My Energy Xpert: a home and small business energy management solution by energyX Solutions

Congratulations on making the semi-finals!

Could you explain more about how this is done?

“ It does this in an average of 15 minutes for less than 1/10th the cost of conventional energy scans and audits currently available.”

Could you compare it to a home audit (subsidized and not subsidized); and for commercial applications could you compare it to First Fuel or Ecova? And Essess?

How much does the IoT device cost?

Perhaps you want to look at Nest and the fit with energy efficiency and demand response program?

Perhaps you want to compare look at this smart grid trial:

http://www.masslive.com/news/worcester/index.ssf/2015/01/worcester_smart_grid_up_and_r.html

https://www9.nationalgridus.com/aboutus/a3-1_news2.asp?document=7693

“Schedule all of the installations / retrofits via a network of recommended fulfillment partners.”

Is this done through existing programs like MassSave, or Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HpwES)/Green Jobs Green New York etc.?

What are the gamification and social sharing components? How important are they to the solution. I believe other gamification solutions have not been very successful.

“In effect, they are caught by a mandate to act on conservation initiatives without the competencies or resources to effectively deliver such programs at scale.”

Agreed that this is challenging for utilities; but is your business model to sell to them to implement the conservation programs? Will this solution be subsidized or will customers pay full price?

Thanks everyone for the comments!

Some great points have been raised, and I think we responded to many of them when we updated our proposal after the semi-finals.

That being said, we did want to respond to a few points here simply because they were so salient.  We hope the following helps to clarify our mission, strategy, and tactics.  

How does My EnergyXpert work?

When someone uses our platform, they work through a series of very simple questions that help us to collect critical data about how energy is being consumed in their building.  These questions are always phrased in simple, common terms so you don’t have to be an expert to enter your building’s information.  People are encouraged to complete the process because they see their potential savings, in terms of dollars and cents, increasing with every response.  This keeps consumers engaged and reduces dropout rates.  That being said, consumers are free to provide as little information as they like and results will still be calculated as long as a threshold of data is reached.  We typically find that consumers return to My EnergyXpert to update their information after seeing the initial results in order to improve the overall accuracy of their recommendations.    

What makes My EnergyXpert so fast is that our algorithm combines these simple inputs with data from our categorization models running on the backend; as well as, any inputs that can be automatically imported such as utility energy consumption and weather data.  As opposed to having to collect each and every piece of data manually, My EnergyXpert uses targeted, yet simple, questions to complete a building profile that delivers customized and accurate results.    

How does My EnergyXpert compare to other tools in the market?

My EnergyXpert provides a customized building assessment for residential and small commercial buildings.  Similar assessments retail for hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars and many regions are now implementing subsidy programs to reduce these costs for consumers.  My EnergyXpert delivers equally compelling results at a cost so low, currently about $50, that these subsidy programs are no longer necessary.  That being said, we’ve worked on pilot projects were subsidies would completely reimburse the consumer for the cost of the assessment.  Similarly, as we work with business partners to roll out My EnergyXpert to their customers, businesses often choose to offset or completely cover the cost of assessment per customer.

My EnergyXpert is certainly comparable to commercial energy technology products offered by FirstFuel, Ecova, and Essess; and we believe that we share an important common goal with these companies: to help more people realize their sustainability ambitions in a simple, cost effective manner.

My EnergyXpert differs from these tools in a few key ways.  

Collecting user input

In addition to aggregating data that is already available and making it usable and compelling for consumers, we work hard to collect information directly from consumers as well.   These consumer insights make our recommendations more customized to each consumer’s interests, aspirations, and concerns.  This focus on remaining customer-centric, allows us to use available data in a way that still feels personalized and keeps the consumer firmly in the driver’s seat of which building upgrades are suggested and how they can create a personal building improvement plan accordingly.

Focus on structural building improvements

We focus on helping consumers prioritize and take action on implementing structural building improvements.  For example, we believe that retrofitting lights with efficient LEDs delivers long-term, bankable results that are of a higher value than behavioral changes, such as frequent reminders to turn off the lights.

We also don’t currently advocate switching energy providers to secure a lower tariff (i.e. energy supply management).  Although we’re happy to help consumers find utilities and retailers that match their values, our belief is that the cheapest, most sustainable energy is the energy you never use.  Our focus is 100% on building improvements that reduce energy consumption while also improving the building’s comfort and lowering the cost of operation.

Technology Agnostic

As a technology company, we aren’t married to any particular improvements, processes, or other aspects of the energy market.  Our only motivation is to help consumers save time and money as they take action to improve their building’s performance.  Whether that is accomplished through infrared scans, blower tests, HVAC optimization, and/or smart thermostats is totally up to the consumer.  As new technologies become available in the market, we can incorporate them into the My EnergyXpert assessment while seamlessly incorporating different cost structures and other benefits across a range of local markets.  Similarly, when we partner with other organizations, we can incorporate special programs and incentives that might be available only in niche markets.  

Meanwhile, consumers can always rest assured that our algorithm is taking their input into account when generating their custom results.  We’re not a sophisticated promotional device for specific products, and we pride ourselves on delivering accurate and customer-centric results that are scalable and adaptable across a wide range of markets.  

Along these lines, we are always happy to partner with implementation partners whenever possible.  This is true for both the roll out of My EnergyXpert and the fulfillment of building improvement plans.  The strategy here is invariably different for every market and every business partner we engage - but we can say that whenever an organization wants to assist small buildings with energy efficiency there is likely a synergy we can leverage.

I have project that might work with this.