Page 19 - Green Builder January 2017 Issue
P. 19
“From a business perspective, solar and
smart home technology companies have a
watershed opportunity to leverage
each other’s successes, creating
partnerships that expand their
marketing and branding power.”
global sustainability goals. In regards to smart home technologies, Utilities and the regulatory environment are also entering the
studies show that most homeowners are initially interested in picture. Factors such as rate restructuring, time-of-use pricing, fees
security (locks and cameras) and energy management (thermostats on net metering, and residential demand charges are shaping the
and monitoring technology). landscape of the solar industry and will soon impact smart home
technology. With utilities concerned about grid reliability, resiliency
Regardless of the hook, once a homeowner becomes familiar and cost shifting, solar will soon be required to connect with smart
with the benefits of enabling technologies, they generally want home technology as an effective load management strategy.
more. Studies show that almost half of all Americans own smart
home technology or plan to invest this year, and once a homeowner KINGS OF INDUSTRY
purchases one smart home product, they’re 93 percent more likely to
purchase additional ones. They want to learn more about the larger As solar and smart home technology converge, expect to see a rush
ecosystem and immediately begin searching all options. of service providers offering personalized settings and customized
energy packages that suit homeowners’ lifestyles, preferences, and
GETTING INTEGRATED work and travel schedules.
From a business perspective, solar and smart home technology The ocean of opportunity invites new players like metadata behemoths
companies have a watershed opportunity to leverage each other’s Google, Apple and Amazon into the space, giants that have a long history
successes, creating partnerships that expand their marketing and of disrupting industries. This begs the question: Who will win this mad
branding power. Already, there is technological and marketing dash? Will it be the tech goliaths, disrupting yet another business sector
integration within the smart home tech space. For example: with their innovative, artificial intelligence-based solutions like Google
Home (https://madeby.google.com/home) and Amazon Alexa (http://
¦¦ SMA America (www.sma-america.com) is offering a whole-home amzn.to/2gAyTc5)? Or will the solution come from partnerships developed
integrated system that connects smart and solar technologies. by the solar players and the smart home tech companies themselves?
¦¦ SunPower (https://us.sunpower.com) has teamed up with ecobee The solar and smart home tech companies may have the foresight
(www.ecobee.com) to create streamlined energy production, storage to claim their fair share of the evolving market. But don’t discount
and monitoring capacities. the data behemoths when it comes making a play for the larger space
of integrated enabling technologies. They have certainly have proven
¦¦ SolarCity (www.solarcity.com) and Tesla (www.tesla.com) have time and again that they have the creative capability and business
partnered with Nest (https://nest.com) to allow homeowners to flexibility to transform the homeowner experience.
produce and store their own energy, and leverage the “Works with
Nest” (https://nest.com/works-with-nest) program to interconnect Regardless of the ultimate winner, it’s clear that smart doesn’t
a wide range of products and systems. These include Whirlpool just mean connected anymore. Smart technologies represent a
appliances, where if Nest detects that a homeowner is away from much broader ecosystem of enabling technologies that bring a new
home, it will tell the appliances to run on longer, more efficient level of control, security and cost savings. Watch as the solar and
cycles; and Rachio smart irrigation controllers, where Nest smoke smart home sectors converge to empower homeowners to live more
detectors turn on the sprinkler system to wet the home’s exterior independently, resiliently and sustainably. GB
in the event of a fire.
www.greenbuildermedia.com January/February 2017 GREEN BUILDER 17
