Cory Vanderpool has a question: Before property owners spend a lot more time looking at alternative energy sources like solar and other renewables, why not consider better conservation measures first?
That’s a good question. And on a recent show, the director of business development for Magnum Energy Solutions gave me the answer. She said there’s still a lot that a property owner can do to cut commercial real estate energy consumption.
“It’s the low-hanging fruit. It’s not political, and it’s something everyone can get behind,” she said. “In my opinion, it’s the most cost-effective way and the fastest way for us to achieve greater energy independence.”
Magnum Energy Solutions produces an “energy management system,” which Vanderpool said is an inclusive term that includes software, hardware, and associated services that monitor and control a building’s energy load.
While some technologies provide a good understanding of energy consumption, Vanderpool said they still leave it up to us to change our behavior for the long term. Not always a good plan.
Magnum’s system automation provides a much-needed dose of consistency by making energy management less dependent on us, she said. The system is wireless, so it’s much easier to implement, and the sensors and switches have no batteries. They run by harvesting energy from the surrounding environment.
Vanderpool said the system can be deployed in all kinds of properties, from university dorms to small box retail to industrial warehouses, and some utility companies have begun to offer healthy incentives to retrofit existing properties or include the new technologies at the outset of construction.
“We can pretty much put energy management technology in any building you can think of,” she told me.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Cory Vanderpool of Magnum Energy Solutions.
