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Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Genea?
Genea is the single source for everything building owners and property managers need to manage their energy-related building services more efficiently and cost effectively. We provide commercial building owners, corporate owners, and property managers with state-of-the-art energy management systems. Our innovative Building Optimization Solutions create new revenue streams while decreasing the energy buildings consume. We provide owners and property managers with a web-enabled technology platform that control energy consumption and business processes. Genea is also focused on managing energy resources at the tenant, and ultimately, the square foot level.

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What benefits does Genea provide?
Genea’s BOP employs unique, patent pending web-based energy management and business process tools that ultimately increase the asset value and cash flow for the building owner while reducing overall energy usage without a significant upfront investment. Our comprehensive Building Optimization Solutions solve a multifaceted energy consumption problem faced by office building portfolio owners, including lost revenue opportunities, wasted energy, operational inefficiencies, lack of traceability, and tenant dissatisfaction. By collectively addressing these interrelated issues, Genea’s solutions will ultimately control energy use at the square foot level in a way that optimizes energy consumption and transforms the industry. Our fully implemented solutions can significantly improve net operating income (NOI) of an office building, translating into dramatic increases in the underlying property value for the building owner. The result: building owners and property managers reduce costs while demonstrating their commitment to energy conservation and our environment.

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Benefits include:
• New revenue streams for owners
• Aggregation of existing and disparate energy systems
• Building process and workflow automation
• Energy savings from greater tenant accountability
• Portfolio-wide transparency and analytics
• Integration into existing accounting systems
• Higher tenant comfort levels and satisfaction
• Overall NOI improvement driving increased building portfolio asset value

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What services and solutions does Genea offer?
Genea’s Building Optimization Platform (BOP) operates over the Internet and works in four key ways to cure the pain of lost revenue opportunities, wasted energy, operational inefficiencies, lack of traceability, and tenant dissatisfaction that afflicts office building portfolios.

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Adaptive Building Control Automation – Communicates with and controls the building at a physical infrastructure level by “overlaying” onto the building’s existing Energy Management System (EMS) and hardware.

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Portfolio Wide Business Process Automation – Automates and standardizes many of the complicated and manual energy related building management processes used by owners, property managers, and building engineers and tenants. The platform also interfaces with the building owners accounting system.

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On Demand Tenant Services – Improves tenant satisfaction and usage with an innovative suite of services that allow tenants to gain greater control of their building environment and manage their own energy related building services. Tenants are able to access the system via phone, PDA, or web browser.

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Owner Level Transparency - Provides information to “owner management” regarding building, portfolio, and business performance that delivers a whole new degree of transparency to further drive portfolio value.

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Our Building Optimization Platform v 2.0 includes:

  • On Demand Energy Related Building Services - Saturdays & Holidays HVAC &
  • Lighting
  • After Hours HVAC
  • After Hours Lighting
  • After Hours Plug Load
  • Tenant Supplemental Equipment Metering - HVAC
  • Triple Net Conservation Control For After Hours HVAC
  • Automated Billing
  • Temperature Control Set Points For HVAC
  • Peak Demand Management For HVAC, Common Area Lighting + Elevators
  • Left On Protection

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What experience does Genea have?

Genea evolved from a profitable building automation and energy management services firm with a deep knowledge base and tremendous expertise built over 17 years of first-hand experience installing the most technologically advanced building controls available. From this experience, Genea has created its Building Optimization Platform to initially fill an unmet need for interoperability and better energy efficiency and consumption control. With more than 500 installations of the previous stand alone software product that manage over several hundred million square feet of various commercial space, the company has a proven application delivering real financial benefits to commercial building owners and property managers.

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How is Genea different from other companies that provide energy management services?
Our breakthrough Building Optimization Solutions empower building owners to maximize the value of their entire portfolio of real estate investments. By providing new sources of revenue, automated energy reduction & business processes, and insightful analytics, Genea offers the power to maximize the value of your building portfolio. Genea brings to its clients extensive expertise installing the most technologically-advanced and effective commercial building control equipment available today, coupled with proprietary Web-based software, control systems, and analytics. With more than 500 software installations across the U.S. and a roster of marquee clients, Genea is changing the way commercial office building owners manage and maximize their energy-related building services. Our complete, automated, Web-based solutions provide building owners with innovative methods of:
Enhancing existing revenue streams and creating new ones
Reducing energy consumption
Automating the entire tenant "bill-back" process with full traceability
Dramatically reducing administrative labor while greatly enhancing above-standard tenant services
Extending the lifespan of capital equipment

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I have a variety of buildings and properties in my portfolio. Do Genea’s Building Optimization Solutions work in multiple settings?
Yes. Genea’s solutions were developed specifically to connect disparate operating systems. Using our specialized knowledge, subject matter expertise and domain experience, we can develop the custom solutions that are right for your portfolio. We will perform a detailed Building Portfolio Assessment to evaluate your EMS controls systems, connectivity, and other factors, and the potential net benefit will be determined based on this evaluation and the Genea services you wish to implement.

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How does Genea’s technology integrate with my existing systems?
Genea’s Building Optimization Platform is a highly sophisticated, automated and proprietary solution that works in four key ways:
Communicates with your building by overlaying onto your existing systems
Automates the entire tenant billing process
Integrates into your accounting system providing billing and performance information and reports.
Provides tenants with an on demand capability via a web browser, phone or PDA.

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How long does it take to install GENEA’s solutions in my office buildings? Is there any down time?
The transition is seamless, so there is no down time to your existing Energy Management System. Implementation can be as little as one hour to two days, but during this time, your existing EMS is not impacted.

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What if our needs change?
One of our core services is helping you define your short-term and long-term energy management needs. If your business needs change during the course of our engagement, we can move quickly to accommodate them. An important advantage of Genea’s Software-As-A-Service solution is that it allows us to respond and adapt quickly to the needs of your business and customers.

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Does Genea have the capability to handle our properties in multiple states and locations?
Yes, our Building Optimizations Solutions were developed to manage extremely large portfolios with locations throughout the country.

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How does Genea calculate and track additional revenue as well as additional cost savings?
Genea’s software calculates detailed revenue billings that are pre-approved by your tenants and property manager prior to billing. Cost savings calculations are based industry standard formula’s that accurately impute energy cost savings based on the building data and tenant activity data tracked by our platform.

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How does Genea determine set-up costs as well as the potential net benefit for each specific building in our portfolio?
Set-up costs are nominal and based on the square footage of the building. Genea performs a detailed portfolio assessment, evaluating your portfolio’s EMS controls systems, connectivity, and other factors. The potential net benefit will be determined based on this evaluation and the additional Genea services which you wish to implement.

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Upon our sale of one or more of our buildings, does your Genea service agreement transfer to the new building owner?
No, you would need to notify Genea that the building is being sold. Genea would negotiate a new service agreement with the new owner to continue service. If for some reason the new owner did not want to continue the service, there is no continuing obligation that needs to be fulfilled by the selling owner.

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Do Genea services qualify my company for rebates?
While this is determined on a case by case basis, Genea’s solutions often qualify for retrofit rebates, and we will work with you and the utility company to determine eligibility.

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Will Genea help our company with energy conservation and Sustainability initiatives?
The commercial office building industry spends approximately $24 billion annually on energy and contributes 18 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. Energy represents the single largest operating expense for office buildings, typically a third of variable expenses. If only 2,000 buildings adopt BEEP’s no- and low-cost best practices over the next three years, energy consumption and carbon emissions will be reduced by 10%, which will result in $400 million in energy savings and 6.6 billion pounds less carbon dioxide released in to the atmosphere.

Today, with utility prices increasing and energy conservation becoming such a vital issue. Genea is paving the way for office building owners to increase revenue while saving energy. Building owners, property managers and tenants are joining the effort to adopt sustainable green building practices

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