Ecova Survey Reveals 2014 Energy and Sustainability Predictions

SPOKANE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ecova, the total energy and sustainability management company, today released results of a broad survey in a new report: 2014 Energy and Sustainability Predictions: Findings from Leading Professionals. The report aggregates findings from a survey of nearly 500 energy and sustainability professionals, and reveals that 2014 will be a challenging year for those responsible for managing resources for their organizations.

“These results are not surprising – the industry landscape is constantly evolving and companies are facing unprecedented pressure to conserve resources, reduce costs and disclose energy and resource performance,” said Jeff Heggedahl, president and CEO, Ecova. “These challenges mean companies must take steps to improve results and build a total energy and sustainability management strategy if they want to remain competitive and meet the increasing needs for resource management.”

Nearly half of respondents revealed the top energy data priority for 2014 is to implement no cost, low cost efficiency efforts. Cost is by far the biggest influencer of energy and sustainability initiatives; however, 2014 will be complicated by the anticipated increased energy and resource prices.

The report discloses additional aspects of energy and sustainability management for organizations to address in 2014:

Water will emerge as a top energy and sustainability initiative

• An overwhelming majority of respondents (70 percent) noted that rising water costs are a concern for 2014.
• Water is also viewed as the second greatest area with opportunity for savings and improvement, behind energy.

New benchmarking regulations create an increasingly complex environment

• Thirty percent of respondents are unaware if their buildings are currently required or will be required to comply with municipal, city or state level regulations.
• However, among the 38 percent of respondents who are currently required or expect to be required to comply with municipal, city or state regulations, nearly 86 percent feel prepared to respond.

Peer benchmarking represents an untapped opportunity

• Twenty-seven percent of respondents acknowledged they didn't know how their facilities performed in comparison to peers, and an additional 46 percent stated their buildings were performing only the same as or less efficiently than peers.
• This means that nearly 75 percent of respondents believe they have an opportunity to capture additional cost and energy savings compared to their current performance.

About the Survey

The Ecova 2014 Energy and Sustainability Predictions report was conducted by Ecova in November and December, 2013. The results are based on responses from more than 500 energy and sustainability professionals from a wide variety of organizations across the United States. The respondents represent a broad spectrum of those involved with managing their company's energy and sustainability efforts—C-Suite executives, energy managers, directors and analysts—and were drawn from a wide range of company sizes.

About Ecova

Ecova is the total energy and sustainability management company whose sole purpose is to see more, save more, and sustain more for its clients. Using insights based on consumption, cost and carbon footprint data spanning thousands of utilities, hundreds of thousands of business sites and millions of households, Ecova provides fully managed, technology-optimized solutions for saving resources, which in turn increase returns, lower risks, and enhance reputations. Ecova is the largest non-regulated subsidiary of Avista Corp AVA (avistacorp.com). For more information, visit the company's website at ecova.com, on LinkedIn at linkd.in/ecovainc, or follow Ecova on Twitter at @ecovainc.