, as well as methods, roles and responsibilities associated with the QA process.  The QA Specification will address QA processes and resources applied to each element-procedure-documentation item in the three protocols (Large, Standard, and Targeted Commercial) in a standardized and repeatable process. The ultimate intent is to provide a framework for best practices, and links to QA resources, to assess and minimize risk and uncertainty associated with energy efficiency projects and the cost and complexity for investors to gain confidence in projected savings and therefore cash flows that result from investment in energy efficiency.

The QA Specification will utilize existing guidelines, processes and methods already established in most cases.  If resources for a particular item are not available, a QA method specific to this item will be developed.

This first Technical Forum call is scheduled for Tuesday, April 29th at 1 pm EST.  This call will provide a forum to discuss various industry-accepted methods associated with the protocol tasks, as well as brainstorm available tools and resources for QA.  A complete agenda for this call will be forthcoming next week.

We look forward to a lively discussion with all participants.

Regards,

The ICP Development Team