New Virtual Energy Profile Software Helps Companies Cut Energy Use

If you need to create an energy use profile for a commercial building without relying on things like meters to gather data or an actual person to perform an energy audit, there’s now an app for that.

FirstFuel, a building energy analytics startup formerly called iblogix, has developed software that commercial building owners can use to find out how their buildings use energy and what kinds of energy efficiency improvements they can make to cut energy consumption and reduce monthly utility bill costs.

The app remotely evaluates and measures commercial building efficiency by collecting data on hourly energy consumption. It combines that data with weather information to create a unique energy profile for each building analyzed. The software analytics sift through 128 variables, including hourly utility data and outside temperature, and can show building owners how their energy use is split between things like air conditioning and lighting.

FirstFuel CEO Swapnil Shah said that the remote ‘zero touch’ method of evaluating buildings makes it more scalable than traditional approaches which often use human energy auditors to visually inspect buildings and manually collect data.

The app is designed to help energy utilities improve their efficiency programs and meet state goals by decreasing the energy consumption of commercial buildings, which represent one of the biggest consumers and wasters of energy.

The startup announced last week that it had raised $2.4 million to commercialize the software.

Sources

Virtual Building Audit Spots Energy Savings, CNET, Sept. 22, 2011.