I was thrilled this week to see Greentech Media publish a story about NRG's CEO and his focus on consumer experiences and making great products (http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/clean-tech-needs-to-shift-focus-to-the-consumer/). Energy and environment folks have talked about educating consumers for 30+ years. People don't want to be educated, lectured, or admonished. They want to save money, save time, feel good about their decisions and have great consumer experiences. Who can say that about buying electricity? Who can say that about any sort of energy experience? It is time to get on with the business of building desirable products in the energy industry. Our hypothesis is that process begins by giving people, consumers, the power to make good decisions and to see costs and value clearly.
Just out of curiosity, what is the best product you've purchased lately? What product do you love? I am a big fan of household soda makers. I am almost chagrined to talk about a product experience. But then as I sit here I realize that we are trying to build a great product. So we should talk about products that we like and that make us feel good. I have been a product evangelist for the household soda maker and have gotten 3 or 4 families to make the purchase simply by showing them how we use it and/or by talking about it. I don't know if there is another product that I have felt this strongly about-- perhaps ever. Why do I love it? It is easy to use, reduces the waste stream, and seems to save us money. A powerful combination.
I hope those of us in the energy and environment business can help to create products as powerful as this one.
The Megawatt Hour is a subscription service that helps businesses procure and manage power. Transactions are simple, decisions are hard. The Megawatt Hour puts customers in charge of energy and power costs.
Showing posts with label energy efficiency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label energy efficiency. Show all posts
Friday, February 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
There's nothing the matter with Kansas... or with changing the debate
There have been a number of articles in various publications that have resonated with me as we build a business that attempts to appeal to good common sense. Until recently, it seemed we'd gotten bogged down, as thinkers, consumers, policy and business people in an intractable debate over climate change science and policy. As Michael Shellenberger points out in his excellent post at Forbes.com dated Jan 11, 2011, the debate really boiled down to what sort of politics people tended to agree with, and was not so much a discussion of the climate science. See (http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2011/01/11/why-climate-science-divides-us-but-energy-technology -unites-us/). We have re-posted this on TheMWh.com home page as well.
Certainly there is enough complexity in the climate science discussion to make meaningful agreement on the subject impossible in a time of political strain. What was most frustrating to those of us who don't feel any need to debate climate science was the fact that there are ample reasons to address all of the challenges that climate change can bring that just make good sense from economic and national security points-of-view. Why debate the climate science? Who here is a climatologist? Would it kill us to be pragmatic?
There is more and more evidence that many communities, corporations and individuals are reaching these same conclusions, as this October article about a town in Kansas suggests. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/science/earth/19fossil.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=energy%20independence%20Kansas%20town&st=cse
The article describes a competition among Kansas towns set up "to extricate energy issues from the charged arena of climate politics". Brilliant idea since it attempts to change behavior and energy consumption by appealing to sensible objectives like reducing dependence on foreign oil, saving money and ensuring economic prosperity. The competitive nature of the project engaged people in different communities-- schools, businesses, churches, households. The towns got results.... "energy use in the towns declined as much as 5 percent relative to other areas — a giant step in the world of energy conservation, where a program that yields a 1.5 percent decline is considered successful" and will expand to 16 communities in 2011.
The link between information, competition, behavior change and reduced energy consumption could be a powerful one-- that drives more efficient markets and more engaged energy consumers.
Certainly there is enough complexity in the climate science discussion to make meaningful agreement on the subject impossible in a time of political strain. What was most frustrating to those of us who don't feel any need to debate climate science was the fact that there are ample reasons to address all of the challenges that climate change can bring that just make good sense from economic and national security points-of-view. Why debate the climate science? Who here is a climatologist? Would it kill us to be pragmatic?
There is more and more evidence that many communities, corporations and individuals are reaching these same conclusions, as this October article about a town in Kansas suggests. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/science/earth/19fossil.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=energy%20independence%20Kansas%20town&st=cse
The article describes a competition among Kansas towns set up "to extricate energy issues from the charged arena of climate politics". Brilliant idea since it attempts to change behavior and energy consumption by appealing to sensible objectives like reducing dependence on foreign oil, saving money and ensuring economic prosperity. The competitive nature of the project engaged people in different communities-- schools, businesses, churches, households. The towns got results.... "energy use in the towns declined as much as 5 percent relative to other areas — a giant step in the world of energy conservation, where a program that yields a 1.5 percent decline is considered successful" and will expand to 16 communities in 2011.
The link between information, competition, behavior change and reduced energy consumption could be a powerful one-- that drives more efficient markets and more engaged energy consumers.
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