Joining the slew of energy monitoring programs recently launched - Google Powermeter, Microsoft Hohm, GE's Home Energy Manager, and eMeter, to name a few - we've just become aware of a dark horse candidate that has for four years been quietly developing what may be the most user-friendly home energy program yet.
Efficiency 2.0, a New York based startup with backing from a number of Connecticut hedge funds, has already partnered with about the same number of utilities as Google PowerMeter, according to Earth2Tech.
Efficiency 2.0's mark of distinction is its math. The company has developed complex algorithms well beyond the scope of what the big players have yet developed. Designed to tailor energy-saving recommendations based on demographic and personal information, the program would work much like - to use Earth2Tech's apt comparison - an Amazon or a Netflix, which personalize product recommendations based on a complex combination of user history, ratings, preferences and geography.
This is a smart move. In all things pertaining to energy consumption, geographic differences matter. As Wired noted earlier this year, Efficiency 2.0 deduced that upgrading to an energy efficient refrigerator would save about 1,000 lbs of CO2 annually in Chicago, but only 582 lbs in New York. Alas, the fruit that hangs low in California may be harder to reach in Michigan. Customized information, particularly geographical information, is invaluable to a user looking for the best options to reduce energy usage and the relative impact of that reduction.
Although the program is being marketed to utilities (and we have long argued that the goals of energy efficiency are best served when information is placed in the hands of homeowners), the business model is nonetheless innovative. The platform is being marketed mainly to "decoupled" utilities, those whose profits aren't determined by the amount of electricity they sell. For these utilities, the more customers reduce energy consumption, the more subsidies the utility is eligible for - so there is real incentive for an energy management tool like Efficiency 2.o to work.
Given that the company is targeting utilities in what, across the country, is a diverse fiscal and regulatory landscape, as well as an increasingly competitive market for home energy management tools, it will be interesting to see how the startup fares.
The real test for us is whether this platform, which on the surface is so consumer-focused, will achieve broad penetration with utilities as their primary customer target.
Comments
Another newly released web-based energy management tool for consumers is GreenQuest. It's a free tool for the consumer to track electricity, water, gas, and oil using actual data from monthly utility bills instead of estimated data like Hohm uses.
The developers of GreenQuest are the same developers as EnergyCAP, which is an enterprise-wide energy efficiency and management software that has been used since the mid 1980s. There's been a flood of new technologies the past year or two, but it's definitely important to learn the history and identify the foundational players in this market.
The model of GreenQuest is that an organization (city, county, business, school district, organization, etc) can sponsor a GreenQuest site for their community. The sponsor gets a positive public relations and relevant direct marketing tool while the community gets a free energy efficiency tool. Also, GreenQuest includes an interface with ENERGY STAR.
It's a free tool to use, and a small cost to sponsor. Totally worth the time to check it out! Find out more at http://www.mygreenquest.com/sponsor.php
Posted by Sarah Bailey on Aug 10, 2009 7:53pm