Energy costs have been skyrocketing as of late, and savvy developers along with building owners are now laser-focused on identifying strategies to mitigate those rising costs. On this week’s episode of The Playbook, host Mark Collier, business consultant for the UGA Small Business Development Center, sits down with Dr. Reginald Parker, founder of Optimal Technology Corporation. Dr. Parker is going to discuss how his company is leading the way with facility management technology solutions to better manage energy costs.
Transcription:
Mark Collier:
Welcome back into The Playbook, Dr. Parker.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Good day.
Mark Collier:
All right. Well, great to have you back, man. Last we spoke and you were here, I know a lot’s been going on. So last we spoke in your quest to end energy poverty. Kind of give me an update on that and how it’s coming along.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Well, look, you can’t be successful without accomplishing some projects.
Mark Collier:
Yes, sir.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Developing the right relationships and.
Mark Collier:
Yes, sir.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Building out your pipeline. So we just finished doing a energy efficiency overhaul.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
On the National Sports Center.
Mark Collier:
Wow.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
In Bermuda.
Mark Collier:
And where’s that located?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
In Bermuda.
Mark Collier:
Bermuda, beautiful.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So one of the things we did was in inventorying their electricity bill along with our partner AESG, we saw that 43% of that cost was due to an inefficient heat pump.
Mark Collier:
Okay. Interesting.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
A lot of people don’t know about heat pumps.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
They use regular ACs and what have you.
Mark Collier:
Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But you can use a heat pump as a way of the cool and heat your water.
Mark Collier:
Aha.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So we put that in and right off the bat, we are able to lower the amount of consumption, about 75% from the old heat pump to the new one.
Mark Collier:
Now, was that a function of just the newer technology in this heat pump, or was that a function of maybe a multitude of things?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Multitude of things. But one of the things is, is newer technology, better structured and actually designed for that operations. Sometimes you buy your heat pump because it’s cheap.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But if it’s not designed for your operations, then you don’t get what you need.
Mark Collier:
Okay. That-.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But our partner also put in and continues to put in energy efficiency light bulbs, and other variety of things along with energy management.
Mark Collier:
Okay. So you kind of, I guess, when you approach your clients, you kind of go through a kind of, I guess, an energy audit initially. And then you can kind of go through a series of checklists on things that they can potentially implement to help reduce their energy costs. Is that kind of the sequence of events?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
We give people this phrase. One, you want to use better energy.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Solar panels, heat pumps, these type of things.
Mark Collier:
Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But you want to use that energy better.
Mark Collier:
Got it.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And as energy management. But you have to first start with understanding the energy.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
You can’t prescribe pills to a patient that hasn’t been diagnosed.
Mark Collier:
That’s true.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So what we do is figure out what’s going on. Now, that’s the first thing. Second thing as to what we said, once we’re now there, there’s so much more we can do for our client.
Mark Collier:
Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
The energy is one of their problems. But so is water leaks.
Mark Collier:
Yeah.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And so since we have a gateway and we have device control and we have all the AI in the world.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
We added some complimentary technology through our partners and now we’re offering facility management activity as well as energy management activity.
Mark Collier:
That’s awesome. So it’s all about value add.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah.
Mark Collier:
And you seem like you’re stacking benefit over benefit to deliver, I guess, exceptional value to the clients you serve.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Right. We’re trying to help them save on their second largest cost. First is human resources.
Mark Collier:
Correct.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Second is energy.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But if you lump facilities, it becomes a larger second.
Mark Collier:
Yeah. Yeah. That makes perfect sense. So other than the Bermuda project, give me a couple of other case studies of success stories where you’ve been successful in helping your clients reduce their energy costs?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
There’s two hotels in Michigan that we just completed. We put solar on. Of course, we’re putting the energy management.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And monitoring technology. There’s a difference between energy monitoring and energy management.
Mark Collier:
Kind of explain the difference, but if you don’t mind.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Monitoring is, oh, I can tell you how you spent your energy last week.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So what should I do about it? No, we just monitor.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But to manage you actually come up with maintenance protocols.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
You need to change out your air filter.
Mark Collier:
All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
You need to do this.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Or if you will allow us, our AI can turn off certain things you don’t need at the times you don’t need it.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
For instance, there’s this one client, they had a heater that would turn on in the middle of the night.
Mark Collier:
Why?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
It was supposed to be off.
Mark Collier:
Why?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
It was just faulty programming.
Mark Collier:
Okay. Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And they didn’t know that it would turn on from 3:00 AM to 5:00 AM when nobody was there. And it was adding $90 per day.
Mark Collier:
Oh wow.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Now $90 per day times 365 days, so.
Mark Collier:
That’s significant.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah. That’s a extra 20 something thousand dollars.
Mark Collier:
Yeah.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But because you are monitoring and now able to maintain and manage.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
You are able to turn it off.
Mark Collier:
Got it. So monitoring is just, here’s your energy report, whereas managing is you’re putting together some protocols that will help you improve in the future.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Exactly.
Mark Collier:
So reactor versus proactive, huh?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Exactly.
Mark Collier:
All right. Well, very good. So a lot of talk nowadays about a potential recession looming. Don’t know if that’s going to happen or not. The economists oftentimes are about as accurate as weathermen are. But if a potential recession happens, how would that impact what you just shared in your business?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Well, I’m going to tell you that when a weatherman tells you there’s going to be rain, it rains somewhere.
Mark Collier:
Yeah. That’s right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And the economists, just like they say there’s going to be a recession, there will be a recession somewhere.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And one of the first things that people do is tighten their belt.
Mark Collier:
Yes, they do.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And when they tighten their belt, they go at headcount.
Mark Collier:
Yeah.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
I’m giving them an alternative, go to facility costs. Here, we can help you save costs, save the planet, save money, and save head counts all at the same time.
Mark Collier:
That makes a lot more sense because that is one of the most painful things companies can do is to cut their workforce.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Right.
Mark Collier:
I mean, you’re talking about people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake. So if they can have an alternative way to reduce their budget during recessionary times, I mean, I can see how that would deliver great value to clients.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And just on those hotels, we’re cutting their cost by 51%.
Mark Collier:
Okay. All right. Well, fantastic. All right. So what’s the greatest threat you see kind of on the horizon for facilities owners as energy costs continue to rise?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Well, a lot of people don’t see the direct relationship between, let’s say the gas prices going up.
Mark Collier:
Yeah.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But gas prices are an alternative to natural gas prices.
Mark Collier:
Sure, sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And natural gas is used both in auto motives as well as in electricity. And so if it’s cheaper to use natural gas more for the transportation corridors, that means the price in the electricity corridors are going to go up.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And it’s expected to go up 5% this year.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Usually, it’s only going up 2.4%.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Here, we’re having a doubling. So electricity bills are going to start marching up.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But if we can cut them and make people more resilient, especially with what just happened in Miami. A friend of mine had water just flood his condo.
Mark Collier:
Was that the big storms they had there last week?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah.
Mark Collier:
Yeah. Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Storms have started and then they’re not going to relent.
Mark Collier:
Yeah.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And the impact, how do you make these facilities resilient? We had a snowstorm in Dallas, Texas two years ago. People were out power. However, my cousin, he called me three years prior to that and I told him a resiliency plan for his home. The storms came, he cut his self off from the grid and he turned on his solar panels.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And his batteries. And they were surfing on the internet, they were cooking. It was as if the storm did not come to their homes where there are people in their neighborhood who did not have this activity. So not only can you make your facility lower cost on energy, you can make it more resilient.
Mark Collier:
No, that makes a lot of sense. And what you just, the example you just shared kind of underscores that this is not only going to be commercial applications, but this will have applications for residential homeowners as well.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Collier:
So you’ve got another whole entire market to tap there.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
I just visited a university, a college, not too far from here. I can’t disclose this yet.
Mark Collier:
All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And we showed them how we could cut 1.5 million dollars out of their energy costs.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Every year.
Mark Collier:
All right. And a question I asked is, “What would you do with that savings?”
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Sure.
Mark Collier:
What was their answer?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Being able to hire new faculty that they need.
Mark Collier:
Got it yeah.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Being able to fix up their physical plant.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Being able to do more for the students. And this, how many people would they have to fire to get a $1.5 million savings?
Mark Collier:
No, that makes sense.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Here we cut energy costs and facility costs and now they’re able to hire.
Mark Collier:
Yeah. So they’re in an expansion mode instead of a kind of contraction mode.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah.
Mark Collier:
All right. So in addition to facility management technology, kind of, what else can we expect in the near future from these technological advancements?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Well, in the near term, we’re going to be finally pushing our high efficiency, solar module for commercial utility scale.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So not only do we do energy management, our new solar panel will come out and be able to take up 1.2 acres of land for every megawatt versus five.
Mark Collier:
Wow.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
The traditional solar field is five acres for a megawatt.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And it usually takes a traditional 21 days to install, takes us about 10 hours.
Mark Collier:
10 hours. So from 21 days, do you reduce that down to 10 hours?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So.
Mark Collier:
Significant.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Storm comes through.
Mark Collier:
Yep.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And like it came through in Puerto Rico.
Mark Collier:
Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
North Carolina, Georgia, Florida.
Mark Collier:
Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
You want your power back tomorrow.
Mark Collier:
Yes you do. Yes, you do.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Not in two to three weeks.
Mark Collier:
Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
If you’re in the military, and Georgia’s a big military state and you’re setting up a fort base, you want your power tomorrow.
Mark Collier:
Correct.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So that’s one of the things that we’re going to be offering.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And building on that technology, in the future, we’re going to be able to help turn waste.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Into not on the energy, but products. And it’s based on that solar application. So we’re looking down the line as to how do we help facilities.
Mark Collier:
Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
How do we help institutions such as colleges.
Mark Collier:
All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But now, building out larger footprints, we’ll be able to help small municipalities.
Mark Collier:
Sure. I mean, repurposing, reuse of waste products, I think that has a huge upside. Because as more and more people are populating this planet, they’re generating more and more waste.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah.
Mark Collier:
So I can certainly see how that’s an opportunity, a market opportunity for you.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So we call ourselves Optimal Technology because that’s what we, we’re focused on creating the technologies.
Mark Collier:
Yep.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Creating the partners, creating the pipelines and being able to deliver accordingly.
Mark Collier:
Phenomenal. All right. So you haven’t yet positioned your company relative to the, I guess, socially responsible challenges of climate change or diversity. Kind of talk to me a little bit about that.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Well, I don’t sell people on DEI and ESG.
Mark Collier:
Okay. Why not?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
I don’t go to them, “This is the best way of you meeting your climate change goals.”
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
“This is a great way of working with a black company.”
Mark Collier:
All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
If it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense.
Mark Collier:
I agree.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So I start off, “We’re going to help you save on costs. Then we’ll help you save electricity. We’ll help you save your physical plant by letting you know when water leaks happen.”
Mark Collier:
“And things of that nature. And then, oh, by the way, you’re going to save the planet, meet these other goals.” But that’s not what I’m selling them, those are just benefits.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Right. Right. Right.
Mark Collier:
From the features of saving things that matter to them.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah.
Mark Collier:
A lot of people have not bought into climate change.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Correct.
Mark Collier:
A lot of people are not as sensitive on who to deal with.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Right. But if I’m able to bring them value, that hits their bottom line, that saves it, that does it in a way that my competitors are not doing it because they don’t think-.
Mark Collier:
Right, right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
About the problem the way we do, we’re going to be able to accomplish their ESG and DEI, but first hitting their bottom line.
Mark Collier:
Well, Dr. Parker, that’s sales one on one, feature, benefits impact. And oh, by the way, I’m a minority owned company, if that matters to you.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Right.
Mark Collier:
So.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Right. I’m from a lot of folks that doesn’t matter.
Mark Collier:
Sure. Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And so.
Mark Collier:
But for a lot of folks it does though. A lot of companies nowadays they realize the value of diversifying their vendors, suppliers and subcontracted base because they know it’s good business. So I do see the value, and a lot of companies do see the value on that as well.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Well, if they do then it’s a benefit.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But if they don’t, they’re still going to be benefited.
Mark Collier:
I get it. I get it. All right. Two years ago, a lot of companies made promises after George Floyd. How has that impacted your company, Optimal Technology?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
I haven’t seen any impact. I’ve heard a lot of talk.
Mark Collier:
Yeah.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Right. And so that’s the reason I never leaned into diversity.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
I didn’t want to be disappointed that way.
Mark Collier:
All right. All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And I have a lot of founders. I know a lot of founders who look like me.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And they’re just as upset as they were before George Floyd.
Mark Collier:
All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But leaning into value. I’ve been able to see, my needle move.
Mark Collier:
Okay. All right. That’s bottom line, you deliver value first and then you get other ancillary benefits around that is just icing on the cake. Or they say in new Orleans, lagniappe, a little something extra.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Right. For a lot of the companies, they need to move up.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
To get the scale so that they can continuously deliver value.
Mark Collier:
Right. Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But a lot of the companies have made these great-. And I know they were well meaning when they set them.
Mark Collier:
Correct.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
But I’m still waiting for the delivery.
Mark Collier:
Well, yeah. Talk is cheap. The old adage, talk is cheap.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah.
Mark Collier:
The proof is in actually, as you said, the delivery, what are they actually going to do after the talk is complete?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
My uncle used to say, I’d rather, and it’s a old poem. I’d rather see a good sermon than hear one any day.
Mark Collier:
Yeah. There you go. There you go. All right. I want to talk to you just a little bit about electrical grid. There’s a big push nowadays for electric cars. They want more electric vehicles on the road. How do you see that impacting our overall power grid if we have just a massive influx of electric cars feeding off of that grid?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
I’m working on a project right now with a partner in Ontario, California. And he’s building a 90 car charger e-station.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Now he could buy the power from the grid and deal with time of use issues going from as low as 12 cents in the middle of the day because of solar.
Mark Collier:
Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
All the way up to 53 cents in the later day, because solar is not there.
Mark Collier:
Got it.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So I said, “Paul.” He’s a-, Keep it Green Technologies.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
I said, “The reason you’re paying 53 cents is because you’re buying from the grid and the grid doesn’t have solar at that point.”
Mark Collier:
Got it. Got it.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
I said.
Mark Collier:
So you think the solar is going to be the future of how we’re going to expand the grid?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So we’re building him a solar canopy.
Mark Collier:
Oh, okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
About a acre in size.
Mark Collier:
Okay. Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And the EV chargers are able to pull from there with some battery backup. So during the time when the costs go up to 50 something cent.
Mark Collier:
Sure, sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
He’s pulling from the cheap electricity of the solar.
Mark Collier:
Right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Not the more expensive electricity of the grid.
Mark Collier:
Of the grid. All right. That makes perfect sense. And I can see how that could be a potential solution for the long term on how they’re going to handle the influx of electric cars that may or may not happen in the future.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And we call that resiliency.
Mark Collier:
Yes.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Now the grid is not having to turn on those turbines, which are expensive.
Mark Collier:
Yep. Yep.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
So they can save that coal for later.
Mark Collier:
All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
We’re doing a similar project right up in Hayward at Glad Tiding and that’s with another African American. I didn’t tell you, Paul was an African American EV charger.
Mark Collier:
Okay. Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And Keep it Green is another African American charger company OpConnect.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Along with the energy auditor and project manager, Gemini. So we’ve gone into this particular church and we’re helping to keep the church doors open by bringing power to the people.
Mark Collier:
Beautiful. I love power to the people, man. That’s a redo from one of the 60’s slogans. Right?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Yeah. I thought that you would like that.
Mark Collier:
All right. So forward thinking man, 10 years from now, how can or will have Optimal Technology Corporation impacted the Atlanta market in general, Georgia on a broader scale and hopefully the world?
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Well, we’re looking to do this transformation that we’re talking about in not only businesses, but residential.
Mark Collier:
Okay.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And so we’re wanting to do work with low to moderate income homes.
Mark Collier:
Yep.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
One of the studies that came out from, I think it was Cal Berkeley about two years ago.
Mark Collier:
Yep.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Is that African Americans pay twice as much for electricity than the broader community.
Mark Collier:
Okay. All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And it’s even worse with low to moderate income.
Mark Collier:
Sure.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
And there’s a lot of low to moderate income folks here in Atlanta and a lot of them are people of color.
Mark Collier:
All right.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
We want energy justice by bringing these climate change technologies.
Mark Collier:
I love it. Dr. Reginald Parker, founder of Optimal Technology Corporation. Thanks so much again for taking time out of your busy day to come back in and share the great work that you’re doing and continue to do. I’m sure this work is going to not only impact Atlanta and Georgia, but it’s going to impact the world.
Dr. Reginald Parker:
Thank you, Mark.
Mark Collier:
All right.
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