Time to 'like' the energy internet

By Elisa Wood
October 19, 2011

We hear a lot about the upcoming democratization of energy. But with the average consumer thinking about energy only six minutes per year, it’s fair to wonder if anyone will show up to ‘vote.’

But this week an alliance that includes the intriguing combination of Opower and Facebook offers promise that this futuristic concept may not be so far off into the future.

The democratization of energy gives consumers the ability to take charge of their electricity production and use via new technologies, much the way they’ve gained control over information flow via the Internet. Think rooftop solar panels and plug-in electric vehicles, which together give you the ability to not only make your own energy, but also store it and sell it. Combine these technologies with smart meters, dynamic pricing, virtual net metering, solar gardens, home energy displays and Internet-enabled appliances and you have an electricity system that looks far different than today’s. Large energy producers and operators now control the electric grid, but a democratized grid distributes this control to the rest of us. You and I, in essence, become the power plant.

The democratization of energy, also called the energy internet, holds a lot of appeal in a world where we feel like victims of larger forces that control our economic fate. When oil prices spike, we helplessly take another financial hit.

The energy internet promises to help us be more energy efficient, save money, in some cases make money, and enjoy more comfort and automation in our homes.

However, so far, consumers haven’t shown much interest in taking charge of their energy use, even in fundamental ways. Perhaps this is because the concept of energy democratization seems remote and speculative – to those who think about it at all. I’m reminded of the nascent days of the Internet, when futurists made lofty claims that it would change banking, shopping and the workplace, and even revolutionize politics worldwide through an inexorable flow of information. At the time, most of us still saw the computer as little more than a difficult-to-use word processing machine.

Apple Computer changed that by making the computer more user-friendly. Opower (andsimilar companies) is the Apple of the energy internet, in that it’s figuring out ways to give energy efficiency technologies consumer appeal. Opower does this by tapping into oursocial instincts and playing on our sense of community, camaraderie and even competition to incite us to pursue energy efficiency in our homes.

But the work is being done community by community, so it’s slow going. So far Opower has sent its home energy report – a key ingredient of its method – to 3 million households. How to speed it up? That’s where Facebook comes into play, with its 800 million worldwide users all meeting and socializing in one big virtual spot.

Opower intends to use Facebook to set up friendly competitions among households. If yours is one of the 60 US utilities that already partners with Opower, you’ll be able to download your home’s actual energy use from Facebook, compare it against similar households and chart your progress with regular updates from your utility. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the third leg of the partnership, will provide environmental information.

Opower envisions social networking groups and communities forming around their new energy knowledge. These groups could have a significant impact on the success or defeat of energy efficiency products and businesses. Think about how fast video gets passed around Facebook of cats doing cute things. That could instead be word of a hot, new energy product. Or conversely news could go viral of the light bulb that burns out too quickly or the appliance that fails to live up to its promise. Energy efficiency companies will need to be on their toes.

The partnership plans to launch the new venture early next year in the Chicago area through Commonwealth Edison. It’s fair to assume that many will ‘like’ it.

Elisa Wood’s Facebook page is Energy Efficiency Insights. Please ‘like’ it.

Smart Grid needs a Facebook

By Elisa Wood
We think we know how smart grid technology will change the utility industry. But do we really?

Take a look at this documentary made in 1969. It’s a view of how the world perceived the coming Internet (It’s also a pretty amusing look at how sexist our society still was at that point.) http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/04/before-the-internet.html.

While the film gets some concepts right, like online banking, it misses the Internet’s most world-changing benefit, the democratization of information — the production, distribution and consumption of data by everyday us, free from gatekeepers.

The film also misses the pizzazz and the fun of the coming Internet. There is no You Tube, no Google, no Wikipedia. And look at the kids. They are playing with physical toys. Why isn’t the Mom yelling at them for being on Facebook all day?

The Internet’s emergence – and our misunderstanding of what it would become – may provide hints about the future of smart grid. After all, many parallels exist between the two.
The Internet offered up democratization of information; smart grid promises democratization of electricity, giving consumers the ability to control at their fingertips power production, distribution and consumption. Indeed, if smart grid’s vision plays out to its fullest, you in essence become the power plant. Your in-home generators produce power that is stored by your plug-in electric vehicle, and your home computer controls the electricity distribution. The end game is energy savings and lower costs.

Some argue that the smart grid revolution will have a more profound impact on how we live than did the Internet. The megawatt, after all, is more powerful then the megabyte. Without the megawatt, the megabyte could not be.

Forty- years ago we had a pretty bland vision of the coming Internet. Had we been worried then about getting people to use the Internet – the way we now worry about getting them to use smart grid devices — we probably would have plumbed the depths of behavioral psychology for strategies. We would have asked: Can we get people to use the Internet if we show them that their neighbors do? How about if we demonstrate to them how much money the Internet will save them? Will they shop on the Internet if we explain to them it is better for the environment than driving to the store?

And, of course, all of that hand-wringing would have been a waste of time. What did it take to get people to use the Internet? Some really smart kids in dorm rooms with bright ideas: Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg and the like.

The electric power industry needs its own crop of dorm room geniuses that will find ways to make the smart grid irresistible to the consumer. If they emerge, maybe the next generation of parents will be lecturing their kids to get off the kilowatt zapper and go outside and play. After all, you can’t spend your whole day eking energy savings from the house.

Elisa Wood is co-author of “Energy Efficiency Incentives for Businesses 2010: Eastern States,” available at www.realenergywriters.com.