The “In Their Own Words” series is a collection of short columns from startup founders in Atlanta’s tech ecosystem. After a year of uncertainty and unrest, Atlanta Inno wanted to give founders the chance to reflect on 2020 and share goals for the new year.
Reginald Parker is CEO and founder of Optimal Technology Corporation, which is a hardware-as-a-service startup that provides products and processes to reduce energy costs in commercial buildings.
The pandemic and its impact on the economy slowed Optimal's business progress during the majority of 2020 as we were sheltered in place.
Instead of sitting still, Optimal used that time to understand its customers’ needs better, build a new product and get pre-orders for 2021.
Optimal is working with commercial building owners to help them recoup up to $60 million of the more than $24 billion that commercial buildings waste in energy costs.
Optimal has generated a long list of customers including hotels, assisted living facilities, mixed use facilities, manufacturers and municipalities. Owners of these buildings are interested in saving energy costs but are not typically energy engineers or facility managers. They are often hard pressed to solve their energy waste problems, which seem to grow year over year.
We are planning to deploy more than 400 CARI (Controlling Assets for Reliable Intelligence) solutions. CARI is Optimal’s AI-powered, energy-saving technology.
Optimal estimates that for every 100 systems deployed, we will help to save 680 tons of carbon dioxide annually and 37 jobs. Optimal provides cost savings for both the commercial building owner and provides tax savings from these installations to the average taxpayer.
We had to accelerate other parts of our business because of COVID-19. In 2021, our customers will benefit from our tenacity and resiliency. I am looking forward to the possibilities that 2021 will bring.
