Oct 12 2009
Good Steward Software announces a new release of its free online energy dashboard, GreenQuest. GreenQuest 2.0 includes automatic data submittal to the EPA's ENERGY STAR program so that commercial buildings can quickly and easily obtain free ENERGY STAR ratings.
The updated version also features a powerful reporting tool that sponsors use to mine and analyze building energy data, a carbon footprint equivalency chart and an improved interface.
GreenQuest is a free-to-use online energy dashboard that enables households and commercial building owners to track their utility bills. Local and regional sponsors provide GreenQuest to their customers or community through a privately-branded GreenQuest website, placing a link on the organization's homepage, and promoting the GreenQuest link. More than 200 organizations in 35 states have already signed up as GreenQuest sponsors. Typical sponsors are school districts, local and state governments, churches, homeowners associations, real estate brokers, non-profit environmental organizations and "green" businesses.
"We're very pleased with this new release, because it offers better value--more functionality and usability--than other online energy tools. Whereas Microsoft Hohm, Google PowerMeter and a number of other systems are targeted toward future smart grid opportunities, GreenQuest offers tremendous value to 120 million households and single building owners today. For thirty years, we've been the leading publisher of energy efficiency software, so we know what users want and what information is useful to them," says Steve Heinz, publisher of GreenQuest. "GreenQuest offers more value today because it obtains free ENERGY STAR ratings, serves both home and commercial building owners, tracks three types of utilities (electric, water, gas/oil/propane), and provides sponsors with private branding, messaging, and lead generation."
Through the ENERGY STAR submittal feature, GreenQuest automatically submits commercial building energy usage data to the EPA's Portfolio Manager, which is the ENERGY STAR national benchmarking system. Once the data is submitted, ENERGY STAR assigns a building energy rating and returns the rating to GreenQuest. The 1 to 100 rating is a nationally-recognized energy efficiency benchmark; high ratings are known to increase a building's resale and lease value and some states will soon require ENERGY STAR ratings for commercial building real estate transactions. Highly-rated buildings can also receive an ENERGY STAR label and plaque in recognition of superior efficiency.
The new Sponsor Management Console gives GreenQuest sponsors information about the users who access GreenQuest through the sponsor's website. This is valuable in measuring the effectiveness of energy reduction initiatives, tracking the utilization of GreenQuest by their community members, and generating leads for marketing efforts. GreenQuest 2.0 also includes a carbon footprint equivalency, which communicates how many acres of trees are needed to offset the building's carbon emissions, and an improved interface for quick reporting of energy data.
Source: http://www.energycap.com/