It was an extremely eventful holiday season for me. Most significantly I was able to spend some quality time with people who are very important in my life. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment was moving the rest of my belongings from a temporary stay with my brother in Wyoming for storage in Washington State until they can come to Vancouver in a few months. It was a long drive with a detour to Portland because of treacherous winter storms on Snoqualmie Pass. After driving almost 1500 miles in 36 hours the road trip culminated in crossing the border to pick up a Canadian work permit. That’s right,I’m working again. Tomorrow at 0900PST I’ll be in a standup. And I couldn’t be more excited…
At the November Vancouver Enterprise Forum Steve Jones presented a 100 second lightning talk on Small Energy Group. We talked afterwards, exchanged emails that evening and I stopped by the office to meet a few members of the team later that week. I came in for a more formal round of interviews a week later and was thoroughly impressed with everyone I met. I was invited for skating, cocktails and small plates at the company holiday gathering at Grouse Mountain overlooking Vancouver on a crisp, clear winter evening. I walked away thoroughly enjoying the time I spent with everyone.
Small Energy Group’s software provides insight into how energy is used so more intelligent decisions can be made about consumption and conservation. Sure it is green and good for the Earth and future generations. But it also boils down to good business sense by controlling costs and improving the bottom line.
This is a new domain for me so I’m sure my understanding is a bit naive and my ability to explain the space leaves a bit to be desired but the simple analogy I used to explain to friends and family while I was home in Chicago is a security system. Universities, corporations and homeowners install sensors on windows, doors and in hallways to monitor activity in one or more buildings. When something goes awry any number of things can happen from having someone call to check-in or automatically dispatching the police and fire departments.
Now imagine a system with sensors on heaters, A/C units and water valves. Not only can we monitor for excessive water flow in the case where a pipe breaks or above normal heating oil consumption when someone leaves windows or an outside vent open but we can learn how energy is consumed in a building over time and help people adjust expectations and behavior to be more efficient or take into account the impact of weather.
During the ‘08 elections there was a lot of rhetoric about developing ways to take advantage of alternative energy sources and reduce dependence on oil. This is admirable and something I’m glad to see pursued with significant R&D dollars. But as Tim O’Reilly blogged we don’t need to wait 10 or 15 years for research to start paying off. We can change our behavior today. But we can only change by first understanding how we act today.
In my mind the mission of Small Energy Group falls into the “Work on stuff that matters” category Tim mentions. Add smart and fun people to the mix and the decision to join the team was an easy one to make. The company’s tag line is “When small pieces come together in a coordinated way, big things happen.” 2008 ended for me with many small pieces falling in to place. Now I’m looking forward to big things on all fronts in 2009.
Happy New Year!
January 4th, 2009 | work | No comments
