ABSTRACT
It is worth saying at least one more time: From a basic technical standpoint, there is nothing wrong with the traditional energy audit. All of the data that has been gathered in the past is still necessary. The difference between what is needed today and what was acceptable yesterday is the identification and financial quantification of risk. The Investment Grade Audit (IGA), in equally broad terms, seeks to discover and minimize waste while simultaneously considering, discovering and minimizing investment risk. The IGA looks at what is happening now and then reaches ahead to consider what might occur over the life of the project. The idea of formalized risk assessment, mitigation or management may seem a little foreign at first glance, but it is merely taking something people all do every day, usually without conscious thought, and applying it to business problems.
