Microsoft, GE and Google are all jumping on the energy efficiency bandwagon that Good Steward Software of State College has been driving for nearly three decades. The big guns are developing applications to track energy use for institutional and residential customers, but Good Steward’s offerings–EnergyCAP for institutions and GreenQuest for residential customers–are gaining significant steam.
“Energy tracking is becoming a best practice for a green lifestyle and I think it will become more prominent,” says Chris Heinz, Good Steward’s director of marketing and company chaplain. “The fact that they’re also coming out with home energy use tools is a good indicator.”
Good Steward boasts 1,000 clients who use its EnergyCAP product, designed for institutional users, including Penn State University and the 220,000-student University of California system and state governments like Georgia, Tennessee, and Maryland. The product manages institutional energy cost by identify billing errors, providing climate data through State College’s Accu-Weather, comparing charges and streamlining bill payment processes.
The company’s roots go back to 1980, when Heinz’s father Steve started OmniComp, which was bought and relocated to Houston by Enron, the energy giant that went bankrupt amid scandal in 2001. Steve Heinz bought the company back in bankruptcy court, rebranded it and brought it back to State college in 2002.
Good Steward does not offer personalized strategies or tips, but has started an energy curriculum community called GEEC (GreenQuest Energy Education Community), a collaborative effort that promotes the sharing of cost- and energy-saving ideas and tips. GreenQuest has 600 users and 150 institutional sponsors, which can promote their privately branded GreenQuest web pages to their students’ or employees’ families, six weeks into a summertime promotion.
Source: Chris Heinz, Good Steward Software
Writer: Joe Petrucci