EnerNOC plant tour

Last week, we took a trip to an energy company right here in Boston - it's called EnerNOC.  We had a personal intro to EnerNOC by MIT Sloan alumni Craig, now director of the "NOC" (explained below).

We learned about "Demand Response," a term used to describe managing extreme spikes in energy usage (such as heat waves in the summer, or an especially cold winter day).  The alternative to not managing high demand days is...a blackout.  Which would be NO fun.

EnerNOC specializes in demand response, but also provides other services for it customers, including data analytics and other services.  What I found really cool was EnerNOC's "NOC," a glass-enclosed office with many computers and associates hard at work scheduling energy usage of their customers.  Displayed on screens in the background was the energy demand sorted by sector.  Each sector has different needs when it comes to demand response - for example, the "light industrial" sector is typically open to demand response - they will shut down their manufacturing operations when needed.  On the other hand, a hotel or a school is less likely to be amenable to demand response, because they typically don't have the flexibility to shut down at will.

EnerNOC senior management of various functions - product management, program operations, and lead generation and marketing operations - held a special Q&A panel just for us.  It was great to hear their perspectives on the company's mission and goals, past and anticipated challenges, and plans for the future.

Of course, no plant tour is complete without team photos with the EnerNOC managers who took time out of their day to talk to us!

A candid shot!  Informal Q&A after the panel session.

LGO's enjoying EnerNOC's swanky Seaport office over-looking the water.

(Hmmm...we could get used to this!)

Finally, a collection of photos from our subway ride and our group walk to the company.  

What a beautiful way to spend a Boston summer afternoon!