How Nest and Opower quietly morphed into competitors
The leading energy data startups Nest and Opower have quietly started to look more like competitors, though with some significant differences. Read more »
Nest acquires MyEnergy (formerly Earth Aid), moves deeper into utility data
Learning thermostat maker Nest has acquired a Boston-based energy data startup called MyEnergy. The company will help Nest develop its energy data services and continue its missions of working directly with the consumer to reduce home energy consumption. Read more »
Nest unleashes the power of its smart thermostat with data-driven services
While Nest is widely known as a consumer-focused smart thermostat maker, the startup has quietly been developing services it can offer in conjunction with utilities, which can curb customers’ energy use while also lowering their energy bills. Read more »
Big data can improve websites, cut energy bills, save lives
photo: Jordan Novet
Use cases at the Strata conference show that information gleaned from Hadoop and other big data technologies can bring companies new revenue streams and cut expenditures. Read more »
13 energy data startups to watch in 2013
Data analytics took the energy sector by storm in 2012, and a bunch of companies launched, raised funding and grew their businesses last year. Here’s 13 energy data startups you should watch in 2013. Read more »
GigaOM’s top 10 cleantech posts of 2012
Show me — that’s the common thread in the top 10 most-trafficked GigaOM cleantech stories of 2012. Exclusive photos and videos of emerging clean power and electric car technologies lead the year. (OK, we’re not so surprised by that.) Read more »
Early results: PG&E customers like controlling thermostats with iPhones
According to early results of PG&E’s trial with smart thermostats from Honeywell and Opower, customers really like controlling the thermostat remotely with their iPhones. Remote control could prove to be one of the first smart grid applications that is a clear benefit to consumers. Read more »
The 10 best and worst things to happen to cleantech in 2012
Here’s what I think have been the top 10 best, and the top 10 worst, things that have landed on the cleantech scene in 2012. Feel free to add your own in the comments. Read more »
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Cleantech and investment in 2013
In 2013 cleantech investing will move toward companies serving unsubsidized markets where software plays a role in reducing power consumption. In many ways this is a return to plays for energy efficiency, and there’s still money to be made from business models built around saving energy. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Take that, Geico caveman: MetroMile remakes car insurance with data
A new startup from the founder of The Climate Corporation is looking to use driving data to remake the stodgy car insurance sector and is launching in Oregon on Wednesday. Read more »
Funding good design is now officially mainstream
Did investor love for designers just jump the shark? Nah, but it’s a long-brewing trend that continues to get even bigger. Read more »
10 things to be thankful for this year in cleantech
photo: Flickr/ VincciWincci
Despite the difficult year in cleantech, there’s quite a few things that excited me this year. Here’s 10 things to be thankful for in cleantech. Read more »
Opower, the big data energy player to beat
Opower has quietly been amassing serious reach with utilities, including crunching energy data from 50 million households and plans to be able to save its customers 2 terawatt hours by the end of 2012. Read more »
A Khosla-backed big data energy startup you should know about
Are big data, analytics, and machine learning the answers to reducing the energy consumption of our homes? Yep, according to newly-emerged startup Bidgely that’s backed by Khosla Ventures. In an exclusive interview, Bidgely’s CEO gives GigaOM the details about what it’s been up to. Read more »
The rent is too damn high, but big data means the power bill isn’t
Rent prices are higher than ever, but a growing number of startups are working to analyze our homes’ energy use so we can save money by using less power. Their approaches might differ, but data and analytics are the ties that binds them all. Read more »
New software mines data to create a speedy carbon footprint
Researchers are taking a nod from Internet leaders and using big data mining techniques to quickly calculate the carbon footprints of products. New software like this can enable companies to calculate the carbon footprints of products using non-expert employees and for less cost. Read more »
Why Tendril may (finally) be positioned for growth
Despite layoffs and business model changes, Smart Grid News’ Jesse Berst thinks home energy startup Tendril is in a good position for growth. Read more »
Tips for presenting energy data: look to Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon
How to connect and influence consumers’ energy use habits with big volumes of smart grid data? Making data interesting, of course. But that’s easier said than done. DJ Patil, a data scientist extraordinaire at Greylock Partners and previously at LinkedIn, doled out some tips. Read more »
Starbucks to add a shot of energy efficiency to its coffee shops
Here is a new mission from Starbucks: how to make energy-efficient coffee. The retailer plans to launch tomorrow a competition that will pit 10 of its stores against one another to see who can cut electricity use the most in 30 days. Read more »
How Facebook could change the game for sustainability
Facebook’s social platform will increasingly be focused on sustainability, if the company’s new manager of energy efficiency and sustainability, Bill Weihl, has anything to say about it. Read more »
Why diluted investments are diluting cleantech’s impact
Clean technologies are ready for investments. Are the traditional investors in VC and project finance willing to change their approach? Read more »
Crunching energy data down to the fridge
A four-year-old startup called PlotWatt has developed smart algorithms that can crunch energy data down to the appliance level to determine which of your household devices is sucking up more than its fair share of power. Read more »
Yahoo email users spend more on energy than Gmail users
Here’s a weird bit of energy data courtesy of energy software startup Opower: people that use Yahoo email spend $110 more a year on electricity — or 11 percent more — than Gmail users. Why? Read more »
How big data can track the pain points in population growth
There are expected to be over 9 billion on the planet by 2050 and you can expect that to strain the world’s resources like energy, water and food. But big data tools will be able to help organizations track and attempt to solve this problem. Read more »
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Ups and downs for cleantech in Q1
This quarter the EV market struggled to find its footing. Meanwhile, the smart-grid sector solidified and low-power technology proved itself important in the data center. Read more to learn what these news pieces and others mean for the larger space over the next few months. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Utilities embrace Green Button energy data project
Nine more utilities, and three large energy vendors, announced support on Thursday for the Green Button project, which enables utility customers to download their energy consumption data with a click of a button and also use that data for energy-saving apps. Read more »
How energy data will change the future [VIDEO]
In an interview at the Verge Conference last week, Opower’s founder and a Senior Advisor to the White House discuss why energy data should be open, how utilities will deal with the influx of big data and how government can help. Check out the video: Read more »
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A near-term outlook for big data
Big data now touches everything from enterprises to smart-meter startups, while Hadoop is fast becoming the leading tool to analyze that data, and debates around privacy abound. GigaOM Pro analysts offer insights on what to consider when it comes to big data decisions for your business. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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Big data meets the smart grid
Many have predicted a “big data tsunami” that will transform the energy sector and open an entirely new market for smart-grid data analytics. Stepping into the fray is the next generation of smart-grid companies poised to use data to change energy consumption. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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10 ways big data changes everything
The emergence of the big data phenomenon is fundamentally changing everything from the way companies operate to the way people interact to how the world deals with outbreaks of infectious diseases. Here we highlight 10 case studies illustrating how big data is changing the world. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
10 ways big data changes everything
The massive amount of data that is emerging from connected, digital systems, is fundamentally changing everything, from Internet search to entertainment, to disease management, to energy consumption. Here’s 10 case studies that highlight the power of big data. Read more »
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What the utility of the future looks like
As utility industry trade show DistribuTECH wrapped up last Thursday, attendees got a peek at not only new product offerings — from smart thermostats to software platforms that manage smart meter data — but also the potential for what a utility of the future might look ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
10 ways big data is remaking energy
Analytics and big data tools will remake energy in 2012, from helping curb energy consumption, to reducing energy loss, to adding in more clean power to the grid. Here’s 10 ways this will happen: Read more »
The top 10 trends from the year’s big smart grid show
One of the year’s largest smart grid conferences — DistribuTECH — closes today in San Antonio, Texas. It’s like the CES for utilities, power companies and the vendors that are trying to sell them stuff. Here are the top 10 trends I took away. Read more »
Opower hits 25M home energy reports
Energy software company Opower says it will send its 25 millionth energy data report to a utility customer by the end of January and will likely hit the 75 million mark sometime in 2012. Read more »
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Why the future of smart meters is data, not hardware
It is becoming abundantly apparent that, while there is still focus on install rates of physical smart meters, what will matter in the future is how well the data from these smart meters can be secured by utilities and how well utilities can use that data ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A home energy battle in court: Opower vs Efficiency 2.0
The world of home energy reports for utility customers just got heated. Opower has filed a complaint against Efficiency 2.0, claiming the company infringed on Opower’s copyrighted home energy reports. Efficiency 2.0 denies the claims. Read more »
What you need to know about PG&E’s home energy projects
PG&E plans to start testing out home energy gadgets and software starting in March 2012 with a small group of customers, and the utility unveiled details of its plan this week. Here’s what you need to know. Read more »
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Cleantech, meet connectivity: a new era of energy efficiency
The momentum right now in cleantech is as much about connectivity and how it can drive energy efficiency as it is about advancing sources of renewable energy. And as the web and mobile connectivity change our consumer experiences, the opportunities to redefine cleantech are rich, and they are already happening. This research note examines the cleantech space in that context and analyzes the car-sharing, home-energy-management and smart-grid sectors and their relevant companies to see how connectivity will play into their future endeavors. Companies mentioned in this report include RelayRides, Opower, Silver Spring Networks and Nest. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Opower hires CFO, considering IPO down the road
Energy software startup Opower has hired a chief financial officer, Thomas Kramer, and is mulling over a potential IPO down the road. Kramer was previously the CFO at Cvent, and created the eCommerce strategy for Boston Consulting Group. Read more »
