https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/03/06/2018-tr...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/03/06/2018-trend-energy-management-is-heating-up-across-commercial-businesses/

Forbes Technology Council Mar 6, 2018 @ 08:15 AM

The manufacturing and industrial sectors have traditionally been leaders in energy management strategies. For these types of facilities, energy use has an obvious impact on the cost of operations, and management understands a strong energy management strategy is key to overall business success.

Market fundamentals are lining up for 2018 to be the year that commercial businesses actively implement energy management plans.

With businesses feeling the need and the market untapped by dominant energy management players, the time is right for other market entrants to offer practices and systems that can benefit these underserved customers.

Increasingly creative ‘energy as a service’ business models are ensuring energy management equipment and programs can still be affordable for all types of business, even if costs aren’t offset by utility incentives. The concept provides energy production or savings as a subscription-style ‘service’ that can often be paid for out of energy bill reductions. These models work to reduce up-front investment and make energy efficiency and management upgrades as easy to pay for as the monthly utility bill.

This same type of creativity in pricing models will continue to reduce the cost of entry to energy management best practices and make it accessible to all types of businesses.

Whether you’re thinking about energy upgrades for the new year or you’re already implementing a program, commercial entities prioritizing smart energy management systems will be in good company in 2018