Q1. Firstly, what made you move into the smart grid world?

The company was founded around the idea that many of the devices in our home were becoming or would become more intelligent and network connected. Bringing the power of the internet to these devices would enable a whole new range of functions and capabilities.  Early on we identified energy management as a killer app for these new networked devices, but there were the typical hurdles due to hardware costs and installation challenges.  We then began exploring the possibility of rolling out the Greenbox software platform in conjunction with utility smart grid programs since the smart meters could provide the data and a two-way communication channel that would help to enable our energy management platform.  With the Greenbox platform we can help utilities engage their customers, drive energy efficiency and peak load reductions, and help market new programs and rate structures.  For consumers, we can provide insights into how and when they use energy, and help them take actions that make their homes more efficient, saving them money and reducing their environmental footprint. We received great feedback from the utility industry on our vision and product, and are now engaging a number of utilities on pilots and full deployments of the Greenbox platform.

Q2. What can we expect, and what makes you different?

You can expect to find a startup that is passionate about creating an interactive web-based solution that enables households to track, understand, and manage their home energy usage and environmental footprint.  Much like our company’s founders did will the Flash technology we hope to make Greenbox a ubiquitous platform at the centre of a vibrant ecosystem. With Flash the ecosystem was multimedia – with Greenbox the ecosystem is energy efficiency.

There are a number of factors that makes us different from other companies in this space, particularly around our focus on a web platform.  We are creating a product that will measure energy use in the home, provide personalized analysis of that usage and suggest specific actions that can make the home more efficient.  Once these actions are taken, Greenbox will provide the tools to verify and ensure the actions have had the desired effect.

Q3. How are you offsetting your own carbon footprint?

Although we try to make daily choices consistent with a sustainable business, the biggest impact we can have on carbon emissions will come from the use of our platform. And so we focus our efforts on getting Greenbox available to as many people as possible.  For example, if 30% of us reduced our electricity usage by 20%, we would save over $8 billion per year on our energy bills, reduce emissions by 105 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year and avoid $10 billion in construction of new power plants. This is the equivalent of 35 coal-fired power plants operating 24 hours per day. We think there are enough opportunities for savings in most homes that reducing your usage by 20% does not need to involve sacrificing your lifestyle.

Q4. Will flash technology be an integral part of your dashboards?

The Flash multimedia technology does play an integral role in our dashboards, particularly around the interactive charts, graphs, and tabular functions.  However, Flash is not the only tool we use for data presentment and interactive function since it is not supported on some mobile devices.  We intend on supporting a broad range web browsers and devices, so that consumers can access Greenbox from anywhere.

Q5. Where do you want to see the clean-tech infrastructure evolve?

We are particularly interested in the smart appliance or smart device ecosystem that is developing. We see these communications enabled smart appliance/devices as being the next wave of innovation that is important to our platform.  We would like to see more products available, more industry standardization, and a deeper understanding of the requirements and use cases from a consumer perspective.  We are currently partnering with technology providers and product manufacturers who are developing compelling solutions for the residential energy management ecosystem.

Q6. How is this software integrated? Are we talking PC or Fixed Display Hardware?

You can access your Greenbox account via any web browser with access to the internet.  The web application is hosted by us and run as an ASP service.  We can also push and pull information to devices in the home if they are web or two-way communication enabled.  The web application may also be hosted in the utilities data centre or integrated into their existing web portal if required.  The diagram below shows how Greenbox can accept data from a number of sources and provide a unified interface to the consumer.

Q7. Satellite and Cable Set top boxes seem like an obvious choice for such an interface, are you working with anyone else at the moment.

We have received some interest from the cable companies as they are looking to add additional products & services to their existing offerings.  They are a viable channel since they have the ability to do installations and have access to large numbers of residential customers.  We have had a few discussions, but are not formally engaging with anyone in the satellite or cable industries as of yet.

Q8. When can I get one?

We are currently conducting select utility and in-home trials of Greenbox and expect the product to become regionally available in the near future in conjunction with smart meter deployments.  We are also working on a few product offerings that will allow consumers to engage with Greenbox directly, and expect to make a few announcements early next year.

Q9.  Can you tell us about other companies you are working with at the development end?

Greenbox is currently partnering with forward thinking Utilities and Smart Grid solution providers who are looking to enhance their AMI solutions by providing real-time feedback, energy efficiency improvements, or demand response programs.  We have only announced a few public engagements thus far but are working with a number of utility solution providers. Some of our engagements that we’ve made public include Silver Spring Networks and Oklahoma Gas & Electric.  More to become public early next year.

Q10.  What sorts of technologies are involved with your product?  Are you developing around networking protocols, for example?

We are developing a technology platform that provides a flexible and rapid development environment for creating applications that capture, analyze, and present data representing energy, building, and environmental conditions. This core platform enables the company to manage a high performance web service allowing users to track, understand and manage their home’s resource usage and environmental footprint.  The web framework allows ease of development and operation of a complex data driven portal by emphasizing modular design and the reusability of components.   We can accept data from nearly any source, whether that is a meter data collection unit or MDM, a direct feed from a consumer’s smart meter via a broadband gateway or directly from devices in the home.  Greenbox is technology agnostic, and will utilize any solution that can provide a data feed to our web platform.  We have systems running that use IP, WiFi, or ZigBee and can push or pull data via a utility’s back haul network if necessary.

Q11.  How do you see the smart grid market developing in the immediate future?  Five years from now?  Ten years from now?

We feel a number of utilities are committed to making the Smart Grid a reality.  In the near term, we see numerous contracts being awarded for entire infrastructure upgrades.  We believe most of the IOUs will have a robust smart metering program, are starting to rollout now (or may have already begun) and be fully deployed within the next 4-5 years.  In 10 years, we see more of the smart home vision coming online with network devices communicating to one another in the home.  We see more energy awareness and mass market penetration of distributed generation and plug-in electric vehicles.

Q12.  Are you finding a lot of market interest in your product?

Yes, we have received great interest from a number of progressive utilities looking to improve customer engagement and load management.  We also have lots of consumers anxiously awaiting a way to get access to Greenbox.

Q13.  Can you share with us any of the results from the utility and in-home trials of your product?

Due to confidentiality agreements, we can’t share any information from trials with utilities directly, we would be happy to put you in touch with representatives at OG&E who may be able to share more information.

In our in-home trials in the San Francisco Bay Area, most participants were able to reduce their base load by 20-30 %.  Several individuals were able to identify inefficient devices such as refrigerators or dryers that needed to be replaced or learned how to improve their HVAC settings to improve efficiency while balancing comfort and savings.

Q14.  What sorts of infrastructure requirements, if any, will be needed to get the most out of your product?

For utilities interested in deploying Greenbox, having Smart Meters that are pulling at least 15 minute interval data with hourly or daily updates is a good starting point. The higher the frequency of the data, the higher value we can provide to the consumer.  We can pull the data from nearly any source, whether it is a back-haul collection system, MDM, gateway or smart device in the consumer’s home.

Q15.  Anything else you wish to add?

Our founders are the creators of Flash. With over a billion installed users, Flash is the most popular multimedia technology platform on the Internet.  Together with exceptional individuals from the home computing market, embedded devices, Internet, and utility industries, Greenbox Technology is building a team that is passionate about helping homeowners lower their energy use, save money, and reduce their carbon footprint.