Bright Power is an energy-efficiency and renewable-energy solutions firm that helps buildings reduce costs and emissions. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Bright Power Executive Vice President Andrea Mancino to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Andrea Mancino’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Mancino said:
“After college, I became fascinated by the book, An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. I knew I wanted to do something to mitigate climate change and did my research. This led me to Bright Power, where I started as an intern. Now, over a decade later, I am the CEO. Along the way, I co-founded the New Construction and Building Commissioning divisions, which are both still growing today. Over my 13 years here, I have helped the company evolve from a small startup to a multimillion-dollar company. One of the things that has been the most rewarding has been seeing the industry start to understand and prioritize decarbonization and sustainability. We’ve come a long way, but more has to be done! Today, our focus is on creating a resilient and healthy built environment through efficiency, electrification, reduced carbon emissions, and improved long-term capital planning.”
“As CEO, my core focus is ensuring Bright Power operates effectively while delivering the best solutions we can to our clients. I oversee teams, operations, finances, strategy, and key business relationships—just like any CEO, but I also strive to make Bright Power a great place to work, and to inspire employees and a new generation of leaders. I report to Bright Power’s Board of Directors regularly, and strategize with them on how to add value to our business. The success of our company and collective industry depends on deep relationships between different stakeholders. I pride myself on being part of a network that brings different people together to solve problems and create partnerships that make us all stronger and more impactful.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Mancino reflected:
“Having been with the company for 13 years, I can’t say I have one particular memory in mind. I’ve had countless experiences that will stay with me forever – from company retreats to ski trips. I’ve also made so many friends along the way and can vividly remember so many memories of feeling like a team and the excitement of solving some big challenges together.”
“On the project-related side, I remember completing my first energy model and seeing the first new construction building I ever worked on complete with residents living there, having started from just a concept. To have those memories and then be in the position of CEO is truly special. Being in a leadership position like this does come with boundaries that I’ve had to set, but I live and breathe Bright Power’s culture everyday. Knowing where we’ve been and directly influencing where we are going is quite an amazing feeling that I don’t take for granted.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Mancino explained:
“Bright Power was founded in 2004; we help clients find the best long term energy and water efficiency solutions to save money, mitigate risk and allow buildings to comply with regulations. We work with real estate owners, operators, and developers at any stage of their property whether its new construction or retrofit to determine a property’s energy efficiency opportunities and then provide consulting on how to eliminate waste and maximize performance. Our consulting services include energy benchmarking, energy audits, capital planning and feasibility analysis, green building certification consulting, and building commissioning. We also provide holistic green design and high-performance building consulting along with solar feasibility consulting, incentive procurement, energy modeling, and construction QA to developers and architects who are creating new buildings.”
“This year a lot of our work has centered around Local Law 97 compliance. We have been working closely with our clients to provide the best ways to be compliant while making sound long term decisions.”
“After our initial consulting is complete, we monitor our energy performance through our EnergyScoreCards software, providing an ongoing analysis of a portfolio’s energy and water usage, and identifying opportunities to continue increasing portfolio value.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Mancino acknowledged:
“Recently, I’ve never seen more success stories and more challenges simultaneously than ever before. Locally, for the first time ever, we are working on submitting thousands of properties to New York City to comply with Local Law 97. This is a massive effort to not only learn and understand the law as details emerge, but also to create the processes and team to do the work, all while providing clients with trust and support. We’re building the plane as we’re flying it, as they say. Leaning on industry connections has been critical, and this is exactly the time for everyone, including our competitors, to come together and ensure we can make this first compliance period successful. The country is watching!”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Mancino noted:
“Bright Power has been in business for more than 20 years, so naturally, there’s been a significant evolution in our technology and the solutions we provide. In that time, we’ve grown from a small team providing services in NYC to later applying our data-driven engineering expertise across the country with our proprietary utility analytics software, EnergyScoreCards.”
“With EnergyScoreCards, we enable owners and operators to understand their building performance and then make improvements that can reduce consumption and lower costs. We also realized we could increase our impact if we could help ‘green’ the capital structures that finance buildings, and we expanded our offering to support large-scale lenders. With EnergyScoreCards, we manage large-scale lender annual reporting programs, making it easier for borrowers to fulfill their energy reporting obligations and provide insights into how programs are performing.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Mancino cited:
“Bright Power turned 20 this year and it was a very significant milestone. Since inception, we have conducted energy audits for over 2,500 properties and helped building owners collectively save $285 million in utility costs. We have provided data-driven energy and carbon reduction consulting for over 2.9 billion square feet of real estate—more than 10% of the apartments in the U.S. Nationally, we have reduced 667M LBS of CO2 from the environment – that is equivalent to taking 71,000 cars off the road or planting 5 million trees. Over the next 30 years, we anticipate helping to reduce another 900 million pounds of CO₂e emissions—the equivalent of eliminating one year of energy use for 54,824 homes. These are pretty significant numbers for a company that was just a small startup 20 years ago.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Mancino highlighted:
“To date, we have helped more than 500 buildings achieve green certification. One recent example is Vital Brookdale, located in Brownsville, Brooklyn. This is the first project in New York State’s Vital Brooklyn Initiative, a vision to create more sustainable, affordable housing in central Brooklyn. Vital Brookdale is a 160-unit Phius+ 2015 residential building that provides its low-income population with verified thermal comfort, superior air quality, and deep energy savings through a highly efficient envelope and mechanical systems, supplemented by on-site generation technology. The building was designed to ensure efficient temperature regulation throughout the year to promote passive resiliency while operating at a low heating and cooling demand.”
“Bright Power provided the following services to Vital Brookdale:
- PHIUS+ consulting and verifying
- Enterprise Green Communities commissioning
- Securing NYSERDA incentives
- Solar design and installation
Due to Vital Brookdale’s unique massing, the exceptionally large building envelope presented a challenge for Passive House certification. Bright Power worked toward the Passive House 2015+ certification, focusing on retaining internal heat gains within the building. To meet the certification requirements, robust insulation at the roof, which makes up a significant portion of the building envelope, was a high priority.”
“In addition to a robust thermal envelope, the building design focused on integrating high-efficiency systems. The highly insulated envelope therefore ensures the Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) heating and cooling systems provide maximum comfort as building air leakage is largely reduced, combined with Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERV) to provide large amounts of fresh, filtered air to the apartments and common areas, with minimal heating or cooling energy loss. Ultimately, the building is better equipped to retain internal gains within the building, making heating and cooling a much smaller portion of the building’s operating costs.”
“The building also contains a 100 kW solar photovoltaic (’PV’) system on the roof. Bright Power maximized the design of the 100 kW solar system to generate roughly 120,000 kWh/year lowering the site EUI from 19.8 kBtu/sq ft/yr to 16.8 kBtu/sq ft/yr and generating 22% of the building’s energy supply on-site. This large proportion of energy generated on-site means lower operational costs so ownership can maintain the building’s apartments at affordable rates and operate critical social services at the ground floor.”
Funding/Revenue
Are you able to discuss funding? Mancino revealed:
“In 2021, Bright Power closed a $25 million Series B capital raise, led by the BMO Impact Investment Fund and Generate Capital. Previously, we had raised a $10 million debt facility from WindSail Capital Group and $1.8 million from early angel investors.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Mancino concluded:
“I hope that Bright Power can eventually impact every building in NYC. So far we have impacted more than 10% of the apartments in the country, and we are excited to continue on the journey toward a zero-carbon future. As I mention above, one of our near term goals is making sure all of our clients are Local Law 97 compliant. There are still about 50,000 buildings that must become compliant, with the first reporting deadline in June 2025. This means building owners and operators need support now to meet the law’s requirements and find long-term solutions to lower their carbon emissions.”
“As more buildings move toward electrification, Bright Power is committed to providing energy expertise and identifying optimal solutions that provide real estate owners and developers with long-term ROI. On the new construction side, Bright Power will continue working with developers and architects to create high performance buildings that are both comfortable and energy-efficient. Nationally, Bright Power is also supporting real estate portfolios with energy benchmarking, compliance, and energy analysis. We are all in it together and each sustainable action taken is a step in the right direction.”
