Find and fund energy savings across your portfolio.

For many industrial and commercial organizations, energy is among the largest controllable operating expenses. Good energy management can cut energy spend by 10–30% through proven, low-risk measures. The IEA calls efficiency the “first fuel” and estimates it can deliver roughly a third of the emissions cuts the world needs this decade on a net-zero path.

The economics are compelling. LED retrofits cut lighting energy 40–70% with paybacks of 1–3 years. HVAC optimization yields 10–30% savings through scheduling, setpoint adjustment, and equipment upgrades. Fixing compressed air leaks recovers 20–30% of compressor output, since leaks average around 25% of output in unmaintained systems (per U.S. DOE). Motors and variable frequency drives (VFDs) cut pump and fan energy by 20–40%.

Incentives improve project returns, but the federal tax picture changed sharply with the 2025 reconciliation law, so treat it as time-sensitive (see Funding and incentives below). The most durable support comes from utility rebates, PACE financing, and state programs, which together can cover 20–50% of project costs. Many projects that are marginally economic on their own become attractive once these stack.

The carbon benefit is automatic. Every unit of electricity saved eliminates Scope 2 emissions, and every unit of fossil fuel avoided reduces Scope 1. Efficiency is the rare decarbonization lever that pays you back through lower operating costs while cutting emissions.

Identifying energy savings requires granular consumption data and systematic analysis. Key approaches include:

Utility bill analysis: Compare consumption month-over-month and year-over-year across facilities. Identify seasonal patterns, unexpected spikes, and facilities consuming more than peers. Weather-normalize data to separate temperature-driven changes from operational changes.

Benchmarking: Compare energy intensity (kWh per square foot, per unit of production, per revenue) across facilities and against industry benchmarks. Outliers indicate either best practices worth replicating or waste worth eliminating.

Anomaly detection: AI-powered analysis of interval meter data (15-minute or hourly readings) can identify patterns invisible in monthly bills: equipment running during unoccupied hours, gradual efficiency degradation, demand spikes from equipment cycling, and baseload creep.

Walk-through audits: On-site assessments identify specific opportunities: lighting upgrades, HVAC improvements, insulation gaps, compressed air leaks, process heat recovery potential, and controls optimization. ASHRAE Level 1, 2, and 3 audits provide increasing depth.

Gravity's Insights module automates utility bill analysis and anomaly detection across all facilities, surfacing specific, quantified savings opportunities ranked by ROI and carbon impact.

LED lighting: Replace fluorescent, metal halide, and HID fixtures with LED. 40–70% energy reduction. 1–3 year payback. Utility rebates often cover 30–50% of costs. Mature technology with minimal risk.

HVAC optimization: Scheduling adjustments (match occupancy), setpoint optimization, economizer commissioning, VFDs on air handlers and pumps, and chiller plant optimization. 10–30% savings. 2–5 year payback.

Building envelope: Insulation upgrades, air sealing, window replacements, and cool roofing. 5–20% heating/cooling savings. 5–10 year payback. Best combined with HVAC upgrades.

Compressed air: Leak repair (leaks waste 20–30% of compressor output, averaging around 25% in unmaintained systems, per DOE), pressure optimization, VFDs on compressors, and heat recovery. 15–40% savings. Often under 2-year payback for leak repair alone.

Motors and drives: Replace standard motors with premium efficiency motors. Add VFDs to variable-load applications (pumps, fans, compressors). 20–40% savings on affected loads. 2–4 year payback.

Process heat recovery: Capture waste heat from industrial processes for space heating, water heating, or process preheating. 10–25% reduction in thermal energy. 3–7 year payback depending on application.

Demand response: Participate in utility or grid operator demand response programs to reduce peak consumption during high-cost periods. No capital investment; revenue from participation. Also reduces emissions by avoiding peak generation from carbon-intensive peaker plants.

Multiple funding mechanisms can reduce or eliminate the upfront capital for efficiency projects. The most reliable options are no longer federal tax credits, which are shrinking, but utility, state, and private-capital programs.

Utility rebates: Most utilities offer prescriptive rebates (a fixed amount per qualifying measure, e.g., $50 per LED fixture) and custom rebates (based on calculated savings for non-standard projects). Check the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) for programs in your area.

PACE financing: Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs finance efficiency and renewable projects through property tax assessments, with payments transferring to new owners on sale. Available in many states for commercial properties.

Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS): Third-party providers fund, install, and maintain efficiency measures in exchange for a share of the savings. No upfront capital required, and the provider takes performance risk.

Green bonds and sustainability-linked loans: Lower-cost capital for organizations with sustainability commitments. These can fund large-scale efficiency programs across a portfolio.

Federal tax incentives: Treat these as time-sensitive, not evergreen. The 2025 reconciliation law (the One Big Beautiful Bill, Public Law 119-21) repealed the Section 179D commercial buildings deduction for projects that begin construction after June 30, 2026, closing that window for new work. Where 179D still applied, the top deduction (up to $5.81 per square foot in 2025) required meeting prevailing-wage and apprenticeship rules. Without them the maximum was about $1.16 per square foot. The clean electricity investment credit under Section 48E, which replaced the old Section 48 for projects starting construction after 2024, is also phasing out quickly for solar and wind, with value tied to when construction begins. Elective (direct) pay under Section 6417 still lets tax-exempt organizations take eligible credits as a cash payment, but it is only as valuable as the underlying credit and now carries tighter domestic-content rules. Confirm current eligibility with a tax advisor before modeling any of these into a project.

Energy management and carbon accounting are two sides of the same coin, but most organizations manage them in separate silos with separate tools and teams. This creates duplicate data entry, inconsistencies between energy and emissions reports, and missed opportunities to optimize for both cost and carbon simultaneously.

The connection is direct. Every utility bill contains both cost data (for energy management) and consumption data (for emissions calculations). When utility data flows through a single platform, it simultaneously populates the carbon inventory and the energy management dashboard.

This unification enables powerful analysis. Which facilities have the highest carbon intensity per dollar of energy spend? Which efficiency projects deliver the best combined cost savings and emission reductions? Where does renewable energy procurement make sense based on both grid emission factors and energy prices?

Gravity is one of the few platforms that unifies this view. Utility bills are ingested once and flow to both carbon accounting and energy management. Efficiency projects are evaluated for both cost ROI and emission reduction impact. Progress is tracked against both energy targets and carbon targets from a single source of truth.