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In the early 1970s, few were thinking about energy. The nascent environmental movement, inspired by Henry David Thoreau and the other early American conservationists, was beginning to gain traction but most people in business, government and education still took it for granted that energy was simply a fixed cost of doing business and that more could- and would- always be found.
Some visionaries, however, foresaw how certain technological advances and a rising demand for energy would create opportunities for energy-conserving solutions based on sound engineering and forward-thinking economic strategies. Dave Grumman was such an individual. In May of 1973, he left his position as a principal and senior mechanical engineer at a large Chicago-based AE firm and founded Enercon, Ltd. as a one-person energy consulting firm based in Evanston, IL.
The firm's name and logo were symbolic of both its ideology and the services offered: the name combined elements of the term "energy conservation" and the logo was based on the Greek letter "ETA", the engineering symbol for efficiency. Enercon offered consulting services to building owners and managers interested in reducing the operating cost of their buildings through energy conservation. An OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) embargo that occurred shortly thereafter helped draw the American economy into an energy crisis that further reinforced the need for such services and the firm steadily grew.
In 1981, the firm opened a Wisconsin office under the management of Jeffrey K. Conner. Also in 1981, Alexander Butkus, whom had joined the firm fresh from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May of 1974, was appointed the Vice President and Managing Principle of the Illinois office. Enercon, Ltd. changed its public name to Grumman/Butkus Associates and the firm continued to expand its focus to a wide range of specialized consulting, full MEP design services and building systems commissioning.