Green Ops

How does a fledgling start-up thrive during the worst economic downturn in decades? Hardy DeLay’s strategy: Think green. And become more energy efficient.

DeLay is helping numerous business and nonprofit customers do that though his company, Apple Valley–based Unique Innovations Sales and Marketing (UISM), which he launched in late 2007. Though the company’s name may not sound particularly descriptive, its services are very specific. UISM develops customized programs to help its clients reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprints. It also provides education to current and potential customers “on what it really means to be energy efficient and eco-friendly,” DeLay says.

In developing its custom solutions, UISM uses products to meet environmental and energy-saving needs in a number of areas. DeLay’s company makes no products itself, but rather draws from a base of thousands of eco-friendly items available from numerous manufacturers around the world.

These include fuel-saving vehicle devices and additives; food- and child-safe lubricants; products to clean up oil spills, wastewater, and ponds; battery restoration and reconditioning products; LED lighting to replace incandescent, fluorescent, and street illumination; building-management technologies; and units that control a commercial or industrial electric motor’s power draw to match the exact load needed, thus eliminating wasted energy.

UISM also claims to be the only U.S. company that sells LED light bulbs tested for energy efficiency and certified by the federal “Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory” program.

So far, the self-funded UISM has signed several deals with the potential for big returns. It has landed a $1 million contract for installing fuel-saving devices in a Georgia school district’s buses, and a $40–50 million building-improvement project with a commercial property management firm in the Midwest. In addition, UISM has partnered with the Gulf Coast Energy Network, a Florida-headquartered nonprofit consortium that promotes alternative energy and conservation in the South, to make area military installations more energy efficient.

UISM recently announced a partnership with one of the nation’s largest electric-power companies, North Carolina–based Duke Energy. UISM will develop energy conservation programs for some of Duke’s 4 million customers, to help them meet federally mandated consumption-reduction targets. Together, the companies will promote the Duke Energy Savings Program, providing incentive money for the installation of energy-efficiency and energy-management products.