Jeff Hendler, CEO of Logical Buildings — Photo by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ
By Joshua Burd
A software developer that helps landlords manage their energy costs has unveiled a new tool aimed at streamlining procurement, seeking to find additional savings for building owners.
The Livingston-based firm, Logical Buildings, said the platform provides real-time data on energy markets and price fluctuations, allowing owners and managers to secure better contract terms when it comes to forward energy purchases. The company’s Energy Procurement, Advisory and Execution tool, or EPAX, couples the data with projections about a building’s or a portfolio’s energy consumption in order to identify the optimal term, rate structure and language for a procurement contract.
A user can then participate in a reverse auction, in which suppliers compete in real time, resulting in low-price bids that do not favor any individual supplier, Logical Buildings said.
“We are fortunate to have spent a lot of time with portfolio managers over the years, listening to them describe how opaque and arbitrary their energy procurement process is,” said Jeff Hendler, the company’s CEO. “Every feature of EPAX is a response to specific pain points from our clients.”
Founded in 2012, Logical Buildings has developed a mobile platform known as SmartKit AI, which helps landlords monitor and manage their building performance using data from utility meters, WiFi-enabled sensors and other smart devices. The flagship platform has helped a fast-growing list of developers and owners cut operating costs, make their buildings more resilient and generate revenue through government and utility incentive programs.
The technology will now work hand in hand with EPAX to bring transparency to a market that is historically opaque and dominated by energy brokers, Logical Buildings said. To that end, the platform seeks to simplify what is normally complex data and deliver those insights via text, push notification, voice activation and email.
The firm believes owners and managers can in turn limit the risk derived from fluctuations in prices and have more control in the procurement process. The platform also seeks to help those with large, diverse portfolios organize and manage their energy utility accounts through automated energy budgeting, bill auditing and measurement and verification of energy performance.
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