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  GreenBeat: Google’s Lu, OPower’s Yates join the program
Reported by VentureBeat on Wednesday, 18 November 2009 (on November 18, 2009)
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There’s one day to go before GreenBeat 2009 takes off, and we’re still adding Smart Grid experts to the agenda. Rounding out the program, we have Google PowerMeter engineer (and former astronaut!) Ed Lu, and OPower CEO Dan Yates, each adding their own brand of expertise to the conversation on consumer-facing energy management solutions: What will change consumer behavior? What do people really want to know about their energy use? Hear answers to these questions and more.
Now is your last to register for GreenBeat 2009. Buy your ticket today here!
Lu and Yates join an all-star lineup of speakers headlined by Al Gore and John Doerr, as well as big names from Cisco, PG&E, and the venture community. Their companies represent two approaches to a similar end: detailed reporting of residential energy consumption, empowering consumers to change their behavior, slicing both their power use and utility bills.
Google is partnering with nine utilities to roll out PowerMeter, a user-friendly widget that sits on your iGoogle interface, presenting energy use data drawn directly from smart meters or devices made by companies like AlertMe. OPower, formerly Positive Energy relaunched October and is working with 21 utilities, but is using a different algorithm to compare users’ home energy use with their peers’ and to make conservation recommendations (similar to Microsoft Hohm).
Both companies are pushing their brands in an increasingly crowded market. Companies like OpenPeak, Gridpoint, EnergyHub, Tendril, People Power, etc. are all vying for a slice of the home energy management pie. There probably won’t be room for all of them. Google, buoyed by name recognition and the company’s billions, probably feels pretty secure. But will PowerMeter be compelling enough to capture market share? As a startup somewhat late to the game, will OPower be able to distinguish itself enough from the pack to survive long-term, or will it turn into acquisition bait? These are some of the topics we hope to broach at GreenBeat.
Lu and Yates are ideal emissaries from these companies.
As program manager in advanced projects at Google, Lu leads a team of engineers working on PowerMeter. Ultimately, people using the free tool will be able to remotely view and even control their home energy consumption from their internet browsers and mobile phones, he says. Before arriving at Google, Lu was a NASA astronaut for more than a decade, manning two space shuttle missions and spending six months aboard the International Space Station. His degrees in electrical engineering and applied physics no doubt helped him in both phases of his career.
Yates not only heads up OPower, he also founded it — something he has considerable experience with. Previously, he founded and led Edusoft, an educational software producer that sold for $20 million to Houghton Mifflin. He decided to dedicate his career to environmental sustainability following a year-long trip that took him from Alaska to the southernmost tip of the U.S.
Kerry Dolan, senior editor at Forbes magazine, has also joined the program as moderator of the International Smart Grid panel. Based in the Silicon Valley, bureau, she covers technology, biotech and related international business. She ran the magazine’s annual list of world billionaires for five years.
We’d also like to acknowledge our strategic partners: Vantage Communications, DEMO, Matter Network, and Fora.TV; and our sponsors: Accenture, Southern California Edison, Accel Partners, Mayfield Fund, Oracle Utilities, Schwartz Communications, Cisco Systems, CPower, CSC, S&C Electric Company, and KPMG.
VentureBeat is hosting GreenBeat, the seminal executive conference on the Smart Grid, on Nov. 18-19, featuring keynotes from Nobel Prize winner Al Gore and Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr. Register for your ticket today at GreenBeat2009.com.
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