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It was only a matter of time: Udacity and Georgia Tech offer ‘massive online’ degree

Ki Mae Heussner — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:13:33 +0000

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) just took another giant step: Udacity, the Georgia Institute of Technology and AT&T this week announced that they would join forces for a completely online computer science master’s degree that will cost students less than $7,000. But, big as the move is, it isn’t entirely surprising.

Earlier this year at the South by Southwest Interactive conference, Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng and edX president Anant Agarwal were asked about the likelihood of full MOOC degrees. Ng gave a diplomatic reply, emphasizing that Coursera isn’t a university but a “humble hosting platform.” But, later, Agarwal told me that he fully expected pure MOOC degrees to emerge.

“Universities are already giving full degrees for online education, for distance online education, so what is different? Extension school programs and online programs are already giving full degrees. So why is this anything special?” he said at the time.

In a post on Udacity’s blog, founder Sebastian Thrun compared the announcement about the new online degree to the moment he proposed to his wife and other “moments in his life [he] will never forget.”

“Ever since Peter Norvig and I launched AI Class, I have been dreaming of putting an entire computer science degree online, and to make access to the material free of charge, so that everyone can become a proficient computer scientist,” he wrote. ”Education has become much more exclusive, and getting into a top-10 computer science department, like Georgia Tech’s, is still out of reach for all but a chosen few.”

Taught through Udacity’s platform, only students granted admission by Georgia Tech will receive credit and will pay based on individual courses or the entire degree program. A pilot program is expected to begin in the next academic year with enrollment limited to a few hundred students, but they plan to expand over the next three years.

Given the need for more workers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, the companies decided to focus on computer science. If the program goes well, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Udacity expand into other subjects with master’s programs. But Georgia Tech Provost Rafael Bras told Inside Higher Ed that the format may not be as suitable for other disciplines.

“We’ll wait and see,” he said. “I believe this is quite appropriate for professional master’s degrees but I also believe it is less appropriate for non-master’s degrees and certainly for other fields.”

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DIY culture: Do you want your kids to create or consume?

Stacey Higginbotham — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:36:36 +0000

It has become a common refrain on the web: The rise of the DIY culture, the hacker movement and an overall sense that knowing how to code and hack is an important skill Events like Maker Faire are growing and attracting more participants, while venues like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Etsy are offering makers of all types a viable venue for selling and advertising their skills. This cultural movement can rightly be seen a backlash against the passive consumerism of the last six decades, but it’s also about something larger — our place in an increasingly competitive, and “flat” world.

And as such, a large part of this movement focuses on kids. How do we teach our kids to code? How can we get them interested in hacking? In building? SparkFun, a Boulder, Colo.-based retailer of various DIY hardware kits, has a solution: a subsidized national tour that will supply hardware and tools for teaching kids how to build electronics and code to schools.

SparkFun wants to visit schools in all 50 states and will offer courses to both students and educators, as well as development kits. The first 50 spots are subsidized and so cost $1,500 for a class, while later spots will cost $2,500. Already 13 of those 50 slots have been claimed even before the program has been publicly announced outside of the SparkFun website, according to Lindsay Levkoff, the director of education at SparkFun.

Teaching middle schoolers Scratch programming.

Levkoff created the SparkFun department of education in 2011 to help bring the maker movement to schools that were interested in adding programs but had no idea how to go about it. After a West Coast and East Coast tour last year, the company decided to make it even bigger with a nationwide effort. As a side benefit, SparkFun is creating potential customers for its store.

“When I designed the department it was almost an altruistic branch and there was no guarantee that we would pay for ourselves,” Levkoff said. “We’re trying to be a nonprofit within SparkFun … but if people want to buy the kits and products then that’s a fantastic by-product.”

SparkFun’s plans are part of a larger effort to create hacking groups like Hacker Scouts for kids and even offer classes or hacker space for the younger set.

And while I’ve been pondering how to start one of those for my own daughter’s school, I’ve also been thinking a lot about the bigger issue here; namely why is this movement gaining ground and how important is it really? Is programming the literacy of the 21st century? Does being able to solder, sew or build a robot make someone more employable or creative than another?

The SparkFun tour is helped along by a drive to push Science Technology Engineering and Math education (STEM) and subsequent government and private grants to schools. As a parent I also am eager for my daughter to engage in building things and playing around with hardware in part because I loved building computers, radios and whatnot with my own dad.

But in some ways, beyond the mechanics of programming and the magic of electricity, I think these projects add a venue for concrete accomplishment that can be lacking in everyday schooling for many kids. And that sense of accomplishment, of completing a concrete task as opposed to learning algebra, might be the real value of these maker-based curricula. After all, there are a fair amount of people who get a lot more satisfaction from creating than from consuming.

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The most important chart in energy

Salim Khan, Guest Contributor — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:00:06 +0000

There’s a chart you’ve never heard of that perfectly represents how inefficient the power grid is and how much we need more distributed energy solutions. Agencies responsible for the reliability of the grid, including the California System Independent System Operator (CAISO), use what are called Load Duration Curves, or LDCs, to plan investments and monitor efficiency. The area under the LDC (see image below) represents the energy demanded by the system and the curve illustrates the relationship between energy use and generating capacity needs.

In order to meet California’s peak load in 2011, CAISO had to secure the equivalent energy of 20 nuclear power plants. This level of energy represents what is needed to serve peak capacity rather than average capacity. On most days, California’s electricity demand ranges between about 23,000 MW and 36,000 MW. In 2011, California demand exceeded 40,000 MW for only 0.8 percent of the year, or about 70 hours total (for reference, California hit an all-time for peak energy usage, reaching a total load of 50,270 MW in July, 2006).

Without transforming the power system to include energy storage and other distributed energy technologies, we have to build and maintain enough power plants to meet peak demand in real-time. Utilities will have to build additional generation assets, leading to increased generation investment while using this capacity for very few hours of the year.

We clearly have a huge opportunity to improve our current electrical power infrastructure since most of our generation capacity is only required a brief percentage of the year. As the LDC illustrates, satisfying our peak load creates a massive discrepancy between our old generation capacity and asset utilization. According to the Energy Information Administration, our national capacity factor, or the amount we actually generate vs. the amount we are capable of generating, is at or less than 40 percent. Most hours of the year, a massive fleet of generators sits cold and idle, not providing power to customers or earning revenue for their owners. Even idle, these plants require upgrades and maintenance to stay current.

With the problem of low asset utilization, the more optimal solution may lie on a micro- and not a macro- scale. Many influential organizations, as varied as the Rocky Mountain Institute and the United States Military, are realizing the promise of smaller scale distributed energy generation and electricity storage as a way to combat the exact discrepancies that the LDC highlights.

This move towards supplementing our power with decentralized capacity has the added benefit of circumventing many of the negative economic and environmental impacts associated with our aging grid. Relying on centralized power systems alone to meet peak load is costly. Power generated from peaking-units (which currently make up around 14 percent of America’s 2,600 total power plants), can cost upwards of $100 more than the typical megawatt-hour.

Additionally, the cost of transmitting energy across an aging grid is increasing and inefficient as well (according to the Department of Energy, around 75 percent of transmission lines and transformers are older than 25 years or older and roughly 60 percent of circuits have been operating for over 30 years, and transmission losses can range from 7-10 percent). William Pentland of ClearEdge Power points out that “the typical electric utility customer in New York City is charged more for the delivery of an electron than the generation of electron”.

Recent advancements in distributed energy storage technology — including the adoption of lithium-ion batteries similar to those used in electric vehicles as onsite storage — are allowing business owners to dispatch power from the grid at those times that it is most cost-effective to do so. (Many large automakers, including GM, Chevy and Nissan, are catching on to this potential by developing grid storage units with their used EV batteries.) At Stem we use energy storage systems to provide on-site electricity to customers at times when energy from the grid is more expensive, such as during hot summer days.

It is important to note that even if the cost of energy drops, the LDC problem persists. While many in the energy community are excited by the shale gas revolution, without storage, generators will still need to be sized to meet peak demand and therefore will continue to operate at 40 percent or less capacity factor. Electric utilities and their rate base will still have to pay to build assets that sit idle for most of the year regardless of the mix of energy sources in the future.

Due to their ability to mitigate peak energy usage where it occurs, distributed energy storage systems have the potential to change the way we draw power at peak times. This could, in effect, transform the LDC into a much more efficient rectangle, flattening the load and avoiding generation overbuild. Distributed energy storage that is implemented as the smart solution will prove that grid stability and grid efficiency no longer have to be treated as mutually exclusive.

Salim Khan is the CEO of Stem, an energy technology company that enables businesses to control their electricity expenses and helps the electrical grid to be more efficient in managing peak usage.

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13 energy data startups to watch in 2013

Katie Fehrenbacher — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:00:50 +0000

Dozens of startups building analytics that can collect and analyze energy data emerged or grew their businesses in 2012. It was a hot trend for a variety of reasons including the development of big data technologies as a massive and growing business, the notion that energy analytics are a more attractive capital-lite business than smart grid hardware, and the reality that utilities need to digitize their power grids to provide better service in the modern age.

Here’s a list of 13 startups that we covered last year that I would keep an eye on in 2013. A couple of these, like Opower and Nest, I also included on my list last year:

1). Stem: Formerly called Powergetics and founded in 2009, Stem‘s software tracks and analyzes energy use in buildings and helps companies predict and control their energy budgets. In addition, the company helps buildings owners tap into installed battery farms to use stored energy when grid electricity is expensive. The company got a new CEO and announced its first customer — InterContinental Hotels — in San Francisco in 2012.

2). Opower: I’ve covered these energy software leaders closely, so I won’t rehash them here. But in 2012 the company made strides like launching smart thermostat utility software trials with Honeywell, and it helped customers collectively save 2 terawatt hours of energy by the end of last year.

Honeywell & Opower’s iPad smart thermostat app

3). AutoGrid: A newbie launched by some progressive former utility execs at PG&E, AutoGrid is working on an Amazon-style recommendation engine for utilities’ energy data. Its Energy Data Platform (EDP) can take petabytes of grid data — both structured and unstructured — and crunches it to predict and analyze what is happening on the grid in real time. The company is backed by Foundation Capital, Voyager Capital and Stanford University.

4). Nest: While most people think of Nest as a smart thermostat maker company, some of the startup’s powerful innovations are the analytics that collect energy data and train the thermostat to learn your habits and shave off energy when it works for you. That data will also be valuable to utilities in some respect. Nest launched its redesigned thermostat in late 2012.

5). Viridity Energy: Viridity Energy has been around for awhile, and it uses energy data to create a new type of demand response service, or the process when utilities connect with building owners to turn down a building’s energy consumption. In 2012, Viridity got a large round from Japanese giant Mitsui. (photo of Viridity Energy SVP Western Regional Division Laura Manz)

6). EcoFactor: EcoFactor is like the service version of Nest (without the designed hardware) and is working with utilities and service providers like cable companies to manage connected thermostats in real time. In late 2012, EcoFactor raised another $8 million from Aster Capital, Claremont Creek Ventures and RockPort Capital Partners.

7). Bidgely: Launched in late 2012, Bidgely has created algorithms that can dig into real-time smart meter energy-consumption data, can reduce consumers’ home energy use by between 4 percent to 12 percent, and it can also deliver other beneficial home services to consumers. The company is backed by Khosla Ventures.

8). Space-Time Insight: Fremont, Calif.-based Space-Time Insight develops geospatial analytics around sectors like electricity, oil and gas and transportation. California’s Independent System Operator deployed the company’s software to power a control room featuring an 80-foot screen that displays map views and real-time information about energy infrastructure. The company raised a series B round of $14 million last year.

9). PlotWatt: Like Bidgely, PlottWatt 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. The company is four years old but raised a series A round of $3 million from Felicis Ventures and Acorn Ventures last summer.

10). WegoWise: WegoWise is looking to lower energy costs for apartment buildings, helping both landlords and tenants. The company uses lots of data to help property managers see where their units can stand to be improved. WegoWise bought data startup Melon Power late last year.

11). Retroficiency: Retroficiency has created data analytics that basically can give a building (or a group of buildings) an energy audit remotely, without auditors having to come to the site of the building. It uses a lot of publicly and privately available data to do that. The method is a much more low cost and quicker way to plan energy building reductions.

12). GridNavigator: GridNavigator’s software and cloud-based service perform energy consumption forecasts throughout the day to help building managers manage their power consumption. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Redmond, Wash.

13). Honest Buildings: Honest Buildings doesn’t just collect energy data, but it has created a repository for building-related data enabling renter and home buyers, property managers, and organizations to learn about and compare the energy efficiencies of buildings. It also has info about green building materials and certifications like LEED.

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Introducing a big data prediction engine for the power grid

Katie Fehrenbacher — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 04:00:05 +0000

A startup called AutoGrid is looking to provide big data analytics — the same type of analytics that companies like Amazon and Netflix use for their web recommendation engines — for the power grid. Tools like this will be needed, given that down the road there could be more data created by the power grid than by the Internet.

AutoGrid is officially launching on Monday, though the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company was founded in 2011. While a variety of big data energy startups have emerged in recent months (like Bidgely, and Stem) AutoGrid has a particularly impressive team, it’s got investors that know the smart grid sector well, and it’s already got some utility customers, including the City of Palo Alto Utilities and Sacramento Municipal Utilities District.

The company’s team includes founder and CEO Amit Narayan, who was the director of Smart Grid Simulation Research at Stanford University; CTO Chris Knudsen, who was the Director of the Innovation Lab at PG&E; and VP of Business Development Andrew Tang who also hails from PG&E. AutoGrid has raised $9 million from investors including Foundation Capital — which has backed other smart grid plays like Silver Spring Networks — as well as Voyager Capital and Stanford University, and the company is also working on projects with the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program.

So what is AutoGrid selling? It’s created a software platform it calls the the Energy Data Platform (EDP), which takes petabytes of grid data — both structured and unstructured — and crunches it to predict and analyze what it happening on the grid in real time. AutoGrid can then provide services to its utility customers like predictive applications, optimization of the grid, or analyzing trends in energy usage. The platform is cloud based and can be delivered via private or public clouds to utilities and broadband providers (like a cable company) and requires no extra hardware.

The data that will be ingested into AutoGrid’s analytics comes from the utilities’ increasingly connected devices like smart meters on every home, and connected substations and transformers, as well as publicly available data like weather and demographics. AutoGrid’s Narayan tells me that because they don’t sell or make any hardware, they can more easily partner with all of the companies that are making these types of connected home and grid energy devices, like a Nest smart thermotstat or a RuggedCom router for the power grid.

While the power of such a platform could be huge, AutoGrid needs to start off by selling specific applications. It’s first product is analytics for demand response, which is when utilities curb energy consumption of its customers at different peak times of day (like a hot summer day in the afternoon) to better manage the grid. AutoGrid says its demand response application can help utilities review their programs and cut the cost of their demand response systems by 90 percent and also increase the response rates of the customers in the program by 30 percent.

Both the City of Palo Alto Utilities and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)are using this demand response product. Utilities, which tend to be conservative when it comes to using new technologies, could be interested in AutoGrid’s tools, partly because it doesn’t require a huge commitment of time or money to test them out. The utility just needs to give them access to their data. Narayan tells me utilities can use its tools to be more innovative and to try out new services. Remember AutoGrid has two former PG&E execs in its upper management, who are familiar with the difficulties of rolling out smart grid tools from the utility’s perspective.

For the power grid to be much more efficient — and be able to include electric vehicles and clean power like solar and wind — it needs the type of real time intelligence that AutoGrid’s platform can provide. Some companies are working on similar software tools — for example, Tendril recently has shifted its focus away from hardware and more towards creating a software layer for the power grid. Stem is a startup that recently revamped and uses data and analytics — as well as energy storage — to predict and analyze the energy use of companies’ buildings. Bidgely is a new startup that is looking to crunch smart meter data to deliver information about home appliance use in real time.

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A hot trend in cleantech: startups targeting energy data and analytics

Ucilia Wang — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:06:43 +0000

Startup Stem is one of a growing number of young cleantech startups that are using data, analytics and energy storage, like batteries, to manage companies’ energy consumption. It’s an area that can take advantage of the latest trends in information technology like big data, cloud computing and cheap batteries.

Founded in 2009 and formerly called Powergetics, Stem plans to announce its first customer installation on Nov. 15. and this week announced a new CEO, Salim Khan, the former COO of smart grid company Trilliant. Khan replaced founder Brian Thompson, who is now the company’s executive vice president; the new appointment came after Stem rebranded itself and presented its new business plan publicly in April this year.

Stem’s software uses data — from weather, from buildings’ energy consumption, from electricity rates — to show its customers their energy use patterns, and how much they’re paying across different buildings. The analytics then allow them to forecast their electricity use and control their energy budgets.

Stem also employs energy storage systems, like batteries, to send electricity to its customers at times when energy from the grid is more expensive, such as during hot summer days. Its customers could pair the energy storage service with a set of solar panels so that they could generate their own power and further reduce their reliance on their local utilities.

Crowded space

Stem is emerging at a time when there is already a rather large pool of startups that aim to make money by helping businesses monitor their energy use and cut their utility bills. The technologies and services of these startups aren’t exactly the same, of course, but the general concept is the same: develop software that analyzes electricity consumption and use the data to either recommend energy-saving strategies or automatically make adjustments to reduce electricity consumption, especially during hours of peak energy demand.

For example, Noesis, an Austin startup, uses free services to attract building owners and managers and then charges them for more sophisticated analyses and energy management tools. The company also charges companies in the building energy management field – from lighting and sensor sellers to energy audit software developers — that want to advertise their services to building managers that use Noesis’s services.

Some companies use competition to influence workplace behavior and nudge employees to save energy. Others use a wealth of historical data to predict a business’s energy use throughout the day and enable it to dial back electricity consumption and take advantage of incentives from utilities to reduce energy use during hours of peak demand.

Stem will have to work hard to set itself apart from the pack. The company says it has multiple customers but declined to disclose any. The company has raised a round of $14.2 million since its inception, and its investors include the Angeleno Group and Greener Capital.

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