Tendril Continues to Build the Energy Ecosystem That Enables the Smart Grid

Tendril Continues to Build the Energy Ecosystem That Enables the Smart Grid
DENVER --(Business Wire)-- Tendril, creator of the Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE) for utilities, energy retailers and their consumers, today announced significant momentum in its customer and partner ecosystem that is helping fuel adoption of the smart grid. Wide support for Tendril's open, extensible home energy management platform and utility facing solutions combined with its commitment to affect real change in consumers' energy consumption habits is evidenced by the company's numerous milestones and achievements this year. A quick snapshot shows that Tendril: Is actively engaged with more than 30 utility partners to define their energy management and demand response programs Signed a joint development agreement with GE to combine and network GE's demand response appliances with the TREE Platform Secured $30 Million in Series C funding, which allows the company to scale to meet increased demand for its TREE Platform as utilities move into pilot and rollout phases CEO Adrian Tuck was invited to the White House by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu to kick-off the creation of a set of national standards that will allow the smart grid to become reality Was selected by leading publications and industry associations as innovators in the smart energy space, including: BusinessWeek's 25 Most Intriguing Energy Innovators MIT Tech Review's Top Private Company to Watch in the energy sector The Guardian's annual "Global Cleantech 100? Always On's Global 250 and Going Green 100 award lists CEO Adrian Tuck was invited to participate at a GE and Google energy efficiency event in Washington D.C.

Unveiled its mobile iPhone application for energy management "on-the-go" at Demo ‘09 Welcomed Governor Bill Ritter to an open house showcasing Tendril's growth and the strength of "green economy" in Colorado Proposed direct to consumer rebate programs as part of the DOE stimulus funding Announced the latest version of the TREE Platform, which includes multiple new features and added interoperability to further engage consumers and provide an extensive Demand Response (DR) platform for utilities and energy retailers Formalized the Tendril Partner Program, an open, dynamic community of technologies and service providers, which currently includes leading energy ecosystem vendors such as: GE; Intel; Itron; Silver Spring Networks; Landis + Gyr; Energate; Entek; Onzo; RCS Entered into a formal integration and reseller agreement with Itron that extends the reach of the TREE platform and provides seamless integration with OpenWay Began its global expansion by appointing Gilbert Shaw as vice president of global development and solidified its focus on utility partnerships by appointing Scott Durham as vice president of utility solutions Supporting Quotes "This has truly been an incredible year for Tendril. We are at the forefront of one of the most exciting technological advances of our time. While enabling the smart grid is a monumental task that will require many innovative technologies, the approach we are taking to provide an open, standards-based platform that connects it all together is proving to resonate with utilities, consumers and our growing network of partners." - Adrian Tuck, chief executive officer, Tendril "Through the Intel Open Energy Initiative, we're harnessing microprocessors in ways which enable smarter grids, and smart energy consumers. Consumers must be empowered with real-time, actionable information about their energy use, and the ability to manage their energy through a simple interface. Utilities require demand-side solutions that are based on proven technologies and open standards. Intel is excited to collaborate with Tendril, to help enable their home energy management solutions on a variety of open, Intel-based hardware devices and interfaces, providing choice for consumers and utilities alike." - Lorie Wigle, general manager, Eco-Technology Program Office, Intel "Through our collaboration with Tendril, which provides a seamless connection between GE's demand response appliances and the smart grid, consumers now have unprecedented access to information that will enable them to become more educated about their energy use and how to reduce it - without interrupting their lifestyles." - Kevin Nolan, vice president of technology, GE Consumer & Industrial "Ever increasing energy usage coupled with growing environmental concerns is driving a New Energy Economy that presents a huge opportunity for Colorado. It is exciting to see a Colorado-based company like Tendril at the forefront of innovation in this new economy and its unique consumer-centric technology platform has an important role to play in future energy efficiency programs in both Colorado and across the country." - Colorado Governor Bill Ritter "Energy efficiency has become a key part of UE's energy portfolio. Our customers have asked us to help them with their energy costs. Energy Efficiency programs like those enabled by Tendril technology, which help our customers control their energy usage and costs, can provide significant savings opportunities. More than this, these programs will help them manage their costs to address expected future cost increases as well." - Warner Baxter, president and chief executive officer, AmerenUE "Tendril offers a technology platform that promises to provide our customers with information that can help them make sound decisions about their energy consumption. Tendril's flexible technology was a good fit for our Bright Tucson project." - Denise Richerson-Smith, director of renewable and conservation programs, Tucson Electric Power "In designing our Smart Grid pilot program, we wanted to be able to provide customers with real-time energy usage information, while at the same time keeping costs down. Tendril presented us with a solution that helps us combine our existing infrastructure with advanced technology to help our customers become educated energy consumers." - Joan M. Soller, PE, senior regulatory analyst, Indianapolis Power & Light Company "Tendril is an important partner in our Smart Grid pilot program. Its platform allows us to provide customers with near real-time energy usage information, while at the same time keeping costs down by helping us combine our existing infrastructure with advanced technology. This combination will not only help our customers become educated energy consumers, it will also sustain our program as we expand it in the future." - Larry Gelbien, vice president of engineering, NSTAR "At Reliant Energy, working with our customers to better manage their energy costs and usage is a core business objective. Competition for electricity customers in Texas means we must continually deliver innovative new products. Our relationship with Tendril is helping us develop products that will complement Smart Grid functionality, enabling customers to make informed choices about their energy usage. Tendril's open, standards-based solutions play an important role in the innovation of products from Reliant Energy that will revolutionize the way consumers see and use energy." - Jason Few, president, Reliant Energy "Tendril provides an industry leading customer energy management solution based on IP standards that seamlessly integrates with the CURRENT Smart Grid network. We look forward to working with Tendril to implement innovative Smart Grid projects that maximize the efficiency of the electric distribution system and empower customers to be efficient in their electric usage." - Matt Dinsmore, senior vice president, corporate and product strategy, CURRENT Group Supporting Resources Tendril on the Web Tendril Blog See a Demo About Tendril Tendril enables true 21st century energy efficiency by establishing a dialogue between consumers and their energy providers. The Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE) is comprised of a comprehensive suite of energy management applications (like Demand Response, Energy Efficiency and Pricing) and a suite of in-home hardware (like thermostats, in-home displays and smart outlets) that are extended to consumers and utilities over an open and standards-based platform that guarantees secure, auditable transactions and enterprise-class communications. TREE is a consumer-centric ecosystem that is designed to integrate seamlessly with a Utility's or Energy Retailers' existing back office applications and network infrastructure allowing consumers and their energy companies to communicate, collaborate and create Smart Energy for Life™. Tendril is venture backed by VantagePoint Venture Partners, Good Energies, RRE Ventures, Vista Ventures and Appian Ventures. To see more, visit: www.tendrilinc.com.

Mobile Ecosystem Slowly Grows Around Home Energy

Mobile Ecosystem Slowly Grows Around Home Energy
Home energy management is still an early-adopter trend for most normal consumers, but as mobile operators and device makers get more involved in selling network access and special energy monitoring devices, the sector may hit the mainstream in a year or two. Several news items out of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), a mobile electronics show being held in Barcelona this week, indicate that 2011 or 2012 may be the tipping point—and the smartphone or tablet may be the controller that allows you to coordinate your thermostat with your life.
For example, chip company Texas Instruments announced on Feb. 14 a new Android software platform to help mobile developers create mobile devices with ZigBee connectivity. ZigBee is the dominant standards-based way to connect devices in the home, but to date, it's mostly been embraced by the power industry and utilities, instead of consumer electronics makers. There were only 100 certified ZigBee devices as of December 2010, but by creating a means to easily get Android devices to talk to ZigBee radios, all it takes to boost that number is getting the ZigBee radios inside Android devices and writing the apps that allow them to control home lights and air-conditioning.
The slow embrace of ZigBee by gadget and mobile phone makers has made room for the proprietary home wireless standard Z-Wave, which basically uses chips made by one vendor: Sigma Designs (SIGM), which acquired Z-Wave chipmaker Zensys in 2008. Both Verizon (VZ) and Motorola (MSI) have turned to Z-Wave as the first communications technology for their inaugural smart home efforts, because as Verizon execs John Valdez and Jack Eastman told me in an interview recently, Z-Wave is "more readily available" than working with the utility-embraced home wireless standard ZigBee.
As the mobile development ecosystem grows around ZigBee—and continues to mature around the home energy space—and more chipmakers and software companies launch ZigBee development tools, I expect ZigBee, which is an open standard, to surpass Z-Wave, a proprietary standard, in the home. The history of networking has taught us that an open standards-based approach tends to win out.

Mobile Developers for Energy

Both the smart energy home and the greater smart grid sector have been looking to recruit mobile developers lately. SmartSynch, a company built off of working with cellular operators for the smart grid, announced last month that it will leverage Qualcomm's (QCOM) Brew MP platform to develop smart grid apps in-house as well as welcome third-party developers. Those apps could run on the smart meter modules using Qualcomm's 3G chips that SmartSynch intends to have on the market later this year.
Both Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) have looked to work with third-party developers for their home energy software, and Google opened up its API for PowerMeter last year, though both these platforms appear to have limited success to date

from - http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2011/tc20110214_192835.htm

Ecosystem in Energy Carbon and Sustainability Management

By improving the ability to capture real-time energy data down to the device and circuit level, data center and facilities managers can gain insight into power consumption trends, hot spots, and potential areas to focus on for improvement.
CA ecoSoftware helps organizations to consolidate the flow of energy-related information from a wide range of sources into a single repository, using standard networking protocols to collect data from devices. With the Opto 22 SNAP-IT Rack with Brain, companies can also monitor legacy devices and systems that do not support standard modern protocols, facilitating a technology-agnostic approach to energy management.
For additional insight into energy utilization, TrendPoint’s EnerSure® collects data from various electrical energy sources. EnerSure devices are certified with CA ecoSoftware, helping customers facilitate intelligent trending, capacity planning and alerting.

Smart Energy Reference Architecture

Smart Energy Reference Architecture

Microsoft has developed a reference architecture based on familiar, cost-effective Microsoft platforms that can serve as the basis for development of the “integrated utility of the future.”

 

The Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA) is Microsoft’s first comprehensive reference architecture that addresses technology integration throughout the full scope of the smart energy ecosystem. The Microsoft SERA helps utilities by providing a method of testing the alignment of information technology with their business processes to create an integrated utility. This is the second utility offering to be released from Microsoft in four months, following the announcement of Microsoft Hohm, an online application developed to enhance the experience of utilities’ customers and provide further insight into the supply and demand of residential energy use.

 

As utilities attempt to develop new projects that are funded by national smart grid stimulus programs, they will need sound, tested technologies that help them proceed. Using Microsoft and industry partners’ technologies, utilities will be able to implement solutions faster and more reliably than they could with solutions offered by competitors.

 

The Microsoft SERA has been endorsed by a number of global solutions providers whose energy industry solutions span the entire energy ecosystem — from the power grid to the home. Microsoft Gold Certified Partners supporting SERA include Accenture, Alstom Power, AREVA, ESRI, Itron Inc. and OSIsoft Inc.

 

Significantly, Microsoft has been working closely with key power industry partners to ensure that SERA addresses power utilities’ IT infrastructure needs. Alstom Power, for example, has demonstrated its commitment to Microsoft by fully embracing SERA and sees this move as the first step in providing solutions for the new challenge raised by smart grids.

 

“Alstom has established a long-term relationship with Microsoft in order to provide cost-efficient, scalable architectures for electrical producers like solar, hydro, wind, coal, steam or nuclear power plants,” said Laurent Demortier, senior vice president of Alstom Power’s Energy Management Business. “This Microsoft reference architecture accelerates solution development to enable developers to provide enhanced, more cost-effective, secure and scalable solutions.”

 

Customers such as Fujairah F2 O&M Company Ltd. are seeing the benefits of solutions built according to an architecture that provides the alignment of IT with their business processes. “Developing a quality ALSPA Series DCS system for such a large and complex plant like ours is not that easy, and the Alstom team has responded to that great challenge in an exceptional manner,” said Soloman Premline Prince, production manager, Fujairah F2 O&M Company.

 

“Utility industry executives who are concerned about changing their business models to ones that enable a smarter energy ecosystem will view Microsoft as a partner of choice because of its current strengths within their technology regimes as well as our solutions’ adaptability to future, sometimes unknown, conditions and business environment needs,” said Larry Cochrane, Worldwide Utilities Industry technology strategist/architect, Microsoft. “The Microsoft Smart Energy Reference Architecture represents our continuing commitment to our utility industry customers and our holistic vision of how the smart grid fits into the much larger energy ecosystem that’s evolving daily.”

 

The Microsoft SERA for the smart energy ecosystem will help create a world where thousands of smart devices can seamlessly plug into the grid thanks to common standards and interoperability frameworks, just as the plug-and-play model allows thousands of devices to seamlessly plug into PCs today.

 

Consequently, utility industry systems integrators such as Accenture are leading proponents of the Microsoft SERA for smart grids.

 

“Microsoft’s reference architecture provides an end-to-end solution that can position utilities to take operational performance and customer response to a higher level,” said Greg Guthridge, utilities customer service practice lead at Accenture. “Their integrated architecture leverages proven Microsoft platforms to support new smart processes and customer support capabilities. Innovative solutions, especially in the area of visualization and analytics, support important new capabilities in a smart-enabled energy services organization.”

 

As a result, the grid and the broader energy ecosystem can achieve the vision of becoming smarter as companies inject Microsoft and industry partners’ software into the various control points in the power system, so that households and businesses have ready access to timely, user-friendly information that eventually can help them make more rational choices about their energy use.

 

The Microsoft SERA provides a road map for utilities to help identify and solve the integration issues facing grid and energy ecosystem advancement. It also empowers users to drive improvements in real time, as well as to accelerate continuous improvement over time.

from - http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/industry/power-utilities/solutions/smart-energy-reference-architecture.aspx

LightsOn: YOUR SMARTER ENERGY ECOSYSTEM

Starting the Journey to Successful Smart Grid Development

By: Larry Cochrane, Microsoft Corporation and Scott Neumann, Utility Integration Solutions

Desire for energy independence and cleaner energy sources along with the growing interest in climate change are driving a fundamental shift toward the use of smart technologies such as meters. At the same time, smart technology brings on numerous first-time issues for utilities. How do utilities interact with customers as they become active participants within this ecosys­tem? How will utilities and customers take advantage of capabilities service providers offer? How do they use and secure the exploding volumes of data? These issues will continue to grow.

Utilities face three main challenges:

1) successfully completing smart grid initiatives;

2) taking advantage of new opportunities a smart energy ecosystem enables; and 3) doing it all while still keeping the lights on.

Achieving all three is not an easy task. For most utilities, it means simultaneously deploying smart meters and launch­ing programs such as demand response, tiered pricing and price sensitive load response without wavering on reliabil­ity. They also have to determine each program’s effective­ness and profitability. While utilities may have programs in place and are progressing faster on the commercial and industrial side, achieving the depths required for the con­sumer side is more complex. No single utility or industry solution provider can achieve all three without help.

Integration is the key to smart grid success. By integra­tion, we mean connecting business processes, data, soft­ware and human interaction. This connectivity must take place across the entire smart energy ecosystem – from generation to transmission, across to distribution and all the way to consumption.

Demand response extends to wholesale markets

Integration of the retail segment with wholesale markets will be significant. If time-varying retail electricity prices are not directly linked to real-time wholesale prices, then retail consum­ers will not react to the right signals. According to Stu Bresler, vice presi­dent of market operations and demand resources for PJM Interconnection, one of PJM’s roles as a regional trans­mission organization is ensuring that wholesale prices are transparent, sta­ble and rational. “Price transparency is key so that time-varying retail rates use real-time wholesale prices to stimulate retail customers’ responses in a way that’s consistent with grid conditions,” Bresler said.

To do this, PJM works continuously with its members, other stakehold­ers, federal regulators and state util­ity commissions to ensure wholesale market rules efficiently facilitate competition and wholesale prices accurately reflect supply and demand balance. “Connectivity and automa­tion allows us to integrate more types of generation and storage while main­taining reliability and price stability,” he said.

PJM Interconnection also recently completed one of the largest and most sophisticated demand response software system deployments in the world for its wholesale electricity markets. The new system expands its demand-side resources and improves demand-side operational efficiency by linking and automating whole­sale powermarket transactions that involve PJM, utilities and demand response curtailment service providers

from- http://www.electricenergyonline.com/?page=show_article&mag=65&article=508

energy ecosystem business Energy and Ecology Business

Energy & Ecology Business focuses on the companies pioneering renewable energy systems, conservation and alternative energy sources.

Published weekly, each issue of Energy & Ecology Business has more than 75 articles that energy and ecology business news.


Each article, usually no more than 500 words, is written to be an information-heavy, concise report of the pertinent facts, together with full references and citations. You get a fast, user- friendly read that keeps you on top of all the important developments

from - http://www.verticalnews.com/premium_newsletters/Energy-and-Ecology-Business.html

energy ecosystem business Partner Ecosystems Economies

from -http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/growing-channels-business-by-stimulating-the-business-partner-ecosystems-economies-3602895.html

Vendor/Distributor ecosystem action plan
Vendor and Distributor Ecosystem Action Plans tend to be more strategic than the plans of Partners, rather than relying on this quarter ecosystem investments to pay off this quarter, successful vendor and distributors emphasize investments this quarter that will impact subsequent quarters and subsequent fiscal years.
It is clearly important for vendors and distributors to understand the Partner Ecosystem Action Plan, but the issues are different and the questions that need to be asked, and answered, are also different. The Vendor and Distributor Ecosystem Action Plan has six steps: 1 Economy audit, 2 Ecosystem audit, 3 Plan development, 4 Support structure creation, 5 Plan communication/execution and 6 Execute/Review.
Step 1 - Economy audit
Vendors and Distributors have whole economies that grow up and evolve around the sales / service / support / training / consulting around their products. For example, IBM and Microsoft products result in vast amounts of economic activity several times as large as the revenue generated by either IBM or
Microsoft. Just consider the size and complexity of the economy that has grown up around Apple's iPod.
The multiple ecosystems in the iPod economy dwarf the total iPods sales revenues. For this reason, it is important for vendors and distributors to first think about the economy that has risen up around them, and then to focus on the various ecosystems that make up the economy.
Because an economy is made up of ecosystems, the environmental understanding for a Vendor or a Distributor needs to focus on the economy and the ecosystem. The Economy Audit is made up of sixteen questions or avenues of inquiry.
1. How large is the economy that has developed around your company's offering?

2. Which vendors and distributors are partnering with whom in the economy that you have created?

3.Which vendors and distributors are influencing the economy that you participate in?

4. Where and how can you have the biggest impacts on your economy?

5. What other vendors and distributors should you be working with based on their share of mind/share of wallet in the economy around your company?

6. What resources do you need or could you acquire from the participants in your economy to help you make your business plan?

7. What characteristics will suitable vendors, distributors and channel partners for inclusion in your economy have?

8. How will you go about finding and engaging with suitable partners to assist your business plan?

9. Who in your organization is responsible for comprehending the economy that you work in and the ecosystems that make up the economy?

10. how many ecosystems make up your economy?

11. Which ecosystems are the most strategically relevant ecosystems to your economy?

12. How do the composition of your relevant ecosystems differ from each other?

13. Who is "calling the shots" in our relevant ecosystems (if not you, then who . . .)?

14. How can you make the biggest impact on your relevant ecosystem?

15. Which vendors and distributors should you align with in each relevant ecosystem?

16. What resources do you require in each relevant ecosystem?
Step 2 - Ecosystem audit
The ecosystem is a subset of the economy that has built up around your company. The vendor/distributor ecosystem audit is made up of ten avenues of inquiry. The analysis laid out below should be executed for each currently strategically relevant ecosystem. In addition, it may be valuable to understand those ecosystems deemed to be likely or potentially relevant in the next two to five years.
1. Where are the leverage and control points within the ecosystem that reach between your organization and the ultimate end-customer?

2. Who is partnering with whom?

3. What is the composition of the ecosystem for each key customer segment?

4. Who is influencing whom? Who are the key players/leaders in the ecosystem? Where is the product/service/solution decision "really" being made?

5. What is the flow of revenue, e.g., where is the product/service/solution purchase actually being made?

6. How does this differ by customer segments, solution types and purchase occasions?

7. What is your company's penetration in terms of number/type of partner relationships (share of influence) within these strategically relevant ecosystems? What is our competitors' penetration? How should your partner portfolio be modified to effectively penetrate these strategically relevant ecosystems?

8. How significant is your organization to the partners within the ecosystem? How likely are you to be recommended? (Why/why not?) How can you become more significant to these partners?

9. Where can your organization make the biggest impact in these strategically relevant ecosystems in terms of influence over the product/service/solution?

purchase decisions (who/how)? Where should your organization's marketing and program dollars optimally be spent (specific partners and programs)?

10. What is the business proposition for each of the partners within the ecosystem chain? What messages do you need to convey to encourage your partners to invest in your brand? What programs, incentives and compensation packages would be most attractive?
Step 3 - Plan development
Based on completion of Steps 1 and 2, you will have enough information to develop a plan of action. Critical strategic issues around your plan include: strategic objectives to be met - what are you doing, and why? short term versus longer term objectives direct investment versus indirect investment approach make vs. buy - can you buy your way in?
It will be crucial to understand specific components of your economy and the ecosystems that make up your economy. Your plan should address the following issues: economy size, economy relationships, influence structure of economy, impact points in the economy, desirable partners to work with, required resources to meet plans, characteristics of appropriate partners, how many ecosystems,
what ecosystems are strategically relevant, influence structure of strategically relevant ecosystems, impact points in the strategically relevant ecosystems who to align with and required resources.
Step 4 - Support structure creation
The size and complexity of a vendor and distributor organization's makes the creation of appropriate support structures for an economy/ecosystem initiative difficult. Economy and ecosystem development and stimulation projects cross industry, business unit, product and geographic lines.
Ecosystems do not always line up the way the organization structures of vendors and distributors line up. In fact, the viewing of your organization's economy and its ecosystems from the perspective of how you happen to be structured and organized this year tends to result in inaccurate assessment of the problems and opportunities that exist.
The creation of appropriate support structure requires a senior management vision and commitment to the strategic approach of building economies and ecosystems. In addition, it requires a willingness to make investments in the process as if the creation of a vibrant, flourishing ecosystem was the creation
of a corporate asset. What this means is that successful programs do not start and stop based on quarterly ups and downs.
Step 5 - Plan communication/execution
What is extremely clear is that not everyone who works for vendors and distributors "gets" the economy/ecosystem discussion that has gone on in this document. Like anything else-a small group of people in your organization understand most of what is going on. The rest may have awareness of, but not a great deal of knowledge about ecosystems and channels.
It is my experience that when more people in your organization have knowledge about your economy/ecosystem stimulation plans and programs, the more likely successful implementation will be. It appears that this strategy, especially when first introduced, benefits from being heavily communicated and "educated in" to the organization to accelerate its diffusion and acceptance.
Step 6 - Execute/review
Realistic perspectives on how long any ecosystem stimulation plan is going to take to show results is critical. The following figure gives some insights into what you can expect. Reinforcing that investment always leads return; incremental expenses always lead incremental revenues is also important.
Call to action
If you are a Partner, we encourage you to begin thinking about a Partner Ecosystem Action Plan for 2008. Start by doing an Ecosystem Audit. Get your people thinking about ecosystems. Involve your vendors and distributors. Find out what they are doing in the area of ecosystem stimulation. If you are a Player, Coach, Influencer or Supplier in a Vendor or Distributor, find out what your organization is doing in the areas of economies and ecosystems.
As Players and Coaches, you may need to identify who the key partners are that your Partners need to work with. Ask your Partners what they are doing to stimulate they ecosystem. As Influencers and Suppliers, your task is to add knowledge of economies and ecosystems to what you know about the environment in which your programs operate. Your job is to understand that high rates of "connectedness" are related to high rates of partner growth. More specifically, your job is to make growth happen for your partners by stimulating the economies and ecosystems that your company is part of

Tendril Launches Energy Management Ecosystem

Gadget geeks can now manage the energy consumption of their home and gizmos with a new set of tech toys from energy management startup Tendril. Tendril’s suite of hardware and software, called the Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE), records your home’s electricity use and tracks individual appliances, all of which is viewable through the startup’s web portal. The startup says their system allows two-way communication in real time between an energy provider and the consumer.



The system includes an energy display, wall-plugs to manage individual appliances, a smart thermostat and a web site where users can track their use. The entire system is pulled together  a ZigBee network.
There are a number of energy startups working on similar services and devices. Tendril’s TREE represents one of the more sophisticated consumer-facing energy dashboards we’ve seen. The communication between the consumer and energy provider can help deliver a lot of transparency for the consumer’s energy bill.
The startup is located in Boulder, Colo. and raised $12 million in series B funding earlier this year from RRE Ventures, Vista Ventures, Access Venture Partners and Appian Ventures

energy ecosystem business

Power generation company NRG Energy is launching the comprehensive electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem in Houston, the start of a roll-out across Texas in 2011.
Under the brand name eVgo, NRG will provide electric vehicle owners throughout the greater Houston area with an extremely convenient and affordable home-and-away fueling package.
In addition to procuring and installing the EV home charging station itself, NRG also will install and maintain public fast charging stations conveniently located along major freeways, in key shopping and business districts, at popular retailers, and in multi-family community and workplace parking areas across Harris County.



NRG said that its eVgo offers access to these facilities and services to EV drivers for a flat monthly fee making EV charging simple, predictable and hassle-free. eVgo will be an unlimited miles package, offering unprecedented mobility at a fixed price for Houston-area EV drivers.
NRG plans to invest more than $10m in Houston’s public charging station infrastructure and will be the first company to equip an entire major market with the privately funded infrastructure needed for successful EV adoption and integration.
The company is ready to expand these services across Texas as early adoption of electric vehicles grows and spreads in the State that leads the nation in energy innovation and deployment.
The eVgo network starts with the installation of the service station of the future, a Level 2 home charger, at the new EV owner’s home. The Level 2 charger can deliver up to 25 miles per charging hour, allowing consumers to fully charge their vehicles overnight while they sleep.
NRG is also working with retailers to install eVgo Convenience Stations to provide Level 2 charging during the retail host’s store hours. NRG simplifies installation through turnkey hosting programs, making it easy for Houston retailers to provide these stations for their customers’ benefit.
David Crane, president and CEO of NRG Energy, said: “The new age of personal transportation begins here in Houston with a new wave of exciting plug-in electric vehicles fueled by NRG. We are committed to ensure that electric vehicle ownership is fun, affordable and ultra-convenient and that EV owners feel 100 percent comfortable driving their plug-in car anywhere in the greater Houston area, secure in the knowledge that a fast charger is never more than a few miles away.”
Will the launch benefit Houston EV owners?
Have your say and discuss with your peers on the InfoGrok community.
Participate by posting your comments now

from - http://www.infogrok.com/