# American Efficient

American Efficient is an Asset Manager based in Durham, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** Durham, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** 703 Foster St, Durham, NC 27701, United States
- **Founded:** 2013
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** americanefficient.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/americanefficient

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

American Efficient is one of the largest energy efficiency aggregators in the United States, operating projects in collaboration with major manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to facilitate the adoption of energy efficient products. The company works with partners in 23 states to bring energy efficiency resources to market, helping to reduce carbon emissions and electricity costs. American Efficient participates in forward wholesale capacity market auctions, creating financially-binding commitments to enable more clean, reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy.

## Sectors

- Energy Transition & Renewables
- Infrastructure

## Questions

### How does American Efficient make money from energy efficiency?

American Efficient acquires the exclusive rights to the energy savings generated by efficient products — lighting, showerheads, appliances — at the point of manufacture or distribution. It then measures and verifies those savings and bids the aggregated capacity into forward wholesale market auctions, like PJM's capacity market. The revenue comes from the market clearing price for that committed capacity, which American Efficient shares with its retail and manufacturing partners.

### What makes American Efficient different from a standard energy service company (ESCO)?

Unlike a traditional ESCO that finances and installs projects at a specific customer site, American Efficient operates upstream. It does not own the generation assets or manage the customer relationship. Instead, it contracts for the savings rights from products that partners — major retailers and manufacturers — are already selling. The firm's core asset is a portfolio of contractual rights to negawatts, not a book of project debt or energy performance contracts.

### Which energy markets does American Efficient participate in?

American Efficient participates in organized wholesale capacity markets, primarily the forward auctions run by Regional Transmission Organizations. While the firm has not publicly listed every RTO, its model is designed for markets like PJM Interconnection that accept energy efficiency as a capacity resource. The firm's 'Energy Market Participation' activity centers on creating a financially-binding commitment to deliver verified load reductions during system peak hours.

### What types of products generate the energy savings American Efficient sells?

The firm aggregates savings from a wide range of residential, commercial, and industrial products. Key examples include LED lamps and fixtures, high-efficiency showerheads, insulation and weather-stripping, advanced power strips, and commercial lighting controls like occupancy sensors. In the industrial space, measures include variable frequency drives for fans and pumps, and process optimization, all of which reduce real-time load on the grid.

### How is the 'capacity reduction' from an LED bulb measured and verified for a market operator?

American Efficient develops its own Measurement & Verification (M&V) protocols, which are underpinned by technical analysis, literature reviews, and metering studies. These protocols must satisfy the requirements of the specific wholesale market operator, demonstrating that the aggregated savings from millions of distributed products represent a predictable, durable load reduction that can be counted on during system peaks. The firm bears the performance risk for delivering those committed megawatts.

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Last updated: 2026-07-10T19:31:46.000Z

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