Nexus: Simplifying Energy Incentive Estimation
A dashboard tool that transforms complex energy rebate data into actionable insights for building owners and MEP engineers.
+30% conversions
5 partnerships
Buro Happold win
Project Details
Industry
Climate tech
Year
2023
Role
Lead Product Designer
Duration
1.5 Months
Context
What is a Rebate Incentive?
Rebate incentives are financial rewards created to encourage energy efficient choices in buildings. They come through federal programs, state policies, or local utilities and support upgrades in technologies like HVAC systems, LED lighting, insulation, solar panels, and more. These programs play a meaningful role in lowering project costs, improving payback periods, and promoting sustainable energy adoption.
Which incentives apply to my building?
How much can i actually save?
Which incentives apply to my building?
There was no quick, trustworthy way to get a first-pass estimate.This made internal approval cycles slow, business cases shaky, and sustainability upgrades harder to justify.
Problem
Incentive estimation today is fragmented and intimidating. Users spend hours collecting data from federal, state, and utility sources, only to end up with inconsistent, incomplete, or contradictory answers.
Nexus was built to simplify one of the most complex processes in the energy efficiency world: estimating tax benefits and cash reimbursements for commercial buildings. Incentive programs span federal, state, and utility-level offerings and differ not just by geography, but by technology, program rules, and constantly changing policies. Nexus aimed to turn this overwhelming landscape into a fast, reliable, and comprehensible estimation experience for enterprises, engineers, and financial stakeholders.
Key friction points included: eligibility lookup, inconsistent data confidence and the lack of an exportable, client-ready proposal. Benchmarking showed other tools overloaded users with choices and offered little transparency in calculations.
Call with designer on 8:20 pm
WTF
Damn, why not Slack???
Hire a new designer
Urgent!!!
Pay the designer $20,000 next month
!!!!!!!
Research & Insights
Senior Facilities Manager
"I need a clear, reliable estimate I can put in a project pitch. Show me the assumptions and save me time."
Age: 38
Location: San Francisco, CA
Tech Proficiency: Intermediate
Gender: Male
Goal
Produce credible, defensible ROI and payback estimates for senior leadership and finance.
Quickly compare incentives and total project value across sites and technologies.
Generate a concise exportable summary to include in budget packets and vendor pitches.
Frustrations
Incentive data is scattered and frequently contradictory.
Long, form-heavy tools that ask for too many technical details up front.
Reports that need major cleanup before going to finance.
Lack of transparency in calculation assumptions; results feel like black boxes.
Goal
To build a predictive incentive estimation tool
A tool that produces a defensible, transparent, <10-minute estimate of rebate + tax incentive savings for a commercial building , with minimal input.
Nexus was built to simplify one of the most complex processes in the energy efficiency world: estimating tax benefits and cash reimbursements for commercial buildings. Incentive programs span federal, state, and utility-level offerings and differ not just by geography, but by technology, program rules, and constantly changing policies. Nexus aimed to turn this overwhelming landscape into a fast, reliable, and comprehensible estimation experience for enterprises, engineers, and financial stakeholders.
Constraints
High calculation complexity
Minimal user inputs
Transparency required
Tight timeline (1.5 months)
Process
Incentive types (tax vs discounts)
Federal vs State vs Utility
Technologies (HVAC, lighting, insulation, controls)
Sub-technologies (motors, heat pumps, LEDs, etc)
Created a preliminary Information Architecture of
Summary
Program eligibility
Calculation assumptions
Savings breakdown
Export
Raw dataset of 400+ incentive entries from DSIRE, utilities, and federal programs. This formed the foundation of our eligibility logic and taxonomy.
Solution
The product is structured around a guided estimation flow and modular features. The interface balances simplicity for new users and depth for power users.
Incentive Matcher
Savings Estimator
Proposal Generator
Dashboard & Analytics
Initial Wireframes
