The Facebook social energy app is here

Katie Fehrenbacher — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:13:55 +0000

One of the most comprehensive applications to use Facebook to manage home energy consumption was officially launched on Tuesday. Created by energy software company Opower, and in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the social energy app enables Facebook users to compare their energy consumption with their peers and keep track of real energy data provided by a participating utility.

The app has gotten the participation from 16 utilities (representing 20 million h0useholds), including PG&E, City of Palo Alto Utilities, ComEd, Consumers Energy and National Grid. If your utility participates in the program, that means you can request to have all of your energy consumption information imported into the app and compared and contrasted (anonymously) with your peers.

Opower specializes in using behavioral analytics to convince energy users to curb consumption. The company built a business off of mailing detailed visual reports to utility customers with happy faces (you’re conserving!) and unhappy faces (you need to do better), to elicit a reaction from the customers, which leads to energy conservation. Opower delivers about 2 percent energy savings to utility customers just through mailed reports.

But Opower has been expanding out intp the mobile and web worlds, using its behavioral tools and software know-how to develop apps like the Facebook one. Social networking could provide a whole new way for behavioral analytics (and game mechanics) to produce more energy conservation. In a release, Facebook’s Sustainability exec Marcy Scott Lynn pointed out that “Facebook was designed to enable people to connect, share and multiply their impact.”

The app is in Beta right now, but Opower says it will add more features and expand it this year. Test it out and tell us what you think!

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Introducing the Facebook social energy app

Katie Fehrenbacher — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:57:05 +0000

While there’s a good number of green and energy-focused Facebook apps out there, here comes one that looks like it could be a game changer. Energy software startup Opower, in partnership with Facebook and the environmentalists at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), plan to launch a Facebook social energy application next year that will enable users to check out their energy usage compared to friends and national averages and get other energy efficiency tips. The group says they think it could be “the world’s largest social energy community.”

The idea is to use the power of social networking, gaming and competition to get users engaged with ways to reduce their energy consumption. Think if a Facebook could app could bring the social power of Farmville to home energy management.

However, if you remember Microsoft and Google both launched similar types of applications (Hohm and PowerMeter), and then ended up killing them off after about two years for a variety of reasons. Developing an effective tool is difficult. Two reasons that these other apps didn’t work is that utilities weren’t convinced to participate (and without utility data the apps weren’t very helpful), and consumers also never really embraced the tools. Will Facebook be able to overcome consumer apathy and slow moving utilities?

Well, bringing Opower onboard will be key to bringing in the utilities. Opower already has 60 utility deals, and the Facebook social energy app will have data from utilities Commonwealth Edison, the City of Palo Alto, and Glendale Water & Power when it launches (other utilities partnerships to follow). The app doesn’t need linked utility data, but it will be more helpful and informative if your utility participates.

Users that decide to participate with the social energy app and also have a utility that is involved, will have seamless energy data uploaded and authenticated to the app, and then the user can see how their usage compares to others, and can participate in competitions and get more tips. You know, everything that all those Facebook apps are good at — keeping users constantly engaged, making the app viral, and changing user behavior. Opower has been working on behavioral analytics for years, and has been one of the only energy management startups that has gained much traction, delivering 2 percent energy reductions for its utility customers.

I’ve been waiting for a substantial social media effort around energy efficiency and fighting climate change for years. If this social energy app can take off and actually engage users, I think it could be a tipping point for getting people to change their energy consumption habits. We’ll see next year if it actually becomes popular and if Facebook can do for energy efficiency, what it’s done for social gaming apps.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

GigaOM » NRDC

The Facebook social energy app is here

Introducing the Facebook social energy app