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corporate culture evolution

For Corporate Culture, “Back to Normal” Would Miss the Mark: My 2020 Takeaways

For Corporate Culture, “Back to Normal” Would Miss the Mark: My 2020 Takeaways We’re all participants in many different systems: households, families, racial and ethnic and religious communities, government and politics, healthcare, and for many of us, professional organizations – employers and otherwise. In a post earlier this year I said that employers working to support employees need to take an individual approach to employee needs. I also said that… Read More »For Corporate Culture, “Back to Normal” Would Miss the Mark: My 2020 Takeaways

Marketing Matters: Utility Building Benchmarking and the Power of Outreach

Marketing Matters: Utility Building Benchmarking and the Power of Outreach Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about why and where utility programs either succeed or fail. As a long-time Utility Program Manager, I observed that good data is essential. Are programs built on a solid foundation of organized, readily available data? What is the data telling us to improve or revise? But there’s a whole other dimension to my… Read More »Marketing Matters: Utility Building Benchmarking and the Power of Outreach

My Covid Acceptance Curve: Supporting Staff in 2020 Means Custom Solutions

My Covid Acceptance Curve: Supporting Staff in 2020 Means Custom Solutions In product management, there’s a golden rule: run head-first towards the problem. After you get there, analyze, solution, revise, roll-out and repeat. As the CEO of a small technology company with a background in product management, I use this framework all the time. Many leaders do. It’s our job to find answers to complicated problems, often using a systems… Read More »My Covid Acceptance Curve: Supporting Staff in 2020 Means Custom Solutions

What’s Your Baseline? Benchmarking and the Advent of Building Performance Standards

What’s Your Baseline? Benchmarking and the Advent of Building Performance Standards (BEPS) If you’re in the utility world, or the energy policy world, or the building management world (or, or, OR), you know about building benchmarking. Typically when required, owners measure and submit their building’s energy consumption for comparison and analyses, most often by the EPA. For a while, these policies proliferated across the nation, providing low-cost, low-risk resource conservation… Read More »What’s Your Baseline? Benchmarking and the Advent of Building Performance Standards

Think Whole Building Benchmarking is all About Compliance? Think Again.

Think whole building benchmarking is all about compliance? Think again. If we asked the question “why does whole building benchmarking data matter?” to a panel of building owners, utilities, policy makers, energy consultants, retrofit experts, researchers, government entities and others, a common thread in the answers might be: measuring building energy performance and making changes are the first steps in reducing carbon emissions. Though motivations depend on where you sit… Read More »Think Whole Building Benchmarking is all About Compliance? Think Again.

In Demand Response, Ushering in the New Should Not Mean Replacing the Old.

In demand response, ushering in the new (DERMS) should not mean replacing the old. “Is DR a thing of the past?” It’s a question being asked, to various degrees, across the energy sector. It comes down to this: in the age of BYO devices and automation, of DERMS and big technology solutions, people are asking where long-operating demand response programs (DR) fit. The question itself isn’t wrong: we should absolutely think… Read More »In Demand Response, Ushering in the New Should Not Mean Replacing the Old.

WFH in a Crisis: A Small Company Perspective on the Subtle Things that Matter Most.

WFH in a crisis: A small company perspective on the subtle things that matter most. It’s impossible to scroll through any news or social feed right now without encountering this refrain: working from home can be hard, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic (along with some version of “Here are the best tips for making it work!”). Balancing kids at home, partners and roommates working in shared space, the reality that… Read More »WFH in a Crisis: A Small Company Perspective on the Subtle Things that Matter Most.