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.
A startup selling a service that controls consumers’ smart thermostats for utilities has scored a deal for its service to be mass deployed throughout Las Vegas.
Deregulated energy markets, with companies competing with one another for customers, could be great places to test how technologies and services engage customers. Whether that will lead to energy savings is less clear, however.
For the first time, power company NRG Energy and its utility Reliant Energy are making a showing at the massive gadget love-fest CES. Why? As Reliant Energy President Jason Few told me, this is the beginning of the “digitization of the power grid.”
NRG looks to be trying out a vertical green energy play from generation to consumer, combining its fossil-fuel-based electricity, its wind and solar power, and it’s green consumer strategy. Will it work?
Texas is one of the few electricity markets that is competitive. That means it’s ripe for a revolution, which Jason Few, the President of Texas energy retailer Reliant Energy, says will be focused on innovation and selling “quality of life, not kilowatt hours.”
The idea of the Internet-enabled home appliance has been around since the heady days of the dotcom boom, when LG introduced its DIOS refrigerator and Sun Microsystem’s Scott McNealy paired a tablet PC with a Whirlpool fridge. [digg=http://digg.com/gadgets/How_Internet_Enabled_Appliances_Can_Save_You_Time_Money]
But LG’s “market leader,” which sold for $10,000, is no longer being made, while similar products from the likes of Samsung never even saw the light of day. Such devices have yet to become ubiquitous in the home because, well, who really needs the Internet on their fridge? Surprisingly, the answer just might be: you. Read More about How Internet-Enabled Appliances Can Save You Time & Money
