We’re proud of the intelligent, passionate, and hardworking people that make up the Bright Power team. Each month, you’ll get a chance to meet one of them, understand how they contribute to the organization, and what makes them excited to come to work every day.
Meet Kevin Connolly, Energy Engineer.
What are some of the things you like most about working at Bright Power?
There’s so much that I like about working at Bright Power.
The very passionate, intelligent, caring people at Bright Power were a breath of fresh air for me. I can honestly say that starting with Bright Power exceeded my expectations. When I first started with the company, I had a good feeling about the people I was about to join as coworkers. But to now know the level of determination, hard work, and knowledge that surrounds you every day; it is a great experience, to say the least. That high level pushes you to be a better engineer, attempting to build a better world for all of us. That is something I’m truly missing the most while working remotely at the moment as it really drives me personally to be surrounded by people who have similar goals, interests, and know the importance of a sustainable future.
What are some projects and accomplishments you’re most proud of?
I’m proud of the entire MoBIUS (Management of Building Information Utilities and Systems) energy management services team. Every day we are working to grow and improve upon our already excellent and impactful services. If I had to pick a crowning achievement thus far, it would have to be the work I was doing with the universities in our portfolio. Specifically, I am proud that I was able to quickly and remotely coordinate to attain maximum savings during COVID-19 as the Facilities Directors were more concerned, and rightfully so, about their students and public safety during the early days and confusion of the NY stay-at-home order. I took the energy and water management responsibilities off of their plate. This led to 28% savings in Q2 across the universities in our portfolio this year.
What’s something people might not know about you and your role at Bright Power?
Something my co-workers wouldn’t know about me and my role at Bright Power is that I have a background as a Merchant Mariner. This has allowed me to learn as I traveled across the Atlantic to several European ports, which has allowed me to have plenty of great stories to share with my colleagues. The hands-on knowledge I have attained aboard ship has allowed me to be of greater assistance when remotely troubleshooting problems that I’ve seen previously while in the field.
With stay-at-home orders in place in New York earlier this year preventing your regular visits to client properties, tell us how you were able to provide the same level of engineering support.
The MoBIUS service work provides a dedicated engineer for each client’s property. It has enabled us to build a strong relationship with the onsite personnel and allows us to learn the building like the back of our hands. With this platform in place, we can discuss problems remotely without needing to be in the room to know what the system is doing. The MoBIUS system has worked really well for our clients during the stay-at-home order.
I make myself available to my clients at all times. I make sure they know that they can call me at any hour, so they don’t feel pressured to reach out. If they were to find themselves in a difficult operational situation and were unsure how to correct the problem, they know that they can call me. By developing this relationship, I have been able to support the clients and help them through their problems.
Our familiarity with the systems, close relationships with our clients, and expertise, along with the great work and partnership with our Data and Technology teams, have allowed our MoBIUS clients to keep up on their energy savings goals and work through their problems.
What’s the one service offering we have that you think is the most beneficial to clients and why?
All of our services are beneficial and important. I’ll be biased and say that, obviously, MoBIUS is the most important service Bright Power offers because it is real-time data gathering, savings, and dedicated assistance to clients. It also can find specific energy and water waste, and work with Bright Power’s other engineers to fix any problems that may arise.
The best thing that Bright Power offers is expertise from someone who cares about their clients, their clients’ occupants, the environment—and will provide that expertise with a smile.