In the past, we've reached out to a handful of customers with limited labor resources who were struggling to stay ahead of the utility bill data that was pouring into their offices—in the form of paper utility bills or diverse file formats.

That energy information had to find its way into the EnergyCAP database, and they needed help from someone with expertise dealing with energy data to help ensure data integrity throughout the process.

In these days of Ask Google and Siri, it’s frustrating for many energy managers to be so reliant upon data delivered up via snail mail and served on sheets of paper in small print. And then there’s the onerous task of data entry—matching up all the tracked items with the correct field in your spreadsheet or database. Surely there must be a better way!

We all know about four-letter words. We learned a couple of them when we were young, but when we tried them out in conversation, we discovered they were non-starters, especially with mom. My parents had ways of ensuring that an important lesson was learned—some words are dirty and some words are clean.

A number of times, the dirty words seemed to have four letters. But not always. And as I grew older, they grew harder to classify. Today’s blog is about a fourteen-letter word which, if we’re honest, can fall on either end of the clean/dirty continuum, depending on the manner in which the word is used, who is using it, and for what purpose.

Our three-day annual Catalyst training conference provided a glimpse into the future for clients using the online version of EnergyCAP. Some of our training resources are now available online, whether you attended or not.

Catalyst, which concluded May 1, offered attendees three training tracks, good food, networking opportunities, and individual consultations with EnergyCAP project managers and technical support personnel.

This year, the emphasis was hands-on training using Version 3.2, which is scheduled for a phased release this quarter. The new version will include a totally new chargebacks module offering an intuitive graphical interface for visualizing and customizing complex chargeback account-meter relationships.

Here's why people came to Catalyst:

EnergyCAP got some good news this month. We've been selected by the ENERGY STAR program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to receive our fourth Partner of the Year award in four years. It's also our second Sustained Excellence recognition. And we are in pretty good company—other corporations that made the cut include Boeing, J.C. Penney, and General Motors.

So what did our small software company do to stand in the midst of these corporate giants? You can look on the ENERGY STAR website for the "official" list of accomplishments, but I don't think that really answers the question. Here's my take on how Sustained Excellence happens at EnergyCAP.

EnergyCAP, Inc.'s nonprofit organization, Global Capacity, is providing 41 high school scholarships for extremely poor children in Rwanda, Africa. Unfortunately, Global Capacity has encountered two hardships.

In January, we published a blog post every day—save New Year’s Day—in order to jumpstart 2014. Some posts had everything to do with energy management, but not all of them. Some were about client savings, software features, company news, or the workplace.

But just because you subscribe to our blog doesn’t mean you read all the blog posts last month. Sometimes you were tired of reading. Sometimes your inbox was too full. Sometimes you clicked delete just to feel powerful. We get it, we did, too.

So in case you missed a popular post or two, here’s a countdown of the ten most popular blog posts from the 30 Blogs in 30 Days Series (drum roll, please):

The following is my talk from the prayer breakfast at Cenergistic’s National Training Conference on January 21, 2014. Cenergistic is an energy conservation company that partners with our company.

A shocking thing happened this past Christmas Day, but it can revive the most important conversation of your life.

Each spring, we hold a training conference called EnergyCAP Catalyst. This year's Catalyst is April 29-May 1 in our hometown of State College, PA. Registration is now open!

Based on feedback from previous conferences, we’ve added more hands-on training sessions. Through two-and-a-half days of hands-on training, appointments with staff, and networking with users, Catalyst will help you use EnergyCAP better so you can save time, energy, and money for your organization.

This year, our focus will be on the EnergyCAP Online, Express, and Pro Online versions.

• Pro 2011 Desktop users: Catalyst registration and attendance qualifies you for a priority Pro Online upgrade!
• Enterprise users: We will not discuss budgets, accrual module, report distribution setup, installing ECE or ECO, the administrator program, or interval data, but you can schedule an appointment in Ace Place.

November is National Adoption Awareness Month in the United States and EnergyCAP, Inc., was recently recognized as a Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Plus, my wife and I adopted two boys from the Philippines—one in 2009 and one this past August.

Adoption is on the rise in the United States, a fact we should celebrate! But as we celebrate, let’s do so with understanding. There were many things I wish I understood about adoption before we received our boys.

Here are ten myths of adoption from our experience:

Myth 1: The hardest part of adoption is waiting.
When we completed our adoption dossier, our social worker said, “If you don’t hear from me in a year, don’t worry—that’s normal.” And she was right. Waiting was so difficult…until we received our boys. Then we realized the waiting was easy and the hardest part of adoption is actually getting your child.

Earlier this fall, EnergyCAP received some unexpected and welcome news:

In communication, surprises are a vital element of any good story.

Last week, our Founder and CEO Steve Heinz was named the 2013 International Energy Engineer of the Year by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).

EnergyCAP was named as one of ten Enterprise Smart Grid Leaders by Groom Energy, but EnergyCAP is bucking the trend.

Congratulations to Al Bottema from Toole County School District in Toole, UT, for winning the EnergyCAP Catalyst Survey drawing. Al has won a $50 VISA gift card for completing the survey. Thank you to everyone who participated.

On May 14-16, 110 EnergyCAP users from the US and Canada gathered in State College, PA, for the annual Catalyst Training Conference.

On May 3, EnergyCAP lost a member of its family, Dan Zettle. May 16 would have been Dan’s 42nd birthday.

On March 26, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy recognized 118 organizations for their commitment to saving energy and protecting the environment. About 1,000 guests attended the banquet in Washington, DC.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized EnergyCAP, Inc. (ECI) with a 2013 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year - Sustained Excellence Award for their continued leadership in protecting our environment through superior energy efficiency. ECI’s accomplishments will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on March 26, 2013.

The Stevie Awards recognize outstanding performances in workplaces worldwide. On February 25, at an awards ceremony in Las Vegas, EnergyCAP, Inc. (ECI) won the gold award for Best Sales Department of the Year for Computer Software and the silver award for Inbound Marketing Program of the Year.

We at EnergyCAP, Inc. wish you a very Happy New Year! May 2013 be prosperous, enjoyable, and memorable for you.

Read the press release.

Inc.com featured EnergyCAP, Inc. in a Father's Day article about running a family business. "What It's Like to Launch a Business with Dad?" explores the ups and downs of doing business with your father. It features CEO Steve Heinz with his three sons Chris, Matthew, and John, who each run a department at EnergyCAP, Inc.

Read the official press release.

Pennsylvania Business Central has named EnergyCAP, Inc. to its annual list of top Pennsylvania-based businesses for 2011. The magazine's circulation includes 20 counties—nearly a third of the Commonwealth—representing more than 65,000 organizations. According to editor Andy Elder, "Whether it's record performance or award-winning efforts, these 100 companies managed to shine during gloomy economic times."

Read the official press release.

Interest in Energy Efficiency Spurs EnergyCAP, Inc. Growth

In 2011, EnergyCAP, Inc. was honored as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year and an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company. These national honors highlight the fact that thousands of government, education, and business organizations depend on EnergyCAP as a money and energy savings solution. We are particularly proud of the fact that we've created jobs in Pennsylvania. While other energy software companies fund jobs overseas, a core value of EnergyCAP, Inc. is domestic job creation.

Matthew Heinz, Director of Customer Service for EnergyCAP, Inc., left Friday on a two-week visit to Rwanda in central Africa.