By Healthcare Facilities Today

Spokane, Wash. — Ecova, a total energy and sustainability management company, today announced a new energy audit and reporting service for building owners dealing with the complexities of audit and reporting requirements in San Francisco. Building on Ecova’s energy audit experience, with over 200 audits completed in the past two years, the new service helps clients manage increasingly complex reporting requirements. Nonresidential buildings over 10,000 square feet now require an energy audit from a qualified energy auditor along with the submission of a Confirmation of Energy Audit to the San Francisco Department of Energy. San Francisco’s requirement is varied depending on such factors as building size, age, ENERGY STAR certification and more.

In the past year, eight cities and two states have been impacted by new legislation that requires energy reporting for buildings that meet certain qualifications. In an effort to drive down energy consumption and promote sustainability, several of the new ordinances require reporting through ENERGY STAR®. This trend is expected to continue, with several additional cities and multiple states expressing interest or considering similar requirements. As the largest ENERGY STAR reporting provider, benchmarking more than 40,000 buildings each month in ENERGY STAR, Ecova is well-suited to provide this service to clients.

“In San Francisco, reporting alone is no longer enough as the city requires energy audits as part of a recently passed ordinance,” said Bob Zak, senior vice president, facility solutions, Ecova. “Our engineering services offer energy audits as the first step. We then analyze actual consumption and spend information and identify opportunities to improve efficiencies and reduce costs portfolio-wide. Over the last 2 years, Ecova has completed over 200 energy audits of commercial buildings and found average savings opportunities of over 20% of annual utility spend, providing our clients with significant energy efficiency opportunities.”

About Ecova

Ecova is the total energy and sustainability management company whose sole purpose is to see more, save more, and sustain more for its clients. Using insights based on consumption, cost and carbon footprint data spanning thousands of utilities, hundreds of thousands of business sites and millions of households, Ecova provides fully managed, technology-optimized solutions for saving resources, which in turn increase returns, lower risks, and enhance reputations. Ecova is the largest non-regulated subsidiary of Avista Corp (NYSE: AVA and avistacorp.com). For more information, visit the company’s website at ecova.com, on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/ecova or follow Ecova on Twitter at @ecovainc.