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Improving the energy performance of buildings will prove vital for countries worldwide to reduce their energy consumption and emissions. A key player in reaching this goal is building automation and control, as having well-designed and operated building automation and control systems (BACS) provide large capabilities in optimizing the energy performance of different systems. In this regard, building owners and planners must be able to assess and evaluate the current status of their BACS and identify potential improvements. While there has been a large block of work done in Denmark along with regulations aiming to audit the overall building performance and individual systems characteristics, very little has been done in the field of auditing the building automation and control system and evaluating its structure and operation patterns. This lack of systematic BACS auditing and evaluation in Danish buildings is addressed in this work with the first implementation and evaluation of the eu.bac System methodology in a university office building. The building was found to comply with the lowest automation and control class E. Two BACS retrofit packages were proposed and evaluated, and energy savings up to 28.5% are reported. The preliminary assessment results reported demonstrate the potential of building automation and control retrofit measures in a combined holistic improvement package alongside building envelope upgrade. In addition, the impact of the eu.bac System improvements and labeling on the building's classification based on the recent Danish building regulation BR18 is evaluated. The study discusses the feasibility of eu.bac System tool implementation in Danish buildings and suggests improvements. It also correlates and compares the eu.bac System audit to the upcoming European SRI instrument. In light of the huge efforts to digitalize the Danish energy sector, ensuring proper design and operation of BACS is of great importance. Thus, a systematic and methodical BACS auditing and evaluation methodology will be a crucial part of buildings’ initial and retro-commissioning platforms.

At present, continuous effort is being made, in the field of internal public auditing, at the level of the Internal Auditing Board, to shift from compliance auditing, that verifies the accordance of the performed activities to the law, to system auditing which aims to monitor both the aspect of compliance and that of assessing the achievement of objectives within the frame of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Consequently, we can state that system auditing is a result of the two types of auditing (compliance and operational) and that its promotion is of utmost necessity, due its superior quality. Within this general context, this study approaches system auditing in a logical manner, presenting a positive attitude and vision by setting forth opinions regarding the role of system auditing within missions of protection. Our purpose is to identify ways and solutions towards improving internal public system auditing within the Mo D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limitations of current paper- and electronic-based voting systems and recount procedures can undermine the credibility of public elections. A corroborative, redundant voting system that performs vote counts via independent mechanisms at the polling place could address these shortcomings. After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of electronic and paper ballots with respect to initial counts, we discuss auditing approaches to corroborate the initial reported results and propose protocols and procedures to strengthen the auditing mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]