Blog – Latest News & Updates

EMPEQ Named a Finalist in 76West Clean Energy Competition

June 30, 2018 by Herbert Dwyer Leave a Comment

Ithaca, NY, July 2, 2018 – Empower Equity, Inc. (EMPEQ), an energy efficiency project investment and asset management company, has been selected as one of 20 finalists in the 2018 76West Clean Energy Competition. Sponsored by NYSERDA, 76West is an unparalleled competition focused on attracting high potential clean energy startups from across the globe to compete for $2.5M in prize money.

Going into its third year of competition, 76West has already provided startups $5M in prizes and launched incredible success stories in the clean tech field. Inclusion in the 2018 competition was celebrated by EMPEQ’s CEO Herbert Dwyer; he stated that, “Being selected as a finalist in one of our industry’s most prestigious and renowned startup competitions is one of the greatest honors that we’ve received as a company. Our team is proud and excited to have been selected among so many worthy applicants.” The competition will be held from July 30 – August 1 in Ithaca, NY and will feature six winners with one grand prize of $1 million, one $500,000 prize, and four $250,000 awards.

The competition’s goal of furthering economic development in New York’s Southern Tier region struck a chord with EMPEQ’s President / CFO Derek LaClair. He said, “As a company whose three core founders are native to New York State, we are particularly moved to be included in a program so closely associated with the renaissance that we’ve seen Upstate in the past decade.” EMPEQ was founded and currently has major operations in the Southern Tier region.

About EMPEQ

Incorporated in 2016, EMPEQ is changing the way customers become more energy efficient. We provide modern energy efficient equipment to small and mid-size businesses and municipalities through a subscription service. Our approach will finally bring financial efficiency to energy efficiency because it requires no up-front payments from the customer, removes all ownership and performance risk, and the process is automated, streamlined, and simple to understand.

For more information on EMPEQ visit www.empeq.co.

Contact

Herbert Dwyer, CEO
EMPEQ
(347) 903-6737
herbert.dwyer@empeq.co
www.empeq.co

The Case for “Efficiency First”

April 4, 2018 by Derek LaClair Leave a Comment

I’ve got a hypothetical question for you—

Question: Would you go out and buy an entirely new wardrobe if you knew for a fact that you were about to drop 50 pounds in the next six months?

Answer: Of course not. You’d end up with clothes that were way to big for the new you.

So let me pose a not-so-hypothetical question—

Question: Why have we focused our effort and attention on the adoption of renewable generation when most are sized to artificially large building loads?

Answer: Well, the Department of Energy (DOE) has found adoption rates for energy efficient infrastructure has lagged in nearly every pertinent equipment market—equipment that effect and/or make up the majority of a building’s energy usage.

However, as this inefficient infrastructure naturally ages out and/or innovative business models like Empower Equity’s (EMPEQ) UnFinancing℠ program aid in market adoption, these building energy loads will inevitably drop in the next five to ten years. Yet, we have advocated for assets with assumed lives of 20 – 25 years to supply the generation for this same building stock at current energy usage levels.

I have always been an enormous advocate for renewable generation and firmly believe this is the key to unlocking a sustainable future.

Still, building owners should always consider efficiency measures as their first priority when retrofitting their building site. Only after 60W fluorescent lights are retrofitted with 18W LED lights, a 93%-efficient combined heat and power (CHP) machine is providing hot water as well as producing baseline electric consumption as a byproduct—or 60%-efficient boilers are replaced with 95%-efficient products can we fully understand the building’s true energy profile for 2018.

With these long-lived, efficient assets in place, we can properly size our even longer lived generation assets to our new “slimmed-down” building—thereby creating a truly sustainable solution for the next decade or longer.

All advocates in our industry agree that the goal is to achieve a more sustainable energy infrastructure. On the other hand, if we are installing generation assets for artificially inflated loads, nobody wins in the long run.

Ultimately, the lesson here is simple: efficiency first.

Empower Equity (EMPEQ) Announced as Urban Future Competition Semifinalist

January 9, 2018 by Philip Leave a Comment

We are thrilled to report that, today, Empower Equity (EMPEQ) was named as one of 30 semifinalists from around the globe in the Urban Future Competition.

Hosted by Urban Future Lab (UFL), in conjunction with BP, New York Community Trust (NYCT), and NYSERDA, the competition “debuts the world’s most revolutionary smart mobility, smart city, and smart grid technologies by bringing the brightest entrepreneurs together with mission-driven investors, policy leaders, and corporate sponsors for a prestigious pitch competition in NYC.”

We are one of 10 semifinalists in the “NYCT Smart Grid Prize” track, designed for “companies that reduce emissions through both business model and energy innovation and support the next generation energy system.” Companies compete in one of three distinct tracks, with a grand prize awarded to the winner in each track (BP Smart Mobility Prize, NYCT Smart City Prize, and NYCT Smart Grid Prize).

There is a non-dilutive (zero-equity stake) $50,000 grand prize for each of three tracks and includes admission into the ACRE incubator at Urban Future Lab, NYC’s longest running cleantech incubator program.

Finalists are to be announced on January 30, 2018.

Operating Leases Becoming Far Less Attractive as Financing Tools

December 8, 2017 by Derek LaClair Leave a Comment

For most small and mid-sized commercial building owners, financial options for energy efficiency upgrades tend have always been relatively limited. However, the one tried and true option has been operating leases. These operating leases have a relatively simple to follow cash benefit to the customer:

You start with the base energy expense of the building—let’s say 100 units—you reduce the expense via efficient upgrades offering a gross expense reduction of 60 units. The lease payment might take up half of your savings, but your net savings ends up at 30 units; plus, you have new and energy efficient infrastructure.

It’s easy to see the attraction here. In fact, the ease and simplicity of operating leases have led to these structures acting as the financial backbone of many of the most popular financing methods in energy efficiency. The US DOE has correctly identified that “Leases are commonly used to provide underlying financing for energy performance contracts (EPCs) and other structures.” These “other structures” include most Energy Services Agreements, Lumens-as-a-Service Agreements, Energy-as-a-Service Agreements, and the like that have been marketed in the past half decade.

Operating leases have always been an easier sell than capital leases or loans for one additional reason: they have always been an off-balance-sheet item. This can benefit the company in that it appears less risky. To provide color, this may keep them inside of certain debt covenants or it could perhaps benefit the cost of capital, especially in private middle market companies as they apply for their next loan. In other words, it was always a convenient way to finance equipment without having negative ramifications to the company’s proverbial FICO Score.

However, as of February 2016, that gravy train has pulled into the station for the last time. The Financial Accounting Standards Board ruled that operating leases must be reported on a company’s balance sheet just like all other forms of financing. This will begin in 2018 for public companies and 2019 for all entities. This ruling was understandably made to increase transparency, but it will have massive effects on balance sheets in the US. As it doesn’t matter if you’re Boeing leasing planes to Delta or Joe’s Electric leasing light bulbs to Ma and Pa’s Grocery Store, overnight, the method just got a lot less attractive.

This is precisely the impetus for Empower Equity’s innovative UnFinancing℠ program. Our Simple Energy Subscription℠ model brings many of the same benefits that were previously seen under operating leases in new infrastructure, no capex, and immediate savings, but, as the owners of the assets, we are fully responsible for maintaining and servicing the equipment during the term. And, perhaps most importantly, because of our third-party ownership approach, the subscription remains an “off-balance sheet” item for the end customer.

We see our UnFinancing program as a very unusual win-win-win-win where EMPEQ, our partners, our customers, and our planet can all come out ahead and we can do it adhering to changes to financial reporting standards.

Empower Equity (EMPEQ) Hires Herbert Dwyer as New CEO

December 8, 2017 by Philip Leave a Comment

Herbert Dwyer, hired by Empower Equity (EMPEQ) as new CEO.

New York. – December 8, 2017 – Empower Equity, Inc. (EMPEQ), an energy efficiency project investment and asset management company, announced today the hiring of energy executive Herbert Dwyer as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Dwyer joins a growing team of energy and finance experts who are bringing financial efficiency to energy efficiency to small and mid-sized commercial and industrial buildings.

“EMPEQ deeply understands why the existing building stock in the U.S. and abroad have not been upgraded. Simply put, the market is characterized by willing customers, capable contractors, and insufficient financing solutions,” said Dwyer. “Throughout my career, this misalignment has troubled me, and I believe EMPEQ and its UnFinancing℠ program holds the key to unlocking the potential for scaling investments into energy efficiency. I am excited to be a part of this market disruption in the commercial and industrial energy efficiency industry at EMPEQ.”

Dwyer joins EMPEQ from his previous President and Chief Strategy Advisor position at Herbert Dwyer Consulting, LLC. In this role, he consulted for companies of varying sizes to assist with corporate strategic planning, business development, and energy efficiency project management and due diligence. In the United States Marine Corps, Dwyer served as a platoon sergeant and achieved a United States Department of Defense (USDOE) Top-Secret SCI security clearance as a National Security Agency (NSA) tasked cryptanalyst/intelligence operator. He earned his bachelor’s (BS) degree from RIT and is currently an SC Johnson College of Business 2019 MBA candidate at Cornell University. Active in the energy community, Dwyer spent six years as the CEO of energy efficiency design-builder ASI Energy and is currently the Chairperson of the Northeast Clean Heat and Power Initiative (NECHPI), a spin-off organization of the United States Department of Energy.

Derek LaClair, EMPEQ’s President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), is stepping down from his role as de facto CEO and will remain President and CFO.

“We believe that Mr. Dwyer’s background in real estate investing, asset management, fundraising, management, business development, and clean energy is a perfect fit for EMPEQ,” said LaClair. “I am confident that his leadership and management background will play a central role in ensuring our company’s growth projections. As a result of our experience with Herb over the last few months in a consulting capacity, it quickly became obvious to EMPEQ senior management and investors that he was the clear choice for CEO.”

Dwyer joins a diverse team currently operating in the three U.S. states and Canada. Founded in 2016, EMPEQ has grown rapidly. The company’s UnFinancing℠ program—which pairs with its proprietary Empower Visibility℠ platform and innovative Simple Energy Subscription℠ model—provides complex financing capabilities to middle-market energy efficiency contractors, OEMs, and utilities, allowing their commercial and industrial customers to attractively finance their desired upgrades.

To learn more about Empower Equity (EMPEQ), visit www.empeq.co.

CONTACT

Derek LaClair
Empower Equity, Inc. (EMPEQ)
(347) 903-6737
derek.laclair@empeq.co
www.empeq.co

Simple Energy Subscription – The Logical Next Step in a Changing Economy

October 18, 2017 by Derek LaClair Leave a Comment

Subscription Economy

Everywhere we look now we are seeing a new ‘Subscription-Based Economy‘ form before our eyes. No longer do we pay Sprint or Verizon for a new cell phone—instead, we pay a monthly subscription fee for the device rather than paying upfront. In the past, we would all have to buy the full Microsoft Office software package online or at retailer every two or three years in order to get the latest version—now we pay for a software subscription and download the software directly with Microsoft with free updates. In the startup world we’ve even seen subscription-based businesses change the way we buy everything from prom dresses to razor blades.

How has this concept become so sticky in such a short period of time? The answer is twofold. First, a subscription model removes the onerous upfront cost associated with acquiring a new product. In the Microsoft example, I remember having once been in a frenzy as a new college graduate and cash-strapped 22-year-old when I realized it was going to cost me $175 to get Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on my new computer. The 22-year-old me would’ve been thrilled that, with no upfront cost, I could have acquired all of those applications for a $10 monthly subscription. Second, the other major benefit is that instead of being the “owner” of a product—and being forced to take it upon myself to keep up with the latest tech or industry trends—a subscription means that someone else with the needed expertise is always working on my behalf to make sure I have the latest and greatest tool, service, or app.

Returning to my personal example—after forking over the cash for Office 2007, I was pretty much stuck with that product until the day my computer died. In Microsoft’s new Office subscription service, Office 365, I regularly receive all the needed maintenance, updates, and fixes to the software that I could ever ask for. Ultimately, a subscription allows me to live at the cutting edge, even while my bank account statement suggests I should instead shop in the bargain bin.

Our Subscription Model

It is this very subscription concept that we are bringing to the market for energy efficiency at EMPEQ. Our innovative, first-in-class Simple Energy Subscription℠ (SES), brings all the benefits of the SES ensures that the required leading experts in the field prescribe the correct package of energy-efficient technologies for every building while taking over all post-installation maintenance—at no upfront cost.

However, the main difference in what we offer here at EMPEQ is that, because of the energy-efficient nature of the products being installed—unlike other subscriptions—we are actually lowering a company’s operating expenses going forward. This is because, under our model, even though customers are signing up for a monthly subscription, this new subscription plus their newly reduced utility bill still does not equal their pre-subscription utility bill expenses. In other words, it would be like telling 22-year-old me that not only could I get every new Microsoft product I wanted without any upfront costs, but that the subscription would also offset a portion of my monthly credit card bill that I racked up from buying my new computer.

This is exactly why we’re so passionate about what we’ve created here at EMPEQ—we are bringing something to the market that is an exceedingly rare win-win-win-win. Customers, our partners, our company, and our environment can reap the benefits of our Simple Energy Subscription. Changes in energy efficiency technology and pricing have made a concept that, just three or four years ago, would’ve been too good to be true as real as it gets.