Podcast
Decarbonization Disruptors Podcast: Transforming Buildings into Grid-Interactive Assets
January 16, 2025
Edo co-founder, Courtney Blodgett, recently joined Matthew Cohen on the Decarbonization Disruptors Podcast to discuss how commercial buildings are being transformed into grid-interactive assets through innovative demand flexibility solutions. In this conversation, Courtney shares how Edo is leveraging AI-driven technology and real-time data to optimize building energy use, reduce peak load demand, and contribute to a more sustainable and resilient grid—while offering significant benefits for building owners and utilities.

MATTHEW COHEN –Courtney, welcome to the podcast.
COURTNEY BLODGETT –Thanks for having me, Matthew.
MATTHEW COHEN –I’m excited to have you. I’ve been seeing Edo in my LinkedIn ecosystem for a while, so I’m really excited to learn more about what you’re doing there. First, I’d love to get into your motivation to focus your career on climate policy. I know that was a big part of your early career, so I’d love to hear about what got you into that space.
COURTNEY BLODGETT –Yeah, I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to work on environmental issues. I grew up in a very urban area in the Northeast, and we used to visit Vermont and rural areas when I was younger. I saw how much joy the mountains and forests brought people, so, in a childlike way, I thought, “What can I do to protect this?”
I went to undergrad to study environmental science, and while there, I wrote a paper on the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty on climate change. I wrote it before it went into effect, and climate change really connected with me—the impact it has on everything in our world. Since then, I’ve dedicated my life to trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help people become more resilient to climate change.
MATTHEW COHEN –A lot of your work focused on sustainable technology and solutions in Africa and other developing countries. What do you think the developed world can learn from how developing nations approach sustainability and renewable energy solutions?
COURTNEY BLODGETT –I was really lucky early in my career to work on renewable energy and energy efficiency in different countries. Eventually, I moved to Rwanda, where I helped build the country’s climate change unit in the government and brought in the private sector. One thing I noticed in Sub-Saharan Africa is that the grid in many areas is much newer than in the U.S., which has an over-100-year-old grid.
In Africa, you can leapfrog over old technologies and implement new ones. For example, I ran a portfolio of smart solar and battery mini-grids in rural Kenya. These grids connected 50 to 150 households and small businesses, and we could see real-time energy consumption. If a welder started welding, the consumption would spike.
This real-time data allowed us to design programs like energy-as-a-service, time-of-use rates, and other things we’re talking about today. We’ve been doing this in Africa for over a decade because we have access to real-time data, which helps us understand customer behavior. When I came back to the U.S., I worked with a utility in the Northeast and tried to get consumption data for households, but I only received monthly data, and three months of it were missing. The difference in data access is something the U.S. is slowly catching up on. Utilities are installing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which provides real-time data, and that’s exciting.
MATTHEW COHEN –It sounds like we have the tools, but we’re just not leveraging them yet.
COURTNEY BLODGETT –Exactly. Data helps us understand customer behavior, which is essential for designing effective energy efficiency and demand flexibility programs. With the right data—and with proper privacy considerations—we can unlock a lot of opportunities. That’s what Edo is working on: unlocking data from commercial buildings.
MATTHEW COHEN –Let’s dive into Edo. How did the company come about, and what is unique about your approach using Virtual Power Plants (VPPs)?
COURTNEY BLODGETT –Edo was formally founded in 2021, but its roots go back to a project before that. McKinstry, a nationwide commercial building design and energy services contractor, partnered with Avista, an innovative utility in Eastern Washington, to build one of the largest net-zero carbon campuses in the country. This campus is grid-interactive and features heat pumps, solar, EV charging, and more.
The land where the campus was developed was initially planned for a new Avista substation. Instead, they decided to see if commercial buildings could become grid assets. The project was so successful that they decided to create a company to further this idea, and that’s how Edo came about. My co-founder, Hendrik van Heemer, and I then spun Edo out in 2021.
Edo’s solution pulls data from everything in a commercial building that generates data—HVAC, occupancy sensors, smart lighting, and distributed energy resources (DERs). We use an AI-driven mapping tool to identify and optimize the building’s systems. First, we implement low-cost energy efficiency measures, such as fixing broken sensors or adjusting setpoint temperatures, to make the building operate more efficiently. Then, we forecast the building’s load and implement demand flexibility measures to shift or shed load to meet grid needs.
For example, during peak times, like a heatwave, we might pre-cool the building in advance of the peak consumption time to reduce the building’s load when the grid is stressed.
MATTHEW COHEN –That makes sense. And what makes a virtual power plant is the aggregation of loads from multiple buildings.
COURTNEY BLODGETT –Yes, exactly. Aggregating load from multiple buildings or other DERs can create a virtual power plant. It’s a reduction in load, but it appears as a power plant on the grid. The increased interest in VPPs is driven by three factors: increased manufacturing, electrification of buildings and vehicles, and the growth of data centers. These factors are driving up electricity consumption at a time when we’re also transitioning to clean, but variable, renewable energy sources like solar and wind. VPPs are a solution to balance the grid’s supply and demand while avoiding the high costs of building new fossil fuel power plants.
MATTHEW COHEN –What do you think is needed to scale VPPs, especially for decarbonization in cities?
COURTNEY BLODGETT –The first step is engaging customers. If it’s a manual process that negatively impacts the building or tenant, customers will opt out. For commercial buildings, we need a solution that has minimal impact on tenants. That’s what Edo offers—we only adjust setpoints by a couple of degrees, so tenants usually don’t notice. This makes it easier to run multiple demand flexibility events and aggregate buildings.
MATTHEW COHEN –It seems like decarbonization in the built environment isn’t getting as much attention or funding as it deserves. What’s holding it back, and how can we bring more focus to this area?
COURTNEY BLODGETT –The built environment is responsible for 40% of global emissions, with 30% of that coming from building operations. Energy efficiency work, though critical, isn’t as exciting as newer technologies. Investors tend to focus on the “buzzwords.” However, once we improve energy efficiency in buildings, we can introduce more exciting solutions like VPPs and DERs. By starting with efficiency, we open the door to even greater decarbonization opportunities.
MATTHEW COHEN –It’s great to see the focus on efficiency leading to more dynamic solutions. Any exciting updates from Edo you’d like to share?
COURTNEY BLODGETT –We’re seeing exciting results, with an average 12% savings in energy consumption and cost for buildings. Our peak load shifting is reducing peak load by 10-30% with minimal impact on tenants. We’re expanding into new markets, including California and New York, and we’re always looking for partners interested in optimizing building operations.
MATTHEW COHEN –It’s great to see such impactful results. I’m excited for what’s ahead for Edo. Thanks again for joining us, Courtney. We’ll be watching your work closely. This is the Decarbonization Disruptors podcast—see you next time.