opower

Facebook friends compete to lower energy use

Social media has officially come to energy efficiency.

Opower today announced the availability of a Facebook application that lets people track electricity use and communicate with friends around home energy. People can set up different groups of friends and compare themselves to similar homes or the most efficient homes.

Sixteen utilities in the U.S. (see list here) are participating in a program which feeds utility bill information directly into Facebook, allowing a person to see total kilowatt-hour usage. Others will need to manually input monthly energy data to compare to regional average and participating friends.

The information sharing is … Read more

Facebook 'social energy' app compares home efficiency

After finding out what your friends did over the weekend, you'll be able to see how they're doing reducing their home energy use.

Facebook, Opower, and environmental advocacy group the Natural Resources Defense Council today announced a "social energy" application designed to raise awareness of energy use and encourage efficiency.

The Opower-developed application, which will be available early next year through Facebook's Green page, will let people compare how their energy usage compares to the national average and to other people who participate. To build a profile, people input their electric utility information in either … Read more

Smart thermostats to get smart cloud software

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The gateway to controlling home energy--the thermostat--is joining the Internet in the name of better and more customized energy efficiency.

Thermostat maker Honeywell today announced a partnership to develop a product platform with Opower, which provides customized home energy efficiency recommendations by analyzing home energy patterns.

Products from the collaboration will be ready for testing with utilities in the next few months, according to representatives from the company. The deal was announced at the GridWeek conference here.

The companies were cagey on precise details about the product, but said it will combine Opower's energy efficiency recommendation … Read more

Study: Meter data's impact depends on collective use

Americans who receive meter data on their home energy use reduce consumption on average by 1.8 percent after the first year.

That's according to a study of 750,000 households of varied demographics in six states conducted by energy-management software company Opower and sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The study followed homes enrolled in various utility programs that provided home usage data via Web portal, text, or paper reports mailed to consumers' homes.

The figure may not sound like much. But if every home in the U.S. reduced energy consumption by 1.8 percent, nationwide … Read more

Home efficiency gurus at OPower add $50 million

OPower, a company that offers home energy efficiency recommendations to consumers through utilities, has brought in $50 million in venture capital.

The Arlington, Va.-based company said yesterday that the round was led by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Accel Partners, with existing investor New Enterprise Associates also participating. Since its founding in 2007, OPower has raised $65.5 million.

With the money, OPower plans to hire more people and build out its Web-based software system to introduce more features to consumers and utilities next year, said CEO Dan Yates.

There have been dozens of companies trying to build … Read more

OPower looks to add human touch to smart grid

OPower's task in the world is to make boring energy information interesting.

The Arlington, Va.-based start-up has developed a software system that analyzes years of utility data and provides recommendations to consumers on how to shave their bills. Next month, utility ComEd will install an updated version of the system to about 120,000 customers who are receiving smart meters.

There are dozens of companies vying for a piece of business in home energy efficiency and the smart grid. Although not totally unique, OPower's approach stands out in that it combines analytical software with expertise in behavioral … Read more