Tendril has been enhancing its energy analytics throughout 2011, and will use the Recurve software to beef up its residential energy savings recommendations. Tendril CEO Adrian Tuck told me earlier this year that Tendril wants its software platform to act as the sort of Android layer to connect all energy-related (and even non-energy) devices in buildings and homes. And that includes developing an Amazon-style recommendation engine to help residential customers reduce their energy consumption.

Tendril bought GroundedPower for its behavioral analytics in late 2010. Tuck said recently that he thinks 2012 will be the year that energy software companies need to “go big or go home.”

Recurve originally was directly in the energy auditing business, but its core technology was software that enabled its own auditors to help home owners take steps like insulating their roof, sealing their air ducts and installing windows that minimize heat loss. But Recurve got directly out of the energy auditing business about a year ago and focused on selling its software to contractors and auditors.

The residential energy auditing market has been tough because the spending on energy efficiency projects tends to be low, and the returns on investments for service providers can be lengthy. The green building space has been difficult in general, particularly because of the weak housing market in recent years, and it was reported this week that Serious Energy plans to close one of its energy efficient windows factories.

Recurve raised at least $14 million in venture capital from investors like RockPort Capital Partners, Shasta Ventures, and Blueshift Partners. Recurve was founded by Matt Golden in 2004.

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1). Weather data: Having a finger on the pulse of constantly changing weather data on a micro and macro level can help utilities, building owners and consumers optimize their energy consumption habits and promote energy efficiency. Startup EnergyHub recently partnered with sensor network player Earth Networks to use weather data to make a more efficient form of demand response (utilities controlling power consumption). Other startups like EcoFactor, Opower and Tendril also use weather data as part of their energy behavioral analytics.

IBM has long sold a weather prediction service called Deep Thunder to municipalities, organizations and utilities, which use it to do things like tailor their services, change routes, or generate more or less power. I think weather data could some day provide a platform for some very important next generation services and applications for energy efficiency, much in the way that location data is used as a platform for a variety of services.

2). Cell phone data: Cell phones in our pockets are essentially palm-sized sensors and computers sending a constant stream of information to the cloud where companies could one day use that data to create energy efficiency and better energy products. And yes, a lot of that data is private information, but after that data is anonymized it can be used for the greater good of the community — particularly via the billions of cell phones in developing countries. A startup called Jana does research projects around cell phone data in developing countries, and looks to work with NGOs on programs to create better infrastructure, energy infrastructure and resources.

3). Connected thermostat data: One of the biggest trends from DistribuTECH this year was the overwhelming amount of smart thermostats that are now being sold and marketed. Companies can incorporate that thermostat data into data bases that can be used to promote energy efficiency. EcoFactor’s service remembers every time a home owner overrides the automated smart thermostat system and changes the personalized service to accommodate that manual override. Using 100,000 connected thermostats (which produce 5 billion data points each month) EnergyHub found some interesting statistics like folks in cold climates have a lower average heating temperature set point than households in warmer states.

4). Hadoop & energy databases: The open source data base tool Hadoop is well known — and oft used — in the computing worlds. But in the energy and utility worlds it’s quite rare. However, as the amount of energy data has started to rapidly grow from the smart grid, some companies are embracing Hadoop as a key way to manage energy info. Opower tells me it’s using Hadoop (and the company commercializing Hadoop, Cloudera) as an important way to manage its massive energy data streams. Likewise PJM has turned to Hadoop as a way to organize the energy data coming off of a synchophaser sensor project.

5). Clean power data: One of the main goals for the smart grid is to enable the addition of more variable clean power, which is far more unreliable than fossil fuels (the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow 24/7). Analytics crunching the data from a utilities’ energy supply and demand can help make clean power a little less variable, by being able to more accurately predict the environmental conditions, as well as more accurately assess demand from energy users.

6). Electric car data: Electric cars will by their nature be connected cars, using information technology to manage the vehicle charge and location. Utilities will be closely tracking the charging habits of electric car owners in order to make sure that the grid isn’t overloaded in some early adopter neighborhoods.

7). Power line sensors: One of the areas of low hanging fruit for the power grid is the simple task of helping utilities find blackouts more easily and be able to monitor and manage grid outages. That’s partly where sensor systems called synchophasers come in, which can in real time monitor the health of power lines, collecting multiple data streams per second. Expect all major networks to have synchophaser systems installed over the coming years.

8). Real estate data: Startups like First Fuel Software can use big data to make super accurate assessments about buildings and ways to reduce the energy consumption of buildings — without any extra hardware or monitoring software being installed at the building. Things like weather around the building, demographics of the people in the building, and the building’s historical energy consumption can be used to create an accurate projection. The best way to make a building more energy efficient is by getting as much data about the building;s energy use as possible.

9). Variable pricing: Some day when electricity is sold throughout the world at different prices dependent on supply and demand, massive data bases will be needed. This type of variable pricing is offered in some places in the world, but if it ever becomes ubiquitous it will help curb consumption, by offering high prices when energy is being over used.

10). Using behavioral analytics to curb energy consumption: Getting into the brains of energy users is the job of startups like Opower and Tendril (after it acquired Gr0unded Power.) Essentially these companies have collected data on consumers and demographics and they are using it to try to guess the best way to influence the consumer to do things like upgrade their home appliances and lights to more efficient ones.

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However, I’m interested in what seems to be a growing number of startups and entrepreneurs at the event, and that seems to be a sign that real innovation and new business models are actually starting to happen when it comes to adding digital intelligence to the power grid and managing energy data.

Here are the top 10 trends that I took away from the event:

1. Managing big data. Managing large streams of energy data is fundamental to the future of the grid, as well as for helping consumers reduce their energy consumption. What methods the software companies use will also determine how well they’ll do in the industry. Startups like Opower and Tendril are essentially big-data plays, using cloud computing tools and sophisticated analytics, and both companies released interesting news at the show. Oracle, touting its software and data management, had a huge booth on the floor. I chatted with both the newly acquired Ecologic Analytics (bought by Landis+Gyr) and eMeter (acquired by Siemens), and these companies manage the massive amounts of data that flow off of meters for utilities. Cloud computing is no longer a dirty word for utilities; in fact, it’s likely the future of this business.

Cisco's connected grid router, ruggedized, inside

2. The Internet of Things. Beyond connecting meters and grid devices, the smart grid really extends to create the Internet of Things, connecting cars, home batteries, solar panels, light bulbs, thermostats, and consumer electronics like televisions and cell phones. The term the Internet of Things is oft-used in IT circles, but hasn’t really caught on in the smart grid and utility industries. But it will, and it will also provide new lines of business for the power grid vendors.

3. Prepaid electricity. Prepaid meters and electricity might not catch on in the U.S. all that quickly, but throughout the world it’s becoming a phenomenon — particularly in countries with low rates of credit card holders, and high percentages of populations that don’t have a steady income stream, like farmers. There were a couple of startups at the show selling these meters and software systems, like PayGo, but I’m not sure this is a startup play at this point. I’d expect the big meter companies to create their own solutions.

Prepaid energy and meters via PayGo

4. The year of the smart thermostat. I already did a slide show on this, but it seems like 2012 is the year utilities, consumers and device makers are starting to really pay attention to smart thermostats. As one show attendee explained to me, it’s the low-hanging fruit and the area where utilities can see the most “bang for buck.” Smart thermostats, which can be controlled by utilities, can help utilities shave off consumer power consumption when they need it (called demand response). Other players like Nest (which I didn’t see at the show) are looking to sell a coveted connected thermostat straight to consumers.

5. Energy storage batteries moving into commercial deployments. Battery makers made an appearance at the show, touting batteries that could provide energy storage and frequency regulation for the grid. Some are even selling batteries for homes, to connect with solar panels, and I could see many homes having their own batteries one day. Batteries for energy storage have long been discussed, but the problem has always been that they are one of the most expensive forms of energy storage. However, some power producers and utilities now have commercial battery farm deployments in place, so we’ll see this year how popular batteries for energy storage become.

6. Ditch the hardware; focus on software. After talking with a variety of home energy management startups, it feels like there has been an acknowledgement that focusing on the hardware piece of home energy management hasn’t worked out all that well, and that software is a much better bet for most companies. EnergyHub did a slight pivot to focus more on software to manage smart thermostats, and the company tells me it’s having its best financial year to date. Tendril also doesn’t focus at all on hardware anymore, and is only focusing on creating an open platform for connecting devices. However, Nest is the outlier in this, and is basing its business around its device.

7. The pivot. Constant reinvention is common in Silicon Valley and for startups. I feel like there’s a perception that it’s not that acceptable in the utility and power worlds. However, it’s becoming increasingly O.K. to openly discuss changing strategies and working out various business models. As the smart grid industry matures, the pivot is going to become a more common maneuver. Embrace change!

8. Cellular coming on strong. A few years ago, the cellphone companies were charging utilities way too much to use their networks for the backbone of the smart grid. But today, phone companies like Verizon have changed their pricing strategy and are actively working with utilities on strategies around a per meter basis. As I wrote earlier this week, there’s no longer a big debate about what type of wireless to use, from cellular, to mesh, to Wi-Fi to WiMAX. The network companies are offering them all to be flexible to the utility.

9. M&A still rolling. The smart grid is still one of the best places across the cleantech sector to sell a startup. Since the IPO market is pretty crappy right now, who could buy who was a topic of conversation at the show.

10. Go big or go home. This one comes courtesy of Tendril’s CEO Adrian Tuck who says he sees a lot of potential consolidation in the energy data management space this year, and he sees companies going big or going home. What do you think?

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The demo home will be in Mountain View, Calif., and Tendril’s software will be able to connect the electric car with the devices and appliances in the home as well as a solar panel, a local battery and the utility’s back office. The Tendril software can make sure that the charging of the electric car is managed for the utility so that it doesn’t overload the grid and is also managed for the car owner, so it can charge at off-peak lower rates.

It is not a commercial-scale deal by any means, but the news shows Tendril’s ambition to provide the analytics and software to connect all energy-consuming devices, including the EV. After initially looking to provide hardware and energy dashboards for utility smart grid projects, Tendril has now developed an expansive software layer and an open API that other developers can use to launch new energy services. Tendril says it has licensed its software to 35 customers, including appliance makers like Whirlpool and Siemens Energy.

In the summer of 2011 Tendril also scored Siemens as an investor. Other investors in Tendril include VantagePoint Venture Partners, Good Energies and RRE Ventures. Back in 2010, Tendril bought up behavioral analytics company Grounded Power.

We will give you more information from the DistribuTECH conference this week!

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• Ups and downs for cleantech in Q1
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• Key technologies for the smart city

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

• Ups and downs for cleantech in Q1
• A near-term outlook for big data
• Big data meets the smart grid