FirstFuel's "zero-touch" software provides an extremely fast and simple approach to energy efficiency for commercial buildings.

What do we mean by "zero-touch"?

FirstFuel's Rapid Building Assessment (RBA) Platform is remote and automated - no need for audits, devices, or connections.  Instead, FirstFuel requires two simple inputs:

1) One year of the building's energy consumption data (easily provided by the utility) and

2) The building's address - which quickly identifies local weather data and GIS data.

With these two inputs, FirstFuel's super sophisticated patent-pending analytical engine will process the data to provide a comprehensive building analysis and customized operational and retrofit recommendations.  Moreover, FirstFuel's RBA platform provides monitoring tools to track energy savings over time.

It's fast.  And cheap.

But... are you losing quality by replacing a detailed onsite audit by a remote analysis?  Not really.  In fact, not at all.

Both Fraunhofer and Cadmus Institutes have audited FirstFuel's systems and found the results to be within 2-10% of meter values -- ya know, at a fraction of the time and cost.

Moreover, the FirstFuel system has had tremendous success with its pilot case in Lexington, MA.  Lexington used FirstFuel's RBAs on five of the largest energy consuming buildings, and the analysis and results have delivered 7% operational savings - without any investments necessary.

I don't know much about smart buildings and energy efficiency - but it seems that FirstFuel's remote and simulating approach is quite revolutionary and could shake things up.  It doesn't hurt that they recently received $2.4 million in initial funding from Battery Ventures and Nth Power.