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Green Light Distrikt
Green Light Distrikt is about entrepreneurship focused on the cleantech sector. Edited by Chris Williams with frequent guest posts from friends, experts and industry insiders from clusters across the globe. Our goal is to provide a place where cleantech entrepreneurs in various clusters across the globe can learn from one another. Green Light Distrikt is creating the "Hitchikers Guide to Clentech" to provide a resource for cleantech entrepreneurs. Read more
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Tag Archives: Energy Efficiency
October 11th, 2011
What I Learned at EnerNOC’s EnergySMART Conference
TOPICS: BOSTON, CleanTech Events
The other week I had the pleasure of attending EnerNOC’s EnergySMART conference. It was a great opportunity to meet, learn and share ideas with other smart-grid, cleantech and sustainability professionals. I summarize my experience below.
Energy Management is a Vastly Untapped Resource
Did you know that the US is only 24th in the world in terms of energy efficiency utilization (and still a novel idea in the UK)? Being able to measure and manage energy consumption to smooth out energy peaks and transform commercial and industrial complexes into virtual power plants is just the beginning of harnessing the power of energy efficiency. It is a “great time to be in energy management”, said opening keynote speaker Bill Aulet, there are so many great Boston start-ups such as Next Step Living that provide a service that enables real bottom line saving, a positive ROI for energy efficiency projects and a strategy for mitigating risk factors. “This is not your father’s energy industry,” and as it evolves, it will be important to stay nimble, constantly learning and applying new technology.
…and Demand Response is Just the Beginning
With DemandSMART, EnerNOC’s enterprise, SaaS product, companies can easily measure and cut their energy consumption, receive payment for lowering demand and gain a competitive edge (Iron Mountain are you listening?). As the correlation between sustainability and profitability becomes more direct, cost centers can become revenue centers enabling companies to see new opportunities and innovate. Given how easy it is to partner with EnerNOC and start receiving checks almost immediately in the mail – I was surprised that customers were not beating down their doors – but, as I have learned, it will take some time before their solution becomes as “widely accepted a business practice as accounting.”
Looking Beyond DR – Carbon Accounting Helps Mitigate Risk
Looking to go beyond just measuring kWh? EnerNOC’s CarbonSMART solution is designed to give organizations data collection capabilities, analytics, reporting and mitigation planning for scope 1-3 activities. Akamai “reduced its carbon intensity by 50% in 2 years” and gained a greater understanding of its energy drivers. With companies such as Walmart who are ushering in more transparency in their supply chain, companies will be pressured into disclosing and eventually mitigating their GHG – so why not be proactive? EnerNOC’s product helps companies stay ahead of the curve, avoid cumbersome spreadsheets by providing “Carbon Counseling” to help measure, prioritize and deploy GHG mitigation strategies.
Networking & Building Partnerships is Key
It’s all about making connections and learning from one another, remarked Gregg Dixon, EnerNOC’s SVP of Sales & Marketing, who actively encouraged networking at the event. By engaging, collaborating and building bridges across various industries new solutions can be developed to make energy data more meaningful. Because the market is still relatively young, fragmented and lead times for energy projects are quite long, building support networks within business, political and non-profit arenas will be key in moving our country towards energy transparency and independence.
Overall, I Thought this Was a Great Event!
The combination of excellent speakers, content and location was a great mix for learning about current energy issues as well as EnerNOC’s product offering. I will be looking to see how the company develops mobile apps that enable customers to access, monitor and implement energy measures right from their smartphone. I will also be interested to see how EnerNOC leverages customer learnings that can benefit the entire network. I also hope that the low social media adoption rate for this industry improves to help increase awareness, facilitate learning and enable real progress.
Tagged Demand Response, Energy Efficiency, EnerNOC
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September 3rd, 2010
6 Characteristics of a Perfect B2C Energy Efficiency Company
TOPICS: BOSTON, Entrepreneurship, Resource Efficiency
4 weeks ago, Green Light Distrikt Boston had an event, ‘Energy Efficiency: Why is the Low Hanging Fruit so High?” The speakers discussed what they’re working on and why, if energy efficiency (EE) has such high returns, the adoption of these behaviors and technologies seems to be happening at a snails pace.
Based on the presentations there were 6 things that I learned why EE adoption is not happening quickly enough. If you need a refresher on the those 6 items see the previous link.
Using these 6 points, I’ll outline the 6 characteristics of what a BLOCKBUSTER company addressing homeowner and small business energy efficiency would and/should look like. If you’re a VC and reading this, your welcome, you can pay me later.
Here’s the 6 characteristics of the perfect EE company I would invest in, start, or work with.
1) The technology is simple, works, and is cheap. You need the technology to be ‘in the game’ but the technology itself won’t solve the problem. The winning combination will be a mix of technology + service. This is why, as Rob Day points out, angels will be the heros of EE technology space because the technology is so cheap to build. It is the selling, servicing, monitoring, and changing of behaviors that will make or break a great EE company.
Tagged 1 block off the grid, cleantech kingpins, energy circle, Energy Efficiency, energy savvy, EnerNOC, green build boston, new generation energy, Nexamp, next step living, rob day, wattzy
August 25th, 2010
6 Reasons the High ROI of Energy Efficiency Doesn’t Matter
TOPICS: BOSTON, CleanTech Kingpins, Resource Efficiency
All I can say is “Energy Efficiency: Why is the Low Hanging Fruit so High?” the second event hosted by Green Light Distrikt Boston in our Cleantech Kingpins series was a HUGE success. It was completely packed, it was fun, and we learned a ton. Boston insider Aaron Lindenbaum wrote a great follow up about his take on how to make energy efficiency (EE) sexy and Brian Hayden wrote an awesome piece about how the event inspired him to take action in his home and what he learned.
A huge thank you to all the speakers, everyone did an amazing job, and Alex from Wattzy who helped me find everyone. Another shout out to NEXUS for hosting us. The NEXUS Green Building Resource Center is the Mecca of green building in Boston and probably the country, in short, they’re awesome. A third thank you to everyone who came, watched, asked questions and joined in on the conversation at the end. I had a great time meeting you and can’t wait to see guys more in the future.
Here’s the little agenda for post
1) Presentations: Below are both the presentation videos and slides. Note, I’m couldn’t upload Lilah Glick’s presentation from the Cambridge Energy Alliance and I didn’t get Alex’s presentation on video.
Here are the speakers:
- Alex Patriquin – Founder, CEO at Wattzy
- Martin Flusberg – Founder, CEO at Powerhouse Dynamics
- Lilah Glick – Director, Community Outreach at Cambridge Energy Alliance
- Brenden Endicott – Senior Manager, Energy Markets at EnerNOC
- Geoff Chapin – Founder, CEO at Next Step Living
2) Problem with Energy Efficiency Adoption: The speakers addressed 6 main issues that I’ll summarize that explain why energy efficiency adoption is NOT happening.
Tagged cambridge energy alliance, cleantech kingpins, Energy Efficiency, EnerNOC, next step living, nexus green building resource center, powerhouse dynamics, wattzy
June 18th, 2010
EVENT: Energy Effiency – Why is the Low Hanging Fruit so High?
TOPICS: BOSTON, CleanTech Kingpins
Everyone who has ever read a book on renewable energy knows that the best investment, and what should be done first is energy efficiency. Business owners know it, property owners knows it, and the state governments know it. Massachusetts is putting more then $600 million into energy efficiency in the short terms, that more then 3 TIMES the amount that will go into renewable energy incentives.
If everyone knows efficiency is the biggest bang for you buck, but if this is true then why is it not happening?
This is a question that I kept asking myself but couldn’t find an answer. So, I decided to gather a group of the smartest experts in Boston working on the issue to have them to tell me, and you too of course, the event will be public and it will take place on July 22nd at 6pm in downtown Boston at the NEXUS Green Building Resource Center.
If you’ll be in Boston on July 22nd register for Energy Efficiency – Why is the Low Hanging Fruit so High?
We have some amazing speakers that are going to be talking about what they’re working on and how we can increase the adoption of efficiency, here they are:
Alex Patriquin – Founder, CEO at Wattzy
Martin Flusberg - Founder, CEO at Powerhouse Dynamics
Lilah Glick – Director, Community Outreach at Cambridge Energy Alliance
Brenden Endicott – Senior Manager, Energy Markets at EnerNOC
Geoff Chapin – Founder, CEO at Next Step Living
I can’t wait to see you there. Don’t worry if you can’t make it, we’re going to record the event and publish it. Here is the video from our first event Clean Energy Adoption in New England.
Tagged cambridge energy alliance, Energy Efficiency, EnerNOC, next step living, powerhouse dynamics, wattzy
May 4th, 2010
When it comes to Energy Efficiency, Do We Need Walmart?
BOSTON -
Most of my friends have never heard of Mass SAVE, but my good friend Tom signed up for a Mass SAVE energy audit. The auditor spent half an hour in his place, promised big rebates, and Tom agreed to have weatherization and insulation work done. Four weeks later (two days before the scheduled work), Tom got a call from a customer service representative informing him that he no longer qualified for the rebate and would have to spend an extra $1700 out-of-pocket. “Never mind.” Said Tom.
Let’s assume the end goal is an enormous wave of energy efficiency retrofits. Looking at that end goal from an entrepreneur’s perspective, regardless of your political views, isn’t the current setup in Massachusetts almost comically bad? And MA has one of the best programs in the country.
I think there’s a fear of spending the money too fast and administering a huge program like that is clumsy. There’s always a balance between wanting to spend the money and fear of spending it badly. I think fear is winning. We need to find alternate routes around these programs and not rely on them to fix everything.
Here’s a thought exercise: How might Walmart make energy efficiency easy and affordable for homeowners? I know Walmart is evil, but what might they get right that we’re currently getting wrong?
Tagged Energy Efficiency, masssave, walmart
January 26th, 2010
Building Efficiency will be BIGGER than Solar in Mass – Part 1
TOPICS: BOSTON, Entrepreneurship, Government Policy, Green Building, Local Events, Resource Efficiency
On January 8th I attended a Breakfast Meeting at Foley Hoag with Phil Giudice, Commissioner of the Massachusset’s Department of Energy Resources (DOER). It was a dynamite presentation that touched on smart grid, solar, biomass, and a variety of other interesting topics - but the thing that dominated the conversation was this: there’s a tsunami of state and federal funds coming available for building efficiency in 2010. As Phil said, “the money is there and the team is in place – it’s time to have our WOW moment.” $650 million will be spent by the state to promote energy efficiency in each of the next three years (solar photovoltaic incentives through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center will be about $12M this year and that will create 30% growth for the solar industry in Massachusetts). That’s compared to $150 million in 2008, and doesn’t include incentives offered by the utilities. These numbers could get bigger as the federal ‘Cash For Caulkers’ program details come into focus.
So What?
Policy conversations about climate change, energy independence, and job creation are all converging on this single initiative. The pieces are in place for a huge amount of money to flow through the building efficiency value chain and there are still plenty of holes to be filled. Somebody has to execute and make all of this happen. If you have an interest in building efficiency there may never be a better time to get actively involved.
Tagged Department of Energy Resource, Energy Efficiency, Phil Giudice, Solar PV
January 18th, 2010
Video: What IS and IS NOT working in the Clean Energy Industry – Part 2 Non-Profits
TOPICS: BOSTON, Local Events, Renewable Energy
Last week, I posted the first part of a discussion by Chuck Levin, the Director of New Generation Energy where he discussed what is working and what’s not working in the clean energy industry. At the end of the discussion Chuck began to discuss how New Generation Energy addresses some of the places that are currently not working in the industry. In Part 2, Chuck continues to discuss what a ‘perfect world’ would like to, in terms of increasing clean energy production and efficiency and goes more in depth with how New Generation Energy approaches the situations, the role of certifications, and how their Renewable Energy Notes work. See a details description of the talking points below the video. Enjoy!
Remember VOTE for your TOP 3 favorite Boston Clean Tech Companies. Voting ends in February and the top 10 companies will be profiled each month in 2010
Tagged alternative energy, chuck levin, Energy Efficiency, new generation energy, non-profits, Renewable Energy
