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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 17 J U N E 1 5 , 2 0 2 0 F O C U S E N E R G Y / E N V I RO N M E N T you doing? ank-you for your efforts,'" he says. "Every time I see a manager, I thank them and then I say, 'I want you to make phone calls to your team and thank them.'" Fuel oil H.A. Mapes Inc., which distributes gasoline and diesel to gas stations across New England, said the pandemic put an immediate dent in business, with demand off 25%. "at has a direct correlation on staffing," says Jonathan Mapes, CEO of the Springvale-based company. "So we have concerns. We're a strong company but it's tough to forecast." Declines varied based on location. "Some stores, depending on where they are, held steady," he says. "But we have customers on the Canadian border that probably should have closed their doors" with the shutdown of interna- tional travel. One area of strength was conve- nience stores, which serve food and sometimes serve as a town center. "People have an interesting relation- ship with convenience stores," Mapes continues. "I think of them as mini town halls. ey're also food centers. With restaurants being closed, convenience stores saw an increase in food sales," making them one-stop shops for cus- tomers also gassing up. For commercial fuel drivers, declin- ing consumption means fewer hours. "Drivers are driving less, which puts a great deal of worry on them," Mapes says. "If one thing comes out of this, it's that drivers are worried about their jobs. We're a strong company so we'll be here. But what the next 18 months will be is extremely hard to forecast." Solar In February, ReVision Energy's presi- dent and co-founder, Fortunat Mueller, was initially concerned about continu- ity in the supply chain for solar energy installations. Much of that supply starts in China, which was the first economy to close because of the pandemic. But supply turned out to be a non-issue. In fact, disruption of installations and projects getting pushed back likely resulted in excess capacity in the U.S., Mueller says. Focusing on safety for employees and customers, ReVision nevertheless curtailed projects on occupied residences in April and May. Installations on new residential construction and some unoc- cupied residences continued. Some of the crew was furloughed, although many returned in June. Commercial installa- tions, where social distancing is easier to maintain, remained on track. Operational changes include measures such as limiting staff to one installer per truck. Customer interac- tions have gone online. e business already had a robust digital footprint, but that was typically complemented with in-person events such as open houses. "We have a pretty intensive sales approach where we do a lot of cus- tomer education, talking about projects to electrify their homes," says Mueller. "It's easier to do that across the kitchen table. We had to learn to do those things online." ReVision has seen growing interest in solar and in residential battery storage since the start of the pandemic. "I think that has to do with people spending more time at home, using more electricity in their homes, and understanding or appreciating the value of resiliency in those spaces," he says. He adds, "ere is an opportunity as we come out of this crisis, in particular as we think about economic recovery. e clean energy sector is well-positioned to be part of the recovery. ere's an opportunity to put a lot of shovel-ready projects on the ground and put people back to work quickly." Laurie Schreiber, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at lschreiber @ mainebiz.biz Patrons Oxford Insurance: Outperforms Energy Code by 70% designers of distinctive, high performance buildings for human potential CN Brown has a variety of rate plans that are suitable for the smallest businesses to the largest en es. Choose a plan based on your business's size and unique needs. nyurl.com/CNBrownJune2020 Lock in your rate with us beginning June 1st > Electricity > Hea ng Oil > Kerosene > Propane > Natural Gas > Gasoline > Ultra-low Sulfur Diesel > Off-road Diesel Comprehensive energy op ons for your business Energy declines I n its "Global Energy Review 2020," Paris-based International Energy Agency's projections for 2020 show energy demand could contract by 6%, the largest decline in 70 years in per- centage terms and the largest ever in absolute terms. "The impact of COVID-19 on energy demand in 2020 would be more than seven times larger than the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on global energy demand," the report says. Advanced economies will likely see the biggest declines, by 9% in the U.S. and 11% in the European Union. BY SECTOR: Oil demand could drop 9% Coal demand could decline 8% Natural gas and electricity demand could decline 5% Renewable electricity generation by solar PV, wind and hydropower could increase 5% S O U R C E : International Energy Agency "Global Energy Review 2020"

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