Opower, Inc. v. Efficiency 2.0, LLC
Filing
5
APPENDIX/EXHIBIT by Opower, Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Appendix 1, # 2 Appendix 2, # 3 Appendix 3, # 4 Appendix 4, # 5 Appendix 5, # 6 Appendix 6, # 7 Appendix 7, # 8 Appendix 8, # 9 Appendix 9, # 10 Appendix 10, # 11 Appendix 11, # 12 Appendix 12, # 13 Appendix 13, # 14 Appendix 14, # 15 Appendix 15, # 16 Appendix 16, # 17 Appendix 17, # 18 Appendix 18, # 19 Appendix 19, # 20 Appendix 20, # 21 Appendix 21, # 22 Appendix 22)(Karol, Peter)
APPENDIX EXHIBIT 15
Greentech Media
COMPANY PROFILE | HAN & BUILDING AUTOMATION
KATHERINE TWEED: JUNE 30, 2011
Efficiency 2.0: Couponing Your Way to Efficiency
This home energy management company helps users earn rewards for saving energy.
There are two things people love in this world: getting discounts and helping their kids succeed.
In the sphere of residential energy efficiency, these two ideas have been married by
Efficiency 2.0, which offers a rewards program for homeowners who cut their energy use -- and
in a few instances, Efficiency 2.0 is using schools to spread the word.
The New York City-based company’s Personal Energy Efficiency Rewards Program, or PEER, is
involved in about half a dozen pilots, the largest of which is with Commonwealth Edison in
Chicago. There is a two-pronged approach of sending out mailings with advice about how you
compare to your neighbors and simple ways to cut energy use, along with a more involved
website that people can opt in to to earn coupons.
“We’re taking a radically different approach,” said Tom Scaramellino, Founder and CEO of
Efficiency 2.0. And yet, the basics of the program are well-worn territories in other green
consumer programs. If sending out mailings sounds familiar, it is. OPower is the best-known
example, but other companies also use email and snail mail to let people know how they’re
doing on energy efficiency. Efficiency 2.0 currently sends out printed reports to more than
300,000 people.
From there, customers can sign up for a website where they can get even more tailored data and
earn rewards. If earning rewards for green behavior also sounds familiar, it is. The company
RecycleBank offers reward points when users save a certain amount of kilowatt hours.
Currently, 50 kWh is worth a $10 coupon, according Scaramellino.
The average energy savings for the customers who have opted in to the web program averages
about 6.1 percent compared to about 2.5 percent for those who just get the energy savings
report in the mail. More than 12,000 people are signed up in the Chicago area.
The next step in all of this is competition. Scaramellino admitted the uptake wasn’t as good as
hoped when they just sent the mass mailings through the utilities. But once they got schools
involved, things really took off. “All of a sudden, parents drop what they’re doing,” he said.
Instead of selling magazines to raise money, kids were pushing low-flow showerheads and
CFLs. Schools in both Illinois and Massachusetts have tried the program.
Many of the actions people are taking are simple, and low- or no-cost, like replacing bulbs or
drawing the blinds in summer. The company, however, also offers personalized
recommendations that it claims are more accurate and robust than what nearly any other
competitor is offering; they achieve this by crunching more than 500 million data points. “It’s like
a Google crawl for energy,” said Scaramellino.
Integrating sophisticated analytics using weather, historical and other personal data into any
home energy management offering is becoming more common. Google actually just got out of
the utility business, folding its PowerMeter initiative because it didn't see the growth it had
hoped for.
Collecting millions of data points and turning that into actionable information may be a
competitive advantage today, but in the future, it will be mandatory to stay in the market.
Efficiency 2.0 gets novelty points in the HAN space for bringing in the coupon game. People love
local involvement and coupons, which is part of RecycleBanks’ success (Chicago was also one
of the first cities to adopt RecycleBank).
Utilities also like low-cost solutions, which is one of the reasons for OPower’s success and why
Efficiency 2.0 has appeal to ComEd, Northeast Utilities, Cambridge Energy Alliance and others.
In the long run, a figure of six percent energy savings is superb for the utility, but could grow old
with consumers if they see a diminishing return after they make initial changes. The PEER
Program also offers suggestions for upgrades, which could spur more changes. Scaramellino
thinks that it will be the competition aspect, via social media and through neighborhood
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/print/efficiency-2.0-couponing-your-way-to-efficiency/[10/19/2011 4:55:23 PM]
Greentech Media
programs, that will catch and keep people’s attention.
Efficiency 2.0 is hoping its point system will make it a major player in coming years. The shortterm goal: gain five million online customers by 2014.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/print/efficiency-2.0-couponing-your-way-to-efficiency/[10/19/2011 4:55:23 PM]
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