|
|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
1 By Jesse Berst
The next-gen efficiency crowd consists of well-funded giants (Schneider, Eaton, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, etc.) as well as innovative startups. (I will point out two of the most interesting at the end). They are often able to offer C&I customers energy savings of 10 to 30%, sometimes even more.
Let's say that C&I customers account for 50% of a utility's revenue. Now imagine that over the next decade all those customers cut their energy use by 20%. A big chunk of money just disappeared from the utility's revenue number. And this will be happening just at the time when third-party demand response companies such as EnerNOC will be pulling money away as well.
How to turn it from a problem to a benefit
What's the answer? In many jurisdictions, it's partnering. By partnering with energy efficiency companies, a utility can get credit for the energy savings.
To bother, you would have to be convinced that next-gen energy efficiency will turn into a major force. I've become a believer myself. And not just because of the growing policy and regulatory pressure. Also because the new breed of energy efficiency is overcoming some of the biggest obstacles.
Consider New York-based Efficiency 2.0. It is pioneering "multimodal" energy efficiency. Rather than lean on a single technique – compact fluorescent light bulbs, for instance, or personalized recommendations – it has a collection of techniques and technologies. (Many of its competitors are adopting a portfolio approach as well.) Efficiency 2.0 actively seeks to partner with utilities seeking energy efficiency from residential customers.
We're talking Serious money here
But it is Sunnyvale CA-based Serious Energy that poses the greatest risk for utilities… and the greatest opportunity. Serious has a cloud-based energy management system. As with EcoFactor's automated home energy management, it micro manages the buildings' thermostats. But because Serious is aimed at the C&I market, it goes even further. It takes advantage of occupancy sensors, usage patterns and HVAC diagnostics to spot out of spec systems and squeeze out even more savings. 1
But Serious' most important innovations are on the financial side… which, by the way, is the C&I sector's biggest roadblock in this era of real estate crisis. First, the Serious cloud-based approach lowers upfront costs (no servers to install or operators to train). More importantly, Serious has figured out a novel financing scheme. It offers long-term financing that does not put any kind of lien or obligation on the building.
Building owners pay their energy bills to Serious. Serious pays the energy providers. It splits the savings with its customers. Serious does not finance an individual building. Rather, it finances a revenue stream from a pool of buildings.
Clever. And possibly the key to unleashing the pent-up C&I market for energy efficiency.
There are other next-generation energy efficiency approaches. I hope you'll use the Talk Back form below to highlight some of your favorites. Utilities can choose to partner with these energy efficiency companies and get credit for the savings. Or they can put their heads in the sand and watch those companies drain away revenues from their best C&I customers. What they can't do is stop this inevitable trend.
Jesse Berst is the founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com. He consults to smart grid companies seeking strategic and M&A advisory. A frequent keynoter at industry events in the US and abroad, he serves on the Advisory Council of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Energy & Environment Directorate.
You might also be interested in ...
Schneider Electric grows stronger with Summit Energy Services acquisition
EnerNOC picks up major energy efficiency win
Energy efficiency investments expected to keep climbing in 2011
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Talk Back
