Ep 65: Sustainability Entrepreneur Gives No-BS Advice to Reach Energy Independence

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Hello to all and welcome back to Sustainability Strategies by Community Solar Authority. My name is Dakota Malone and I co-founded the company seven years ago to support the largest energy users in the U.S. in becoming more resilient. Since inception, we’ve unlocked access to over $35 million in future energy savings.

And in this podcast, I’m providing eight steps to secure your energy future. So here’s some no BS advice on achieving energy independence. First things first, you need to know your energy profile.

Trying to achieve energy independence without knowing your energy profile is like driving across the country with a blindfold on. You’re going to be wasting time, energy, and resources heading in the wrong direction and you’d never know it. When a large energy user doesn’t understand their consumption patterns, they’re essentially throwing money into a black hole.

Your energy profile is your roadmap. Without it, you’re just guessing where to invest your money and effort. And in the world of large scale energy use, guessing wrong can cost you millions and put you out of business.

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Before you create a plan for energy independence, you need to know where you stand today. Most organizations think they know their energy profile down to a science, but what we constantly discover is that they don’t have the full picture. Our team likes to get in for a site survey, run a comprehensive energy audit, and start to create a digital replica of our clients’ power systems.

This allows us to implement real-time monitoring of the systems and collect data to reveal a clearer picture of the truth of their total energy profile. This reveals a you-are-here sign you look for when you’re looking at a map. It gives you the insights you need to take the most efficient path to get to where you’re going.

Number two, financing and incentives. Without modern-day financing to bridge the gap to energy independence, none of this is possible for the average organization. Even traditional third-party models like PPAs are becoming obsolete as we see the rapid advancement of energy technology.

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And it’s important to get the finance vehicle correct so that you can actually reach energy independence. We tie our digital twin technology from step one into our energy service agreements for clients because it allows you to get step one done while remaining flexible and getting the rest of the plan in place. Being able to finance a slew of projects under a flexible agreement allows a top-down approach and interconnected systems to manage your energy footprint without losing integrity of the system along the way.

Three, smart systems management. With real-time monitoring of your system and a flexible finance vehicle secured, you can now begin to see where the greatest areas of opportunities are to enhance sustainability and cut costs. Without smart systems, facilities teams are left guessing.

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Time and time again, we’ve seen clients assume they’re targeting the right opportunities to prevent energy waste, as an example. We see manufacturers assume production equipment should be the focus, but our smart systems reveal it was poorly optimized HVAC systems that was consuming 40% of their energy. We’ve also talked to commercial real estate companies that assumed LED lighting would solve their rising electricity costs and lower their bill, but it was the escalators they were leaving on 24 seven that was sucking all of their energy usage.

Not only is it important to understand your energy footprint, but having an energy operations center to manage it on a platform that helps you cut costs and overall manage your facilities more efficiently is king. Number four, resilience planning. Resilience planning isn’t just nice to have, it is survival planning.

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Let me put it this way. Texas energy users who invested in resilience systems saved millions during the 2021 winter storm, while others were paying $9,000 per megawatt hour if they could get power at all. Having the first three pieces to energy independence allows you to step into the real value add, which is true resiliency.

Power outages for some companies can mean seven to 10 figures lost or in wasted revenue. As an example, if a cold storage company has the right resiliency plan in place, including onsite generation and load shedding capabilities, which could all be implemented if you’ve got the first three steps down, then during these critical power outages, they could be saving themselves from lost production, spoiled materials and restart costs. The savings delta between the cost to implement something like this versus the revenue lost potential is massive, but the peace of mind pays for itself to begin with.

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So if you want to make a resiliency plan, there are three critical components. One, anticipate. Conduct climate vulnerability assessments specific to your facilities.

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A data center in Phoenix faces different threats than a commercial real estate company in Miami. Our smart management systems we incorporate for our clients allow you to run simulations and leverage AI to determine the weak points of a system. Two, mitigate.

Identify your truly critical loads. Not everything needs backup power, and we find that large energy users realize they can reduce their generator requirements almost by half by properly classifying which systems need immediate backup versus those that could wait. The right smart management system will do this for you turnkey.

And lastly, recover. Design systems that not only survive disruptions but help you bounce back faster than competitors. During Hurricane Sandy, for example, facilities with islanding capabilities become community assets while others remained in the dark.

In our increasingly unstable climate and grid environment, resilience isn’t just about if you’ll face disruption, it’s about when. And resiliency planning is a winning strategy within energy independence. Five, strategic energy procurement.

Most large energy users treat procurement as a bill to pay rather than a strategic opportunity. This fixed mindset costs you millions and leaves you vulnerable. We founded Community Solar Authority precisely because strategic procurement was the fastest way to deliver value without requiring clients to commit capital.

Here’s how we use it to create a resilient financial strategy around your energy needs. One, implement hedging strategies. Protect yourself from market volatility.

Layered procurement contracts can cap your exposure to rapidly changing energy markets. It’s also why we help our clients with community solar to lower costs on a zero dollar investment without installing infrastructure. Two, revenue generation.

That empty rooftop or unused land parcel you guys got, it’s not dead space, it’s potential income. We turn these liabilities into income generating assets by leasing for solar or battery storage. Three, utility-based programs.

Demand response programs, as an example, essentially pay you to reduce usage during peak periods. Shifting energy intensive processes to off-peak hours when requested can help create the required savings to invest into this greater resiliency plan and energy independence we’re talking about. We help our clients leverage an energy strategy that generates returns, not just reduces expenses.

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Six, distributed generation systems. You can’t talk about energy independence without being able to generate your own power. Yet, people who skip to this step are asking for inefficient and incomplete systems that won’t actually get them what they’re looking for.

Without understanding what is appropriate for your load, you’ll never know what size and scale of systems you’ll need. You won’t know how much battery storage you need to integrate load shifting or backup capabilities. Getting the right technology in place is extremely important, and again, remaining flexible in your contracting and financing vehicle will prevent you from getting stuck.

There are many options for power generation, and our smart management systems allow you to simulate which would be the best scenario given your geographic location and overall footprint. Being able to produce your own power off the grid is a key component to reaching true energy independence. Seven, electrification and efficiency overhaul.

Electrification is the strategic replacement of fossil fuel systems with advanced energy electric alternatives. Done right, it’s transformative. It’s a single strategy with many solutions.

You can cut emissions headaches, you can cut energy costs, and you can overall increase efficiency. And here’s our smart approach to electrification that you can use too. One, focus on the low-hanging fruit that are the thermal loads.

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This allows you to easily capture energy savings and efficiencies. These multi-decade-old technologies most organizations have in place are energy vampires. Upgrading them is doing more than a facelift.

It’s an easy cost-cutting solution. Next, get your automations down. Using automations that optimize your energy changes in real time is a microcosm of what we’re doing to reach energy independence in the first place.

Smart power systems can support you in dropping demand charges further, amongst many other use cases. And lastly, energization infrastructure. We look at the future capacity needed, not just current.

The reality is we need much more power in the future than where we stand today. And without future-proofing your infrastructure, you’ll be lost without an upgraded electrical backbone. The leading businesses of the future will be the ones who are the most resilient and playing in the modern-day age of energy.

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Electrification is the path to getting there. Last but not least, number eight, microgrids and islanding capabilities. When I first heard the term microgrid, I had no idea what that meant.

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Now, I see them as a business continuity insurance as the electric grid becomes a more unstable environment. It’s what actually gives you the power to operate independently when the grid fails. It’s the difference between staying in business and offline during the most critical moments.

Real-world competitive advantages include the times when one competitor had a microgrid and the other didn’t during a major power outage. Maintaining critical operations and capturing market share during offline times can be the difference between first and last, capturing market share or losing it. The beauty of these microgrids is that in terms of energy independence, it’s what ties the entire thing together.

But here’s the thing. You need the smart systems in place to identify intelligent design to blend with your onsite power generation, critical load identification, and segmentation or transition capabilities. The reality is that grid instability isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse.

This is the energy transition paradox. We need more energy yesterday, but our grid environment is collapsing as we try to figure it out in real time. In conclusion, if business is an infinite game, then the point is to continue playing.

The more resilient you are, the more likely you remain able to play. A mission-critical piece to staying in the game and understanding your energy footprint, turning it into an asset, and being energy independent is so that you can operate on your own terms. In a world with regulatory, political, and infrastructural issues being in the way of this transition, the smartest organizations are moving toward a brighter future with smart power frameworks.

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Thanks for tuning into this episode. I encourage you guys to connect with me on linkedin at linkedin.com slash in slash Dakota Malone. Visit our website if you’d like to book a call and a complimentary strategy review with your team.

Thanks for tuning into this episode, and I will catch you on the next.