Hmm...a 3 month break?

Yep, I am ashamed to acknowledge that I have not written a new blog post for over 3 months. Following on the last post about software for the solar space, I've started a new company, SolarNexus. We're still in stealth mode, but our mission is to reduce the cost and complexity faced by solar installers, and in so doing, accelerate the adoption of solar energy. Installers are buried under a mound of paperwork -- see this recent article on Greentech Media and this video from SolarDave.

This new effort is taking all of my time, so the blog will likely be a side project. Please let me know if you have interesting suggestions for topics for future posts.

Solar Software

For the most part, the solar energy industry consists of manufacturers of hardware components -- cells, modules, inverters, etc. -- and the innovations being pursued like concentrating photovoltaic or thin-film nanotechnology don't lend themselves to much of an interesting software component. However, I have found some software products in the space, mostly serving the installers/integrators, providing assistance to them in one of several steps in the estimating/designing/managing/permitting process.

Here are the ones I've found:

• CPF Tools from CleanPowerFinance is a slick, web-based toolset for installers to use to manage their leads, design systems, and create proposals for customers. It includes a significant database of CEC/CSI-approved equipment to draw on for creating quotes, which include a wide range of detailed financial and environmental reports. CPF is primarily a solar finance company, but they acquired this software from Energy Matters in 2007 (it was called Solar Pro Tools). The company leverages its direct consumer finance business by providing qualified leads to installers using their software (leads are automatically populated in the system).
• Quick Quotes from Clean Power Research is a more focused product, providing quotes/proposals with a lot of detailed financial information and graphs, highlighting energy savings in various ways. They provide packages for an individual installer, a small group, or a larger company. CPR is the developer of the PowerClerk system that is used by the California Solar Initiative to track all the solar projects in the state.
• OnGrid Solar Financial Analysis Tool is a leading solar project estimator and proposal generator, although this one is Excel based.
• SunEye from Solmetric is a really clever device that is used by most solar installers. It's a customized, GPS-enabled PDA with camera that an installer takes onto a roof, marking off the corners of a proposed solar installation and taking pictures of the skyline. The software then analyzes the information, determines the amount of sunshine/shade the panels would receive and provides detailed information that is critical to the proper assessment of the system's potential output.
• RoofRay provides a cool tool for consumers to assess the solar potential of their own homes or businesses. Google Map's satellite view is used to locate the building, and the user than draws out polygons representing potential panel locations. Once additional data is entered such as the pitch of the roof and orientation to the sun, as well as information on current electric usage patterns, the tool instantly provides an assessment of the output potential and generates graphs showing the savings of a solar installation. It's a nice, simple way for individuals to get an immediate sense about whether a solar system will be feasible.
• SolarPermits is working on a system to automate the process for solar permitting. Currently, solar installers have to deal with a different situation in every municipality where they have projects. The forms and requirements are all unique, and just getting the basic information can be a time-consuming challenge. The founders have a background in online permitting, and seem to be making a lot of progress.
• EGauge (now that's a minimalist website!) is a solar energy analyzing solution that leverages current transducers (CT's) which slip over the wires that carry the juice from the solar panel, as well as what's coming in from the grid, and sends the data over Ethernet or powerline wireless network to a browser-based software package that runs on your computer. The system displays detailed usage information, and can even show a "kiosk" mode that shows current data in big, constantly updated numbers.
• RECtrack from Energy Recommerce is another solar energy monitoring system, with a focus on commercial applications that also include both hardware and software components. They have commercial-grade features such as the ability to monitor and manage multiple sites, or to manage billing for energy used. The company also provides residential level systems.

It's exciting to see all of the development in software to support the solar industry.

So -- what have I missed?

Cleantech at home

I've been getting more interested in the opportunities for hardware+software cleantech solutions for the home. There are a lot of companies exploring different aspects of this space, such as sprinkler automation, energy monitoring, device control, etc. Here's a list of those I've run across recently:

• Hydropoint sells WeatherTRAK "smart irrigation" systems for both commercial and residential applications. A fancy controller replaces your existing one, and communicates wirelessly over GPRS to the WeatherTRAK system. The system is tied in with up-to-date weather reports to proactively and automatically monitor your watering schedules, taking into account rainfall, temperature, etc. Check out the Henry's Garden Show video on this page. For commercial applications, you can also access your system from anywhere via a browser. This allows you total remote control over your irrigation. In addition, the system can also sense leaking or defective sprinklers. Hydropoint is based in Petaluma, CA.


• Green Wireless Systems, based in San Francisco, sells freeWire, a wireless irrigation system. Their system uses wireless connections to both existing valves as well as to special wireless moisture probes. This eliminates the need to run and maintain wiring from your controller box out to the valves. The probes inform the system when to water based on current soil moisture conditions. freeWire also provides remote access over the Internet so you can remotely control your system.


• Tendril provides products to create an in-home, Zigbee-based network that offers advanced energy monitoring and control. Their product includes a smart thermostat, a stand-alone information display panel, a Zigbee-IP gatway box to connect to the Internet, and small Zigbee devices that plug into any outlet to "smarten up" any appliance or device. Of course there's also a web portal for monitoring and controlling all of this. The catch? To use their system, your home must already be equipped with an AMI smart meter (see below).


• Tangerine Network Devices (only a stealth page for now) is also working on a Zigbee-based system similar to Tendril's.


• Ambient Devices, the folks that make the glass Orb which glows green/yellow/red according to market conditions, weather, traffic, etc., also offers a product called the Energy Joule. It's a small plug-in device that monitors your current overall energy usage, but also will glow green/yellow/red to reflect current energy prices based on demand levels throughout the day. It looks cool, but their web page says it can only be used by customers of Consumer Powerline, but the provided link is broken. That company changed their name recently to CPower, but their new website has no reference to the Energy Joule. They appear to be a services-based company mostly operating in the New York area. So, maybe this isn't for real at this point.


• Aclara is an AMI smart meter system provider, and is the supplier for PG&E's SmartMeter program (the largest such deployment in the U.S.). Utilities are installing smart meters across the country, but not very quickly. In my area, the estimate is somewhere between May 2009 and August 2010 before I will have one -- so far, PG&E has installed only about 200,000 Aclara electric meters out of a total of over 5 million it expects to install. Their big incentive is to implement something known in the biz as Demand Response, which basically allows the utilities to reach into your house and turn your stuff off during times of peak usage. It remains to be seen whether consumers will accept that, although there are some benefits such as potentially saving cost by avoiding the use of energy during expensive periods of the day, and perhaps avoiding brown-outs if enough people participate. On the other hand, some early smart meter recipients were seeing their bills skyrocket after the smart meters were installed -- not cool.


• Itron is a $1.5B established provider of products and services to the utility market. Their OpenWay is an AMI smart meter as described above, with a Zigbee chip, and they have partnered with Tendril to promote a complete system in the home.

Clean enterprise software

At the Awards Gala for the 2008 California Clean Tech Open at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco last week, I came across several companies with cleantech software products for enterprises.

I spoke with Charlie Crissman, President & CEO of Seattle-based Goose Networks, which offers a series of tools for companies of 100 employees or more to help staff reduce the cost and environmental impact of their commutes. The SaaS solution can be plugged into a company's existing intranet (company branded, of course), and is then offered as an HR benefit. The product contains detailed information on a wide range of commute options for specific cities (so far including Seattle, the Bay Area, Miami, and Washington, D.C.). A commuting tool automatically matches up employees who could carpool, or suggests a range of possible public transportation options. Goose Networks took home the Runner-up prize in the Transportation category.

The winner in the Smart Power category was Power Assure, based in Santa Clara, which also won the Sustainability award. Donnie K. Foster, President & CEO, told me that their energy management software service, which is currently being used by Facebook, was like a "monitor of monitors" for the data center, improving energy efficiency 50-80%. Not only do they monitor standard server data points, such as CPU, memory, and network utilization, but can also actively monitor the load placed on the applications themselves, as well as environmental factors such as HVAC (e.g. temperature levels). The company offers a combination of services and monitoring software to achieve efficiency through what Donnie called "load shifting" (balancing load between servers) and "load shedding" (dynamically shutting down and starting up servers to match usage requirements).

Finally, Enverity is a Burlingame-based company providing a greenhouse gas data management solution, which companies can use to track and report on their greenhouse gas emissions, meet compliance requirements, and even produce the necessary documentation to submit to the appropriate authorities to generate the applicable carbon credits (e.g. for the Chicago Climate Exchange). I spoke with Eric van Gestel, President & CEO, who said the company is focusing on air, water, and hazardous waste tracking for now, and has a number of major customers, including Johnson Controls, Gillette, and George Washington University. The company has stayed lean, finding that they are able to scale the number of individual facilities they can support (currently 123) without adding a lot of staff.

Interesting conferences, news to come...

I attended two very interesting conferences yesterday, the Marin Green Tech CEO/COO Breakfast and Conference, and the Awards Gala for the 2008 California Clean Tech Open at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. I met a number of company founder/CEO's from very interesting Cleantech companies, including many with a significant software component, in sectors ranging from biodiesel plants, to smart showers, data center monitoring, electric vehicle systems, greenhouse gas emission data management, and more.

I'll be writing a series of posts over the weekend about the individual companies and the spaces in this spectrum that they occupy.

There's no question in my mind that software will play a significant role in many aspects of the clean tech movement.

The Journey Begins...

Having just left my last gig of almost nine years as a founder/executive of Qumu, I have launched on a new journey to explore the intersection between Cleantech and Software. It seems pretty clear that this is an area that is only getting hotter.

(From what I have read so far, "Greentech" and "Cleantech" appear to be synonyms, with only personal preference determining one's choice. The G folk claim it's better because green also denotes money, whereas C types claim that greenness is not always a desireable quality, such as with air or water. Whatever -- I'm going with Cleantech.)

In any case, the field is quite broad, ranging from alternative/renewable energy sources to energy efficiency systems, pollution control devices, methods of producing less-toxic commodities, and so on. As I explore the field, I am starting to learn more about which of these have a significant need for software. Given my nearly 25 years of experience with software companies, I am focusing my attention on this particular intersection.

So far, I've stumbled onto a few distinct areas of Cleantech/Software:

• Smart Grids for monitoring and measuring electrical systems, including companies such as GridPoint and Trilliant.
• Wireless Sensor / Pervasive Computing for monitoring and controlling a broad range of things, leveraging standards like ZigBee and including platforms like those from Sentilla and Sun SPOT.
• Consumer Information sites like GoodGuide for tracking the chemicals in everyday products.
• Computer Energy Efficiency tools like Verdiem and initiatives like The Green Grid.

I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface, but I'd like to continue to expand this list into a map of the companies and technologies where significant software is required to implement a clean technology.

More to come...