{"id":473,"date":"2024-11-08T14:29:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T19:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/?p=473"},"modified":"2024-11-08T14:29:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T19:29:07","slug":"energy-service-companies-are-important-but-little-known-players-in-the-energy-transition-what-do-they-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/energy-service-companies-are-important-but-little-known-players-in-the-energy-transition-what-do-they-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy service companies are important but little-known players in the energy transition. What do they do?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>An energy service company, commonly referred to as an ESCo, specializes in enhancing energy efficiency, managing energy peaks, and reducing energy expenses for businesses and organizations.<br><br>Generally, ESCos may offer the following services:<br>&#8211;\u00a0Diagnose energy consumption and system status.<br>&#8211;\u00a0Develop and organize the financing of energy efficiency projects.<br>&#8211;\u00a0Install and maintain equipment.<br>&#8211;\u00a0Measure and verify energy savings.<br>&#8211;\u00a0Operate state-of-the-art management systems.<br>&#8211;\u00a0Validate invoices from the electricity distributor and the retailer.<br><br>The main technical levers are building automation, lighting, space heating and air conditioning, and water heating.<br><br>Large ESCos take on some of the technical and performance risks associated with the project by funding improvements through an Energy Performance Contract (EPC), which is funded from future energy savings over several years.<br><br>In the Qu\u00e9bec market, performance contracts developed strongly after 1998, following regulatory changes applicable to calls for tenders by public bodies. In the province, the two main ESCos are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ecosystem\/\">Ecosystem<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/energere\/\">\u00c9nerg\u00e8re<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/econoler\/\">Econoler<\/a>, one of the first ESCos in the world, was founded in 1981 by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/hydro-quebec\/\">Hydro Qu\u00e9bec<\/a> and Dessau-Soprin, a consulting engineering firm. Ecololer\u2019s managers later bought the company.<br><br>Elsewhere in Canada, the major ESCos are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ainsworth-inc\/\">Ainsworth Inc<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ameresco\/\">Ameresco<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/honeywell\/\">Honeywell<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/johnson-controls\/\">Johnson Controls<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/siemens\/\">Siemens<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/trane\/\">Trane<\/a>, but others are also active in these countries, and the performance contracting approach is less developed.<br><br>Typically, ESCo customers have an expert who guides and advocates for them in their interactions with the ESCos, specifically in regards to contractual and technical matters. This expert\u2019s role is to help evaluate energy savings, determine how to calculate and quantify them annually, and negotiate compensation arrangements between the parties if the desired savings are not met.<br><br>There are also several niche players, not necessarily ESCos, that provide limited services, some of which utilize artificial intelligence, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/brainboxai\/\">BrainBox AI<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/vadimap\/\">vadiMAP<\/a>. Engineering firms are also active in the market, particularly in the design and development stages. We are also seeing the emergence of large European companies like Engie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.licdn.com\/dms\/image\/v2\/D4E03AQFpClFltkdO5w\/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100\/profile-displayphoto-shrink_100_100\/0\/1692794656560?e=1736380800&amp;v=beta&amp;t=e2l3fMrpO6iwTEU_M5q3W_fC0aWJmCENphTbyhB-sx0\" alt=\"Photo of Benoit Marcoux\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.licdn.com\/aero-v1\/sc\/h\/8fz8rainn3wh49ad6ef9gotj1\" alt=\"like\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.licdn.com\/aero-v1\/sc\/h\/1mbfgcprj3z93pjntukfqbr8y\" alt=\"celebrate\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.licdn.com\/aero-v1\/sc\/h\/cv29x2jo14dbflduuli6de6bf\" alt=\"support\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.licdn.com\/aero-v1\/sc\/h\/6f5qp9agugsqw1swegjxj86me\" alt=\"love\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.licdn.com\/aero-v1\/sc\/h\/9ry9ng73p660hsehml9i440b2\" alt=\"insightful\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.licdn.com\/aero-v1\/sc\/h\/qye2jwjc8dw20nuv6diudrsi\" alt=\"funny\">LikeCommen<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top:2em;\">\r\n      Shortlink:\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/energy-service-companies-are-important-but-little-known-players-in-the-energy-transition-what-do-they-do\/\">https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/energy-service-companies-are-important-but-little-known-players-in-the-energy-transition-what-do-they-do\/<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<div id=\"eebsocial\" style=\"margin-top:1em;\">\r\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2F\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/twitter-32.png\" title=\"Tweet this link\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2F\" target=\"_blank\">\r\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-url-shorten\/\/icons\/facebook-32.png\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https%3A%2F%2F&title=Energy service companies are important but little-known players in the energy transition. 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Generally, ESCos may offer the following services:&#8211;\u00a0Diagnose energy consumption and system status.&#8211;\u00a0Develop and organize the financing of energy efficiency projects.&#8211;\u00a0Install and maintain equipment.&#8211;\u00a0Measure and verify energy savings.&#8211;\u00a0Operate state-of-the-art management [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,40,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-energy-efficiency","category-quebec-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":474,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions\/474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benoit.marcoux.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}