E3 Insights

I start energy-cost comparisons with the reporting rule – not the utility bill. Before comparing buildings, I confirm what the policy covers, set one building or campus boundary, and gather 12 consecutive months of complete utility data.

Then I match the benchmark to the building’s purpose:

• K–12 schools: Check enrollment, school hours, and summer use.
• Municipal buildings: Compare similar services, including public hours, emergency readiness, and wastewater treatment volume.
• College campuses: Separate housing, classrooms, labs, and shared-plant energy.
• Hospitals: Account for patient volume, clinical services, and life-safety requirements.

I use $/ft²/year for budgets, energy use intensity for …

A running fan doesn’t prove a classroom has enough outdoor air. I start school HVAC testing by checking measured airflow and room pressure against each space’s requirements – not a generic classroom rate.

My approach follows six steps:

• Prepare: Review plans, maintenance records, controls, and room schedules.
• Inspect: Check equipment and air paths, then repair faults before balancing.
• Measure: Use calibrated tools to check supply, return, outdoor-air, and exhaust flow in cfm, plus pressure in inches of water column.
• Correct: Adjust airflow without cutting required ventilation or making every room positive.
• Retest: Check affected rooms and connected systems

I put ventilation first and energy savings second. Before turning on AI controls, I’d set minimum outdoor-air rates, confirm airflow, and keep indoor humidity below 60% – ideally 30%–50%, following EPA guidance.

AI can use occupancy, weather, and sensor readings to adjust airflow and schedules. But a low CO₂ reading doesn’t prove the air is clean. My checklist covers the whole system:

• Airflow and filtration: Meet required outdoor-air rates, choose filters the equipment can handle, and check actual delivery.
• Zones and schedules: Match airflow and runtime to room use without losing comfort, humidity control, or required

Building Automation System Calculator

Estimate BAS Savings Before You Commit

A Building Automation System Calculator helps facility managers, property owners, and energy teams quickly estimate the financial impact of upgrading controls. Instead of guessing at the value of better scheduling, tighter setpoint control, alarm visibility, or fault detection, you can translate those improvements into projected annual savings, payback, and long-term return.

Built for Real-World Building Decisions

This tool is designed for early planning, retrofit screening, and internal capital discussions. It considers building type, control maturity, occupancy pattern, BAS scope, and utility costs to estimate how automation may reduce …

I’d start with low solar heat gain in hot Texas climates and better insulation in colder areas – not one window spec for the whole state. For public buildings, SHGC of 0.20–0.25 is a starting point in hot-humid areas; whole-window U-factor of 0.25–0.30 Btu/(h·ft²·°F) suits mixed-dry areas. These are planning targets, not code limits.

Quick Comparison

Lighting Cost Calculator

A Lighting Cost Calculator helps you see how much your current lighting system costs to operate and how much you could save by switching to a more efficient option like LED. That matters whether you’re replacing a handful of bulbs at home or reviewing dozens of fixtures in an office, warehouse, school, or retail space.

Compare Energy Use and Upgrade Savings

By entering fixture count, lamp type, wattage, run hours, and electricity rate, you can estimate annual energy use and operating cost for both your existing and proposed lighting setup. The tool also factors in …

I’d choose the fund by project type first: LoanSTAR for public-building energy retrofits, SECO’s separate fund for qualifying community centers, and TWDB for water or wastewater infrastructure.

As of October 10, 2026, the cited LoanSTAR enrollment is closed. The community-center notice lists a December 18, 2026, deadline at 2 p.m. CT and first-come, first-served review.

Quick Comparison

Deferred Maintenance Calculator

Estimate the real cost of waiting

A Deferred Maintenance Calculator helps building owners and facilities teams move beyond rough guesses. Instead of treating every delayed repair the same, it shows how backlog grows when projects are postponed, how escalation affects future replacement cost, and where failure risk can create much larger exposure. That makes it easier to prioritize roofing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, envelope, and life safety work with a clearer financial lens.

Better planning for capital decisions

For many properties, the issue isn’t whether repairs are needed. It’s deciding what should be addressed now and …

Before you buy a battery, I recommend checking three things: site fit, backup needs, and lifetime costs. Start with 12 months of utility bills and interval load data – not building square footage – to estimate battery size and potential savings.

For a school, clinic, campus, or city building, I’d focus on:

• Your goal: Lower electricity bills, keep critical loads running, or both. Backup reserves can limit daily savings.
• Installation limits: Space, equipment access, electrical capacity, fire safety, permits, and your Texas utility’s connection rules.
• Battery size: Match power in kW and usable energy in kWh to demand

A low-VOC label alone isn’t enough for WELL. For a Texas school or city building, I’d start with 2 checks: product compliance and completed-building air testing, using the criteria that apply to your project.

Here’s the short checklist I’d use:

• Match products to WELL criteria. Check the material category and accepted emissions report for each covered product.
• Keep one installed-product log. Link supporting records to locations, track substitutions, and check required coverage.
• Plan renovation controls before work starts. Assign one lead to oversee containment, ventilation, and return-to-use checks.
• Check the finished space. Confirm the required