GreenQuest Blog all about GreenQuest – your personal Web-based energy dashboard

By Barry Kroeker

Watch the video on YouTube.

This article is about how you can use GreenQuest to predict your energy bill—weeks or months before it even arrives. Here’s how.

The easiest way to get a preliminary estimate is to compare your use and cost with the bill history you’ve entered in GreenQuest. Just log in to your GreenQuest account and click the Advanced tab. Then click Energy Recap. Your utility bill history will be displayed year-by-year as a line graph.

Right now I’m looking at my Electric bill history. I could get the same kind of data for Water or Fuel (if I was tracking those commodities) just by clicking on the link for the commodity.

Since I’m writing this in June, my interest will be in the June billing period, which looks promising for predictions since all three historical data points are closely grouped. Notice I’ve got the Usage displayed. You can also click the Cost and/or Unit Cost tabs to refine your prediction, but I’ll get to those in a minute.

I can “mouse-over” the data points on the graph and GreenQuest will display the actual usage VALUES associated with each graph point. Or I can click My Bills, and “look up” the historical usage in the bill list. My history for June has been:

June 2007: 1491 kWh

June 2008: 1401 kWh

June 2009: 1624 kWh

If I average the three values, I get 1505 kWh. So, based on my billing history, I can expect to USE about 1505 kWh of electricity this month. But how much will I SPEND? To figure that out, I need to check my CURRENT Unit Cost by clicking the Unit Cost tab. My 2010 data tells me I’ll be paying about 9 cents per kWh, so if I multiply my usage by my cost, the total bill would be $135.48. But let me see if I can refine my prediction a little more by looking at the weather forecast.

If I click the Usage vs. Weather link from the Advanced tab, I can get the current weather forecast from AccuWeather®. Why do I care about that? GreenQuest can tell me if my utility costs are affected by weather (heating/air conditioning). And if there is a correlation to weather, GreenQuest will tell me exactly how much each degree of warmer or cooler weather will affect my bill.

To see my summer weather analysis, I have to click the Summer tab under Usage vs. Weather.

Good news—there is no weather correlation. That means … that my wife is saving us money every summer. You see, we actually have an air conditioner. And living in Pennsylvania, I’d LIKE to use it. But she is from New England, and she HATES the air conditioner, especially at night. So the house is rarely as cool or as dry as I’d prefer it to be from May to September. Now on really hot days, she will occasionally relent and let me turn on the A/C—but as the data proves, she doesn’t back down very often!

Of course, there are always a few more “variables” in the mix, such as how long the billing period was/is from year to year (sometimes the utility company will read the meter at different times, so you may be paying for 32 days instead of 30, like you might expect for a June bill).

And in my case, there’s a new variable—we got a small above-ground swimming pool last month, and we’ve been running the filter several hours each day. We also got a supplementary air conditioner for the bedroom—but I have not had much of an opportunity to enjoy it this month either! The wattage on the new air conditioner is 1340, so if I manage to keep it on for 40 hours this month, that would increase the total electric load by about 54 kWh, or $4.82. So I’ll refine my crystal ball prediction for June’s electric bill to $140.30. I’ll let you know how I did with my prediction in the next newsletter.

Now, go see how accurately you can predict your next utility bill!

Many sponsors get excited about rolling out GreenQuest, but they don’t take the time to create a promotional strategy. Here are some marketing suggestions for increasing GreenQuest participation and value for your organization.

Read this article online.

Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, in the heart of the Bluegrass Region of central Kentucky, has purchased EnergyCAP energy efficiency software with stimulus funds from a U.S. DOE Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG).

The city/county government, which hired its first full-time energy manager in 2009, is currently in the early stages of implementation. According to Blaine Clapper of EnergyCAP, Lexington-Fayette had been considering purchasing a more robust utility management system for some time, but tight budgets in recent years had been a concern. “The availability of block grant funds was a key factor in making this project happen,” said Clapper. “It’s a smart investment for Lexington.”

Regarding how much money the government will save using EnergyCAP, Clapper noted that it is common for first-year savings and cost recoveries to exceed 1% of the user’s annual utility budget, even if aggressive energy management programs have been in place for some time. In 2008, the city spent over $10 million on natural gas and electricity in government operations.

James Bush, Lexington-Fayette’s energy manager, is looking forward to the project. “Up until now, our utility bills and energy use have largely been kept separate. EnergyCAP will allow the city to better manage its energy use to control costs and identify opportunities for additional savings,” said Bush.

The purpose of the EECBG is to:
– Reduce fossil fuel emissions in a manner that is environmentally sustainable and, to the maximum extent practicable, maximizes benefits for local and regional communities;
– Reduce the total energy use of the eligible entities; and
– Improve energy efficiency in the building sector, the transportation sector, and other appropriate sectors.

Learn how your organization can purchase EnergyCAP using EECBG funds. Or, read a White Paper on the topic.

According to the Post Independent, Garfield County, CO is offering GreenQuest to its households and businesses. “If you track your energy use and spending over time, it’s a lot easier to understand your energy use and ways to save energy and money, said Shelley Kaup, chair of the Garfield New Energy Communities Initiative Advisory Board and a Glenwood Springs City Council member. “Using GreenQuest is an opportunity for everyone in the county to track their energy use and work together to save energy.”

EnergyCAP, the maker of GreenQuest, continues to lead the energy efficiency software industry with the recent release of EnergyCAP 6.1—the ninth upgrade in five years. EnergyCAP devotes more development resources and publishes more enhancements and upgrades than any other provider of utility bill tracking and energy efficiency software.

EnergyCAP’s upgrades aren’t just minor tweaks; they’re major improvements based on client feedback and market research. EnergyCAP 6.1 includes many notable improvements:

• The Budget Manager has been significantly improved for much easier navigation and better compatibility with multi-bill deregulated accounts.
• The ENERGY STAR interface has been greatly improved. The addition of “subspaces” helps ensure you’ll get the most accurate rating.
• The Vendor Manager now conveniently lists all accounts for each vendor.
• All 250 reports have been improved with enhancements such as additional filters and added user options.
• An all-new Web-based reporting, benchmarking and PowerViews module helps you gain the most value from your energy data.
• Over 60 other improvements.

Colorado Governor’s Energy Office seeking consultants to implement EnergyCAP for state agencies and K-12. View the request.

GreenQuest is powered by EnergyCAP.

Energy management software publisher Good Steward Software has announced record sales in 2009 and a new company name. Sales revenue was up 50% from 2008, the eighth consecutive year-over-year increase in sales. A record number of education, government and commercial multi-site organizations became EnergyCAP clients in 2009. By year-end, the company was averaging almost 200 new energy tracking users each week.

Steve Heinz, company founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We’re very pleased that both sales and users grew at unprecedented rates in 2009, despite the challenging economic conditions. This underscores the value and importance that our clients place in what I’ve been preaching for thirty years—that getting a handle on your energy information is the first step toward energy efficiency.

“We changed our name to strengthen the EnergyCAP brand, but of course remain fundamentally focused on helping clients be good stewards of their limited energy and fiscal resources. Since energy is the most controllable operating expense in most organizations, good stewardship starts with effective energy management because you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

“We expect growth to continue in 2010 as we launch our initial web-based SaaS (Software as a Service) version of EnergyCAP and release upgrades to our three core products. We’re also anxiously anticipating an enthusiastic response to a new shared savings offering that will return utility bill refunds and cost recoveries to clients at no out-of-pocket expense.”

EnergyCAP, Inc. publishes GreenQuest, a personal energy tracking tool, and EnergyCAP energy efficiency software.