Another Take At Zero-Energy Buildings: Optimum Energy’s Nathan Rothman (Part 4)

SM: Are all of the disjointed HVAC systems even designed to interface with your technology?

NR: Yes. The chillers, pumps, and cooling towers all feed back to the building automation systems. Those systems turn everything on and off. The thermostats give feedback to the system during the day if the system itself is on.

In the past, an engineer would specify that the system would operate during a given time frame, say 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Soon data centers came to buildings which required running the systems 24/7 because the servers had to get cooled. The engineer would end up writing three or four pages detailing how to control the plan. The building automation system is programmed to do that. The problem is that schedules are incredibly dynamic. An unplanned conference that brings in an extra 100 people will cause problems because every person gives off heat. There is also consideration of weather, which is obviously not consistent. The system has to be able to adjust to that.

SM: Where does the system get all of these inputs?

NR: There are temperature sensors, flow sensors, external temperature sensors, and thermostats that give feedback from each room. The system is polling 2,000 points, or sensors, in a building. The polling results are returned to the building automation systems.

Our technology not only became the orchestrator to make this process more comfortable, but we do it with all variable speed, all variable flow. That is a key phrase for our company. We are controlling the speed of all these motors and therefore the flow of water around the building.

In the past, operations were done to water set points. They would set a point like 44 degrees. All water going around the building would then be maintained at 44 degrees, and the sensors would tell the system how much it needed. If the thermostat is turned down because it is too hot, then the system would simply produce more water at 44 degrees. They never cared how much energy they were using.

Our approach is to look at the power relationships between each piece of equipment in that plant. We want to see how low we can get energy consumption by running different pieces of equipment at different speeds while still producing 44-degree water. That is what our algorithms and the technology that we have developed does. It is unique, and we have nine patents around that technology.

SM: When did you start commercializing the technology?

NR: At the end of 2006. We have 60 installations today.

SM: You said there are 110,000 buildings in your sweet spot?

NR: There are 100,000 in the United States.

SM: Is there any particular geography to your current 60 installations?

NR: Most of them are in California, but we are now doing a couple of buildings in New York City and Philadelphia. We are also doing some buildings in Texas and Chicago.

SM: What is the deal size of any given installation?

NR: A typical deal range is between $500,000 and $1.5 million. Our percentage is between 10% to 12%. We are getting between $80,000 to $150,000 on a deal.

SM: Is it direct sales, or are you selling through contractors?

NR: We sell through numerous channels. We started with direct sales because in the beginning we needed early adopters. This is a radical technology and we have to prove doubters wrong. Now we go to market directly as well as through contractors, control companies, and through engineering firms.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Another Take At Zero-Energy Buildings: Optimum Energy’s Nathan Rothman
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