A "quad" is a measurement of energy, and the massive unit is used by the U.S. Department of Energy when discussing national and global energy budgets.
The United States uses nearly 100 quads of energy each year, and local entrepreneur Mark Brown (as well as many other experts) believe that the majority of these quads are wasted.
To address the issue, Brown started
QuadROI, a Minneapolis-based firm that intends to boost productivity and innovation in the energy industry through the use of better business intelligence. "Regulation is not our enemy," the company's webpage notes. "Waste is our enemy."
Brown believes that waste can be minimized by utilizing existing documents and reports, and tweezing out data that can be used by utility companies and others to create benchmarks and goals. He aims to develop a single, searchable repository of information where subscribers can see high-level trends as well as project-level ROI stats. He also hopes to cultivate an online community where ideas can be shared, and collaboration can occur.
"There's so much information that's available out there, but it can be hard to make use of, especially when it comes to comparison with other programs," he says.
Right now, the site is in beta testing, and Brown expects it to be in full force by the end of the summer. After that, it's likely that QuadROI will assist in making sure those quads aren't getting wasted.
Source: Mark Brown, QuadROI
Writer: Elizabeth Millard