Nishaant Sangaavi, Co-Founder and CEO, EnergyX Solutions talks energy efficiency and how his company is helping businesses and individuals cuts energy costs. EnergyX Solutions is based out of Toronto, Canada.
How does EnergyX Solutions help companies? Who are the target companies?
EnergyX Solutions was created to help bridge the knowledge gap that exists between everyday people and the energy they use. Our software is licensed to utilities and other energy efficiency providers, and it enables these providers to give their customers access to audit-grade insights that identify the best retrofit opportunities to lower their energy costs and improve the energy efficiency of commercial and residential properties. The solutions we provide also carry end-to-end capability, providing the entire spectrum of services all within one platform, which differentiates us from competitor technology that tends to focus on specific stages of the energy customer journey.
Utilities companies find value in our technology because it helps them effectively automate and manage their energy efficiency programs to be cost effective and successful. We do this by allowing utilities to virtually audit their entire portfolio of customers, segment their market at scale, digitize their customer experience, and manage all of their operational workflow processes. These improvements also help facilitate those energy efficiency conversations between utilities and consumers, which we’ve found is the best way for these companies to build trust with their customers.
How can EnergyX Solutions help individual households to become energy efficient?
Part of the value our software provides for individuals is how it helps automate the red tape associated with applying for energy retrofits and rebates. Using our proprietary RetrofitAI technology, we can help an energy provider identify and pre-qualify the customers who are the best candidates for retrofit programs based on their unique building and circumstance. The great thing about this method is that it doesn’t require customers to give up personal information, like income status or smart-meter readings, which can be a prohibitive barrier to uptake of these programs.
Our goal is to provide every building in North America with a relevant and personalized energy savings plan. At EnergyX we believe in changing buildings, not people. We don’t see our job as creating widespread behaviour change, as this can be unreliable and quite difficult to achieve. For us, it’s about identifying the best opportunities to make existing buildings more energy efficient, as these structural retrofits last the life of the building and produce significant cost savings for people.
Could you list a few changes required by each household that can help future generations?
The most important thing for each household is to take the necessary steps to make themselves more knowledgeable about how their home is consuming energy. From there, they can set more specific and measurable energy usage goals – for instance, to lower their monthly bill by a certain amount, or to reduce the amount of energy consumed by a certain number of kilowatt-hours. With these goals in mind, they can start informed conversations with their utility and contractor about what efficiency programs or retrofits are available to best help them attain those goals. Sometimes what seems like a big cost upfront can provide long-term savings that are actually better for the environment and overall pocketbook. Deep energy retrofits also improve the indoor air quality and comfort of the space for the life of the building.
Can you let us know the bigger impact of EnergyX Solutions in Canada?
Now is a great time for cleantech companies like EnergyX Solutions to start making an impact in Canada in order to help both cities and the nation move closer to their climate change goals. For example, the City of Vancouver just ratified its Climate Emergency Action Plan to address climate change. This plan reported that the city’s biggest source of carbon emissions actually comes from burning natural gas for heating and hot water in buildings, showcasing the important need to identify energy retrofit opportunities at scale in major urban centres. Also in BC, the new provincial government has pledged its commitment to the CleanBC plan, which targets 70,000 homes and 10 million square metres of commercial buildings for retrofit to use clean electricity in space heating by 2030. Federally, the recently-tabled Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act mandates greenhouse gas emission reduction targets with the goal of reaching net zero by 2050. To date, EnergyX Solutions’ software has been used to generate over 250,000 energy reports, and more than one million energy audits, as well as more than three million incentive and rebate recommendations across North America. And we are just getting started. The appetite for innovative energy solutions is massive for companies like ours who can provide them.
COVID-19 impact on the industry and EnergyX Solutions at large?
Due to COVID-19, virtual energy audits that can be done in a remote, socially distant way are more important than ever. We’re seeing some encouraging signs for our business, with energy efficiency factoring so heavily in Canada’s post-COVID economic recovery plan. The federal government’s October Throne Speech prominently featured deep energy retrofits as a tool to cut energy costs for families and businesses, while also reducing emissions and stimulating the economy. EnergyX Solutions has long maintained that cleantech companies will play a fundamental role in paving the way for the energy efficiency programs of tomorrow, and recent developments like these prove that our vision and mission are aligned with leadership’s priorities.
While COVID-19 has had some negative impact on enterprise buying cycles, we’ve been resilient in continuing our pursuit of growth and expansion, and have kept our entire team intact by leveraging some of the government support available to Canada’s innovation sector.
Any changing trend you would see over the next year?
I think virtual energy audits are poised to become the industry norm going forward. In the wake of COVID-19 restrictions, the ability to conduct a virtual audit has become increasingly valuable, as it can be completed without a certified auditor ever having to visit the building site. This technology will transcend the pandemic, due to its scalability. For instance, President-Elect Biden called for a $2-trillion, four-year investment in climate-related projects, including retrofitting four million buildings to significantly reduce energy use and emissions. These are lofty and worthwhile goals, but they’ll be challenging to meet without leveraging innovative, scalable technology.I think a focus on climate change and public-private partnerships will become more and more common, and will be good for the industry and our global environment.
For more information: https://www.energyxsolutions.com/
This story edited by Yugbodh, for The Onside Media, Toronto, Canada. If you have stories to share kindly email: – info@theonside.com
