Measured.
Modelled.
Verified.
ASHRAE Level I–III energy audits and calibrated whole-building energy modelling, delivered as one service rather than two. In practice they are a single continuous process: you cannot trust a model that has not been reconciled against a bill, and you cannot price a measure from an audit that never modelled the alternative.
Two halves of
one process.
Energy Modeling was a separate service line here until September 2026. It was folded into this page because audits and modelling are one continuous process in practice, and splitting them made a reader choose between two entries describing the same engagement.
ASHRAE Level I–III energy audits
From a walk-through survey to investment-grade analysis, with depth matched to the size of the decision. A benchmarking exercise does not need the rigour a capital commitment does, and paying for the deeper one first is how audit budgets get spent without producing a decision.
Calibrated whole-building modelling
Modelling serves two jobs: verifying audit findings by reconciling a calibrated model against actual utility bills, and — where a project needs performance-pathway code compliance or CMHC MLI Select qualification — full whole-building hourly simulation.
Six steps, every
audit.
The same underlying process runs across our engineering work — site and data gathering, baseline calibration, scenario modelling, comparison, financial synthesis, verified recommendation. Only the tools change with the application: here that means a calibrated baseline model and, where it is needed, an hourly design model.
What the process
delivers.
A CMHC MLI Select Level 2 qualification study: a fabric-first retrofit where the envelope was sealed and insulated before any equipment was touched.
Residential mid-rise, St. Catharines, Ontario
Existing 1970s-era three-storey masonry building · 20 residential units
The retrofit was designed around a documented chronic heat-loss problem on the building's third floor, and addressed it envelope-first: R-60 roof insulation, window and door perimeter sealing, and interior low-E thermal film. Equipment was left alone. Sizing a mechanical upgrade before the envelope is fixed means sizing it against a load that is about to disappear.
Modelled results from an hourly whole-building study against NECB 2017 and ASHRAE 90.1. These are design-stage projections used for programme qualification, not post-occupancy measured savings. Where we report measured savings, they are verified under IPMVP with the confidence interval stated — see why we adjust the baseline, not the results.
What you
receive.
Including the model files. A model you cannot open is a number you have to take on trust, and the next engineer who touches the building has to build it again.
- A structured audit report — Level I, II or III, according to scope
- The calibrated baseline model file, reconciled against actual utility billing
- A whole-building hourly model, where the project requires code compliance or programme qualification
- An itemised ECM package, with savings shown individually and in combination
- Programme-qualification documentation — an MLI Select scoring summary, for instance — where the engagement calls for it
Common questions.
Depth, matched to the size of the decision. Level I is a walk-through survey — enough to benchmark performance and identify the obvious. Level II breaks energy use down by system, with preliminary savings and cost estimates against specific measures. Level III is investment-grade: the engineering detail needed to commit capital with confidence, and it normally includes calibrated modelling.
Not always. Full whole-building simulation is required specifically when a project has to demonstrate code compliance or qualify for a financing programme such as CMHC MLI Select. Plenty of audits never need one; a calibrated baseline model is often enough to verify the findings and rank the measures.
Because it is reconciled against real bills before it is trusted for anything. A baseline model is built, its predicted consumption is checked against the building's actual metered gas and electricity, and inputs are adjusted until the two agree inside a tight tolerance. On the engagement quoted above that was +1.5% on gas and −10.6% on electricity. Until a model lands there, it is not used to justify a measure.
MLI Select generally applies to multi-family residential properties able to demonstrate a meaningful reduction in energy consumption and GHG emissions against a baseline — commonly cited from around 20% to begin qualifying, scaling through higher tiers. Eligibility and programme detail have to be confirmed with CMHC and your lender. Modelling establishes whether the reduction is achievable; it does not guarantee qualification.
The same process,
applied elsewhere.
Housing co-operative retrofit
An ASHRAE Level 3 audit that became the technical case for a $2.0M CMHC grant, then a ten-measure retrofit across a 92-unit tower and eighteen townhomes.
Industrial rooftop solar study
611 kW of rooftop solar across a three-building industrial portfolio — the same process, with the modelling engine changed to suit the question.
Commercial office tower, Calgary
An ASHRAE Level III audit of a 23-storey tower: 22,102 GJ baseline, eight measures, 5,522 GJ of projected annual savings.
Thirty minutes, with the engineer who would run the work.
No cost and no obligation. Bring twelve months of utility bills if you have them — that alone is usually enough to say whether a building has a capital problem or a controls problem.