Encycle CEO AP Issa joins Russ Fordyce to talk about the energy crunch almost nobody is pricing in yet. She explains why utilities missed the data center wave while preparing for EVs, how 21 years of rooftop HVAC data became Encycle's moat, and why the equipment building owners already have is the only lever they can pull this quarter.

Encycle won a 2026 Sustainability Leadership Award from Business Intelligence Group for AI-driven HVAC optimization that requires no new hardware.

AP Issa, Chief Executive Officer, Encycle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apissa/
Company: https://www.encycle.com

• [00:00] Welcome and the 2026 Sustainability Leadership Award
• [00:35] Optimization, demand response, and what Encycle does
• [01:53] From sales floor to CEO
• [02:17] Machine learning before buildings were cloud-ready
• [04:16] The capacity gap and grid requirements
• [05:03] What deployment looks like today
• [05:40] Why no new hardware changed the model
• [07:25] Legacy data as the advantage
• [08:00] AI is only as good as the data
• [10:59] Customer data quality and tagging
• [13:36] HVAC lessons from manufacturing automation
• [14:23] The ignored asset on the roof
• [15:21] Catching a failure 45 days early
• [18:31] First 30-day customer surprises
• [21:14] Nobody has a data problem anymore
• [22:28] Capacity, California, PJM, and the energy crunch
• [25:43] Rate increases and utility filings
• [26:23] EVs, electrification, and data center power
• [28:00] Opportunity in a constrained market

1. The energy crisis is arriving as a pricing event, not a blackout. Rates rose about ten percent across the 2010s, then twenty nine percent from 2020 through last year. Utilities have already filed $18.6 billion in increases for 2027, making load reduction and demand response urgent.
2. In applied AI, the model is downstream of the data. Encycle's edge comes from years of controller installs, submetered loads, rooftop unit data, weather zones, and operating history.
3. Commercial HVAC is still too reactive because the equipment is out of sight. Trend data can help teams catch failing units weeks early, order parts before seasonal rushes, and reduce emergency calls.

• Encycle: https://www.encycle.com
• Swarm Logic, Swarm Chorus, and Chorus AI
• OpenADR and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• PJM Interconnection demand response programs
• EIA CBECS: https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/

Encycle won the 2026 Sustainability Leadership Award from Business Intelligence Group. Nominations are open: https://www.bintelligence.com/awards/sustainability-awards

Winners' Circle Podcast: https://www.bintelligence.com/podcast
Russ Fordyce: https://bintelligence.us/russ.html