Energy audits and energy passports

Country / jurisdiction: Russian Federation · Year: 2010 · Status: In force · Level: National · Type: Voluntary

The Federal Law No. 261-FZ "On Saving Energy and Increasing Energy Efficiency, and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation " requires energy audits to be undertaken with respect to products, buildings, structures, and technological processes, as well as legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, with a view to ascertaining amounts of energy resources used, and gauging energy efficiency and the potential for energy savings and energy efficiency increases, as well as planning and estimating supportive measures.

The findings of an energy audit are to be recorded in an "energy passport". Self-regulatory organizations are to send copies of energy passports of mandatory audited organization to the duly authorized state authority. Subject to Russian commercial secrecy legislation, the latter may request from the self-regulatory organizations energy passports executed upon the results of voluntary energy audits. The data contained in the passports is subject to systematization, analysis, and use by the duly authorized state authority.

As a general rule, energy audits are voluntary, but the Law also lists organizations subject to mandatory inspections of this kind, including the following:

- state and local governmental bodies; organizations with state or municipality interest;

- organizations engaged in "regulated activities "

- organizations that produce, generate, and/or transport water, natural gas, heat, or electric power, produce natural gas, oil, or coal, manufacture oil products, process natural gas, refine crude oil, or transport petroleum and oil products;

- organizations whose total expenses on consumption of natural gas, diesel and other fuel, residual fuel, heat, coal, and electric power exceed RUB 10 million per calendar year;

Organizations subjected to mandatory energy auditing was to have the first such audit to be arranged and conducted by December 31, 2012, with subsequent audits to take place at least once every five years. Energy audits are to be conducted by Self-Regulatory Organizations in order to collect objective data, on energy use, and to estimate the potential for energy savings (delivery of Energy Performance Certificates).

Common industrial audits take place via walk-through inspections on:

- motors, fans, pumps and compressors

- lighting systems

- energy saving for large industrial processes (melting, drying)

- other electricity saving measures (compressed air systems, power distribution systems, cooling systems and peak power control

- heat and steam consumers

- heating, ventilation and air

- conditioning systems

- regulation heating systems

Auditors are using such measuring devices as:

- infrared cameras

- combustion analyzers

- electricity quality gauges

- temperature and humidity gauges

- ultrasonic acoustic detectors

- pH gauges

- ultrasonic water flow gauges.

Official source: http://www.russianlawonline.com/law-firms-publications/new-developments-russian-legislation-saving-energy-increasing-energy-efficiency