Bisazza, a leading luxury brand in the design sector, faced a significant challenge in managing its vast archive of digital assets. These assets included images, multimedia content, technical product details, and sales-related materials. The company's marketing department sought more control over how these digital assets were distributed and archived. The challenge was to find a digital asset management platform that could centralize and organize content, making digital assets easier to locate and distribute. The goal was to manage a large and complex digital archive more flexibly. The company needed a solution that could handle approximately 1,300 documents, 100 videos, and 13,000 images.

The case study revolves around the challenge of transforming a former General Motors Powertrain Division Plant turned brownfield site in Danville, Illinois into a productive and environmentally friendly space. The site, which was previously a manufacturing plant, had been lying dormant and unutilized. The challenge was to repurpose this land in a way that would not only contribute to the local economy but also align with the state's clean energy goals. The project also aimed to contribute to Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act, which mandates the installation of 2,700 MW of solar power by 2030, with 2% of those projects coming from brownfield sites like closed landfills.

The Department of Defense (DoD) was seeking long-term energy security initiatives in Hawaii, particularly on O‘ahu. The challenge was to make use of approximately 131 acres of underutilized lands within the Navy West Loch Annex of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in O’ahu, HI. The goal was to provide critical energy upgrades and align with the state of Hawaii's goal of 100% renewable energy and carbon neutrality by 2045. The project was expected to commence operations in the first quarter of 2024. The challenge also included the need to stabilize the cost of energy for Hawaiian Electric (HECO) customers, reduce carbon emissions, and boost local employment and the business economy.

Naples Community Hospital (NCH) Healthcare System, a non-profit healthcare provider, was grappling with escalating energy costs, equipment viability issues, and lack of control over humidity levels in their facilities. The healthcare provider, which offers personalized care to over 40,500 patients annually in a two-hospital, 716-bed system, was in dire need of a solution to these challenges. The energy usage intensity (EUI) for each of the buildings was significantly higher than other area hospitals in NCH’s peer group, indicating a higher consumption of energy. This not only led to increased costs but also raised concerns about the sustainability of their operations.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) was faced with the challenge of replacing over 8,000 high-pressure sodium lighting fixtures across the greater Portland area with energy-efficient LEDs. The project, which was worth $18.6 million, also included upgrading lighting in 13 tunnels within ODOT Region 1. The project was not only aimed at improving energy efficiency but also reducing carbon emissions. However, the implementation of the project presented several challenges including minimizing public traffic and safety concerns while adhering to ODOT directed design standards. Additionally, the project required careful coordination with major freight stakeholders, including the Mobility Advisor Committee.

St. John’s College Santa Fe campus was in need of a comprehensive, multi-phase solar and energy efficiency project to renovate its facility infrastructure and recognize energy savings opportunities. The college was looking to reduce its carbon footprint and save on energy costs. The challenge was to implement a solution that would not only be environmentally friendly but also cost-effective. The college needed to upgrade its facilities with renewable energy sources and energy-efficient technologies. The project was to include the addition of solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, LED lighting retrofits, re-roofing and rooftop HVAC retrofits, boiler and air handling unit replacements, and water infrastructure upgrades in the dormitories.

Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital (SSRRH), a 84-bed acute-care facility and part of the Sutter Health network, was seeking ways to advance its sustainability initiative and optimize energy usage. The hospital, known as one of the greenest in Northern California, wanted to deepen its commitment to environmental stewardship through the use of renewable energy. The challenge was to find a solution that would not only generate clean, sustainable power but also benefit patients, employees, and the environment. The hospital also wanted to offset a significant portion of its overall electricity usage and reduce its carbon footprint.

The retail energy market is notorious for its complex rate plans, hidden fees, and teaser variable rate hikes. This complexity often leads to consumers paying more than necessary for their energy needs. Additionally, the outdated and archaic platforms used by many energy providers make it difficult for consumers to make changes to their plans efficiently online. The process of shopping around for different energy options can be frustrating and time-consuming. Consumers often find it challenging to find the best rate, opt into clean energy, or even make any changes at all. The rise in energy costs nationwide during the pandemic further exacerbated these challenges.

Aspen Power Partners, a developer of community solar projects, faced a significant challenge in the customer validation process and billing experience for subscribers. The process of developing a physical solar array, which can take two to three years, required sourcing enough future subscribers to make the project financially viable at launch. This process was labor-intensive and often involved in-person door-to-door sales. Furthermore, many projects proceeded with only a single data point for a subscriber, often collected at the point of sale. This led to a problematic scenario where a developer would attempt to convert their pledged subscribers into active customers only to find a significant percentage were inactive, in default, or had moved to another utility.

EVgo, the largest public fast-charging network for electric vehicles in the US, was facing a significant challenge in managing the accuracy of hundreds of utility bills received monthly from various locations across the country. The complexity of understanding local rate structures and tracking bill accuracy was overwhelming. The manual process of sorting through billing details was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. EVgo needed a digital and accurate utility rate database that could handle complex factors such as energy usage, peak demand, monthly fixed rates, season, time of use, hours, and territories. This information was crucial for checking the accuracy of utility bills, optimizing utility tariffs, and making informed decisions about future projects. The existing databases were outdated, forcing EVgo staff to manually check each utility website for accurate data, a process that was unsustainable.

Ford, a leading automobile manufacturer, faced a challenge when they began selling electric vehicles (EVs). They realized that new EV owners would need support beyond the dealership, particularly in understanding the home charging experience. Questions such as the cheapest time of day to charge an EV were expected to arise, and Ford wanted to help their drivers navigate this new experience. The company had an existing database of electricity tariffs, but it was difficult to maintain and was not comprehensive enough. This led Ford to seek an external partner to provide the necessary data to enable new charging features.

Station A, a predictive platform and clean energy marketplace, was facing a significant challenge in promoting the adoption of sustainable energy. The problem was twofold. Firstly, potential customers were often overwhelmed by the complexity of determining the financial viability of sustainable energy solutions, leading to a state of 'analysis paralysis.' Secondly, Station A needed access to large-scale energy data and specific electricity data at the building level to accurately model savings for property owners. The lack of such data was hindering their ability to effectively engage with potential customers and demonstrate the financial and environmental benefits of transitioning to cleaner energy solutions.

Stem, an energy technology and services company, was grappling with the challenge of providing accurate tariff data to its customers. The company needed to optimize cost across multiple types of utility tariffs, a process that involved balancing trade-offs between different hourly energy costs on the same tariff. Stem's team had been manually analyzing this data using spreadsheets, a process that required updating about 120 tariffs with some 60 utility companies, taking up to eight business days. Since utilities have different schedules for updating their rates, Stem had to stay on top of all these updates throughout the year, a task that consumed significant staff time and attention. The analysis process involved multiple teams and had to be redone if any mistakes were made, further adding to the complexity and time consumption.

Calculating carbon emissions is a complex and time-consuming process that involves multiple stakeholders and large volumes of data from various sources. Despite the impending SEC compliance requirements that could affect all publicly traded companies, many companies are still manually collecting building data and using spreadsheets to measure and verify their data. This manual aggregation of energy cost and consumption data across a portfolio of buildings is inefficient, resource-intensive, and costly. For the Fortune 500 insurance company in question, with over 10,000 employees and dozens of buildings, preparing emissions reports for end-of-year financial statements was a year-round task fraught with challenges. The company was stuck in archaic, time-consuming processes to generate compliant sustainability reports. They required an auditable solution to centralize data, automate workflows, and eliminate the need to manually convert resource-use data into emissions data.

Bethesda Country Club, a full-service family-oriented facility, was facing challenges in managing its large facilities and grounds. The club's existing solution was not able to keep up with their needs, particularly in terms of asset tracking and reporting. The operations team needed a solution that could not only track orders but also help them prepare for the future. The club was outgrowing their current facility management platform and were just starting to track their assets. They needed a more robust and technologically modern solution to track their employees’ jobs, and the club also wanted to be able to track the history of their assets to make better decisions about repairs and maintenance outside of their current Excel spreadsheet. Furthermore, they lacked a way to quickly and easily create a report for their Board of Governors that contained realistic data for future budget planning.

Bonner General Health, a healthcare provider serving a community of 8,000, was struggling with a paper-based work order system that was difficult to manage and track. The system was causing accountability issues, with hospital staff claiming that work requests were submitted but not acted upon. The maintenance team, consisting of five full-time staff and three custodians, had to deal with a backlog of paper work orders dating back to 1998. The team's daily work involved maintaining utilities, fixing drywall, painting, and repairing assets across the hospital, physical therapy rehabilitation center, immediate care center, and office building. The challenge was to transition from this inefficient paper-based system to a more streamlined, digital solution that could enhance accountability and improve tracking of work orders.

The City of Asheboro, North Carolina, was grappling with inefficiencies in its sanitation division. The city's sanitation trucks were making pickups at every home twice a week to remove household waste and collect recyclables. Additionally, two pairs of brush trucks and bulk trash trucks would traverse every street looking for waste items to remove, a process that could take up to three weeks to complete. This method was not only time-consuming but also led to high fuel expenses. The city was in dire need of a solution that could streamline this process, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.

Camp Grinsby, a campsite located in Årjäng, Sweden, had a vision to become an energy-neutral, sustainable campsite. The primary challenge was to monitor and manage the energy consumption effectively due to the geographical location and nature of the site. The campsite owner, Staf Coppens, needed to understand not only the amount of energy being consumed but also its financial implications, CO2 emissions, and potential areas for energy savings. The goal was to transition to renewable energy sources and prioritize energy efficiency initiatives. However, the challenge was to measure, verify, and monitor detailed consumption and all energy-saving measures.

Arbejdernes Landsbank, a Danish retail bank, was facing significant energy inefficiencies across its 70 branches. The bank's building portfolio, a mix of older and newer buildings, had some well-run technical facilities controlled by the building management system (BMS). However, upon analyzing the energy consumption in its branches, it was discovered that not all building automation was functioning as intended. The branch on Bredgade in Kalundborg was identified as one of the buildings with the poorest energy performance. The energy consumption in the building had suddenly increased, with idle consumption rising from approximately 2 kW to just over 6 kW. The bank was closed more than two-thirds of the time, and the difference of 4 kW between good and poor energy performance was leading to significant energy waste.

Arbejdernes Landsbank, a retail bank in Denmark, was committed to reducing its energy consumption and carbon footprint. The bank had already entered into a climate partnership with Ørsted in 2018, sourcing its electricity from renewable resources. However, it was still seeking ways to further reduce energy consumption in its building stock. The bank's Facility Management team faced the challenge of finding energy savings across multiple buildings, a task that was both cumbersome and time-consuming. Traditional solutions focused more on documentation rather than actual energy savings. The team needed a tool that could proactively identify energy savings and provide documentable results with minimal setup and resource requirements.

The Danish Municipality of Holstebro was grappling with the challenge of managing energy consumption across its vast building portfolio. The small energy team was struggling to prioritize their efforts due to the sheer size of the portfolio. The existing energy management system (EMS) was outdated and focused more on data collection rather than providing actionable insights. The EMS was not only difficult to maintain, but it also lacked accuracy, leading to low confidence in the data it provided. The team had to spend a significant amount of time maintaining the system, which took away from their other tasks. The municipality needed a modern, efficient solution that could help them manage their energy consumption more effectively and save time for their team.

Hørsholm Municipality, a public building owner in Denmark, was faced with the challenge of transitioning to a sustainable future. Like many other municipalities, the perception was that sustainable investments often come with high costs. The municipality was also under pressure to reduce its CO2 emissions, a task that required a significant shift in their energy management approach. The challenge was to find a solution that would not only help reduce carbon emissions but also unlock substantial savings. The municipality needed a solution that would not require million-dollar investments in new technology or a fundamental reorientation of their way of life.

Kolding Municipality, a public building owner, was facing challenges in achieving its ambitious energy-saving goals. The existing energy management program was outdated and inefficient, making it a time-consuming task to manually analyze data from electricity meters. This inefficiency made it difficult to identify energy fluctuations in the municipality’s numerous properties, including schools and stadiums. The municipality needed a modern, efficient solution to identify energy waste and optimize energy consumption in its buildings.

Salling Group, a Danish retail giant, was faced with the challenge of reducing its energy consumption and costs. The company had an ambitious climate plan that included investments of approximately EUR 330 million over the next few years in equipment like heat pumps and solar. However, the rising energy prices necessitated more immediate action. The most significant gains could be achieved by optimising building operations, a task that required a solution that could be implemented immediately without any large up-front investments. The solution also needed to be applicable to all major building owners and be able to work with available energy consumption data.

Ampler Holdings, a quick-service restaurant platform owning 347 restaurants, including over 80 Burger King locations, was facing a series of challenges related to energy management. The company had no Energy Management System in place, leading to inconsistent operational control and unnecessary energy use, such as lights being left on overnight. There was also a lack of automation for energy needs, resulting in situations like dining room lights not being turned on in the morning. The HVAC set points were inefficient and lacked standardization, and there was no visibility into the health of the HVAC systems. These challenges were exacerbated by the fact that Ampler had assembled its portfolio of restaurants in a relatively short timeframe, and was therefore focused on operational improvements and insights.

The Minnesota-based national retail chain, with nearly 2000 stores and 50 supply chain facilities across the US, was committed to achieving net zero by 2040. To reach this goal, the retailer had been implementing energy-saving strategies in their existing and new store designs since the 1990s. However, they faced challenges in managing their path to net zero. They were using utility bill data, engineering estimates, and energy modeling to plan, implement, and validate capital investments in energy-consuming assets and confirm ongoing operational efficiency. However, they lacked clear benchmarks for success. Additionally, they were deploying significant refrigeration equipment as part of their strategy to bring fresh groceries to every store, but they did not have a portfolio-wide view of energy-consuming assets to measure the full impact on energy usage. They needed an enterprise platform that provides asset-level, real-time data to support this deployment.

Five Star Call Centers, a leading call center outsourcer for customer care, faced a critical challenge with their power supply. The company had built a solid reputation for providing consistent, reliable, and friendly customer care, and any loss of power could severely disrupt their business. To prevent service disruptions, the company had an uninterruptible power supply on-site, as well as a backup generator. However, the generator was rarely used and incurred monthly expenses for its maintenance. The company needed a solution that could turn this idle resource into a revenue-producing, grid-interactive asset.

The Source, Canada's largest tech retailer, was facing a multitude of challenges common in the retail industry. The rise of digital marketplaces, increasing customer expectations, and shifts in customer behavior were all contributing to the need for improved operational efficiencies and customer experience. The Source was also grappling with rising utility rates across its hundreds of locations in Canada, leading to significant increases in utility costs over the past few years. The company needed an IoT solution that could provide real-time control and insight into energy usage to maximize savings. The solution had to be scalable to allow remote control of multiple locations and had to be installed with minimal disruption to customers and staff.

A national movie theater chain with several hundred locations across the US faced unique energy use challenges due to the nature of their business model. The theaters operate with large square footage, offer showtimes from morning to midnight, and have multiple screens in operation simultaneously. The chain was tasked with maintaining a comfortable environment across multiple rooms in large buildings while balancing energy and facility costs. The brand had also acquired new locations that had no HVAC control systems, leading to severe humidity issues, uncomfortable temperatures, and additional facility maintenance costs. The theater chain sought a single turnkey solution across its locations that could provide detailed information on theater operations and insights into their HVAC issues and site energy consumption. They needed to reduce energy costs, standardize HVAC control systems, and correct uncomfortable humidity levels without a major capital investment.

In quick-serve restaurants, numerous energy-consuming assets such as HVAC units, kitchen equipment, and indoor and outdoor lights are critical for the successful operation of the business. These assets often run throughout the day to maintain normal operations and ensure customer comfort. However, without a comprehensive energy management system (EMS), there are missed opportunities for energy savings. TOMS King, an energy-conscious quick-serve restaurant operator, recognized this challenge and sought to identify savings opportunities through increased visibility into energy consumption, detailed analysis of trends and issues, and more intelligent control over HVAC and lighting. The challenge was initially addressed at six Burger King restaurants in April 2013, and once successful, the solution was extended to their entire restaurant portfolio.