Advantage IQ (News - Alert), a utility expense, energy and sustainability management firm, and Ecos, an Advantage IQ subsidiary offering electric and gas utility demand-side management services, announced that they will partner to become Ecova.
Ecova will offer insights based on consumption, cost and carbon footprint data. Ecova clients include Fortune 1000 companies such as GameStop, Panda Restaurant Group, Petco, Shell, Staples (News - Alert) and, with the addition of Ecos, many North American electric and gas utilities.
“As Ecova we can leverage the deep expertise of several incredible companies working in both energy supply and demand-side management, for a comprehensive solution to help our customers see more, save more, and sustain more,” said Jeff Heggedahl, CEO of Ecova, in a statement.
Ecova’s solutions will focus on both sides of the energy meter, from utilities that provide energy to the households and facilities that use it.
“Demand from investors, consumers, and third-party interest groups for sophisticated and transparent carbon accounting grow daily,” said Marianne Hedin, senior analyst, Pike Research (News - Alert). “This new tool from Ecova allows users to understand, act and report on data important to key stakeholders.”
Utilities will benefit from Ecova’s $18 billion of real-world energy expense and usage data for actionable analyses to develop better and targeted programs to capture kilowatt-hours and other energy reductions.
Recently, Advantage IQ signed agreement to acquire Building Knowledge Networks, a building energy management services provider. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Building Knowledge Networks will be fully integrated and operated under the brand name of Advantage IQ.
Building management systems are said to be rich with data, yet businesses have often found them difficult to acquire, aggregate, interpret and leverage to better manage energy. Therefore, analysts believe the Advantage made a right decision to acquire Knowledge Networks.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell