Last month, THG's Data Service Analysts, Colby Bostick and Haden Britton were going through customer invoices, like usual. You know, minding someone else's business. This customer happened to be a large regional bank, with hundreds of bank branches spread across a handful of states. When the invoice ca me in for processing, the team noticed the cost and use spike and flagged it for follow up. THG's Account Rep contacted the bank branch property manager and after a quick facility tour, the property manager identified a busted water line that was in low-traffic area. Gone unnoticed, the leak would've cost the property almost $2,000 in just a few months.  

The client was likely to notice the spike in use and cost, once the data got pushed into the portal. The main takeaway is that having a process in place that makes utility data readily presentable for easy trend analysis can make anyone in the organization a hero. Increased data transparency + a questioning attitude are really the bedrock of any corporate energy or sustainability program. 

We still get questions like, "how many bill errors are you going to find?" or "what savings guarantee do you offer?"  We wish it was that easy.  The fact is, we can guarantee you're not going to spot any errors, find any leaks, or discover which 10% of your facilities are energy hogs unless you commit to a methodical process designed to support individuals, facility-level goals, and corporate wide initiatives. 

When THG was tapped to manage the demand response program for a large city in the PJM territory, the initial focus was on its large commercial office buildings. Call it fate, synchronicity, or good timing, but during a site walk-through THG ran across a water pumping station manager who just so happened to have intimate knowledge of PJM's demand response market programs. Even better, he also knew how his different equipment could support various programs. What he didn't have was a way to meter and orchestrate his equipment with the various market programs. All of a sudden, the city's water pumping effort - which comprises about 25% of the entire city's electricity consumption - became a revenue generating department vs. a cost center.

With the city's guidance, THG is enrolling pumping stations into capacity programs, economic response programs and even fast response (synchronized reserve) programs utilizing equipment that can respond quickly to market signals. THG handles settlement for all the programs and supports gateway devices at each pump station. Once all the pump stations are online, city management will review demand (kW) at the facility level as well as aggregated views of all the pump stations. Below is a dashboard we created for their Department of Public Works team. 

THG is rapidly gaining experience integrating water pumping facilities into utility and ISO sponsored demand response programs. If you're with a city if you represent cities, we'd like to talk. Contact THG's Max Frey for more information about our demand response program for water pumping facilities: [email protected]  or 512.583.1978

What happens when a renowned river guide teams up with the CEO of one of the largest and least Earth-friendly corporations in the world? When it's former Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott and white-water expert turned sustainability consultant Jib Ellison, the result is nothing less than a green business revolution.

Wal-Mart-long the target of local businesses, labor advocates, and environmentalists who deplore its outsourced, big-box methods-has embraced an unprecedented green makeover, which is now spreading worldwide. The retail giant that rose from Sam Walton's Ozarks dime store is leveraging the power of 200 million weekly customers to drive waste, toxics, and carbon emissions out of its stores and products. Neither an act of charity nor an empty greenwash, Wal-Mart's green move reflects its river guide's simple, compelling philosophy: that the most sustainable, clean, energy-efficient, and waste-free company will beat its competitors every time. Not just in some distant, utopian future but today.

From energy conservation, recycling, and hybrid trucks to reduced packaging and partnerships with environmentalists it once met only in court, Wal-Mart has used sustainability to boost its bottom line even in a tough economy-belying the age-old claim that going green kills jobs and profits. Now the global apparel business, the American dairy industry, big agriculture, and even Wall Street are following Wal-Mart's lead, along with the 100,000 manufacturers whose products must become more sustainable to remain on Wal-Mart's shelves. Here Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author Edward Humes charts the course of this unlikely second industrial revolution, in which corporate titans who once believed profit and planet must be at odds are learning that the best business just may be a force of nature.

Contact THG's Chad Burden to receive a free copy.  If you've already read it, let him know what you thought about it. Chad is a Force of Nature card-carrying Kool-Aid drinker.  Think about this: the rate of technological change impacting businesses is the slowest it will ever be for the rest of our lives. Today's stakeholders need faster feedback, customers/employees have higher expectations, and entrepreneurs are now everywhere because of innovative communications technology. Continuous improvement and corporate social responsibility reporting requires accessible, up-to-date, and accurate information. This isn't future speak about 2018 or beyond - this is where we're at now!

Chad: [email protected]

• Creates a common platform for sustainability collaboration
• Helps identify the best opportunities for various commodities
• Enables science-based decisions, measurement and verification 

Click here to watch the webinar.

Contact Chad Burden if you'd like a copy of the slide deck or want to discuss ways THG can fortify existing or future corporate sustainability efforts.   [email protected]  or  918.858.4943