Energy Efficiency Resources
REVENUE GROWTH: CONTRACTOR PROJECTS 40% GROWTH WITH AIROVERSE AND UTILITY INCENTIVES
CHALLENGE:
Energy Efficiency Resources (EER) is an energy solutions contractor in service areas in the U.S. The company specializes in helping building owners source and implement the most-energy efficient solutions for their building or portfolio of buildings.
Before partnering with Airoverse, EER identified an incentive program through a local utility provider that offered rebates for advanced rooftop control (ARC). EER identified this as a potential business opportunity that could simultaneously increase their annual revenue and provide a valuable efficiency upgrade to their customers at no cost to them.
EER tried this strategy with two different control solutions first and ran into barriers with both. The first solution, EER discovered, had a higher total cost than the utility incentive dollars provided. The second solution’s price was within the budget, but the system capabilities meant EER could not complete all the jobs they identified. For this incentive strategy to work, EER needed a wireless solution that was affordable enough to ensure the total project cost would be covered without sacrificing important capabilities.
SOLUTION:
This utility’s incentive program offers a generous dollar amount per rooftop unit, varying depending on tonnage, outfitted with ARC. Considering the cost of labor and materials and the complexity of some jobs, EER initially struggled to find the right controls fit for their business strategy to install rooftop economizer controls with little to no out-of-pocket cost to the end customer.
Ultimately, EER selected Airoverse’s ARC application, Outside Air Optimization (OAO), because of the disruptive cost and advanced system capabilities that matched the incentive program. EER got Airoverse OAO approved as a prescriptive measure for the incentive program and has since installed Airoverse in numerous buildings ranging from credit unions to shopping malls.
One such project, Frankenmuth River Place Shops in Michigan, would have been nearly impossible to outfit with ARC if EER had attempted the job with traditional controls, simply because of communications wires. The shopping area contained multiple different buildings that were not interconnected, meaning installers would face a daisy-chaining headache to install the system. Airoverse’s IoT-Based Devices communicate via a secure, 900 MHz mesh network, meaning Installers Could Skip Comm Wires and still achieve better savings, comfort, and IAQ.
"There are more capabilities behind Airoverse's hardware and software and how you can tune it. Airoverse's support is also a big plus and we've gotten to know the staff really well. We know their background and trust what they tell us. Airoverse is more than just a controls manufacturer, they're a partner."
– JEFFREY FILEK / CO-FOUNDER, ENERGY EFFICIENCY RESOURCES
RESULTS:
EER’s partnership with Airoverse promotes a win-win-win scenario: The utility spends the incentive dollars it is required to offer; EER customers gain energy savings, enhanced comfort, and improved IAQ at no cost to them, and EER increases its revenue.
As EER becomes familiar with Airoverse and jobs that are the best fit for the utility’s incentives, the contractor aims to ramp up their Airoverse OAO implementations to 30 installations per week. With these new jobs, EER expects its annual revenue to increase by 40% compared to last year.
In addition to disruptive prices, simplified installation, and advanced technology, EER points to the Airoverse support team’s reachability and knowledge base as another partnership benefit.
“Beyond the technology, Airoverse’s support is definitely of huge value,” Co-Founder of EER Jeffrey Filek said. “You can have a great product and terrible service, and it won’t go anywhere. Having that support from Airoverse is very helpful.”