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When Hannah Bascom started working with the Nest smart thermostat nearly a decade ago, it appealed to a select demographic. "I got asked all the time, 'Well, isn't as just a toy for the rich and well educated.' And at the time, that was our primary demographic, to be honest," she said.
Even though the electronic, programmable, and self-learning Wi-Fi-enabled thermostat would pay for itself by conserving energy within a year or two, it appealed mainly to "energy nerds" or "design-focused homeowners," she said.
But times have charged — an evolution Google anticipated by purchasing the product's developer, Nest Labs, in 2014.
"Over time, as people have learned more about the product, they've come to be mindful of not only the climate benefits, energy savings and bill savings benefits Nest can have but also the comfort and convenience. We've started to see the demographic shift," she said.
Homeowners are on a remarkable journey toward more convenient living through connected technology. Adopting things like smart thermostats, lighting, network cameras, door locks, and garage door openers is moving from an early market dominated by innovators and early adopters to the Early Majority — or mainstream — market.
We're finally Crossing the Chasm, and today's guests have some relevant insights to share about the future of smart home technology. Our conversation includes Hannah and two other industry experts, Ryan Harris and Chris Rauscher. It was part of the RE+ PowerUp Media Zone, a live production of SunCast Media.
Hannah was head of Energy Partnerships at Google, leading the team developing industry and ecosystem partnerships for Nest Renew and other energy-related products and services when we recorded the show in September.
She's since joined Ryan at SPAN — creator of the SPAN smart electrical panel and SPAN Drive smart EV charger. Ryan is the company's Chief Revenue Officer, and Hannah is now its vice president of Regulated Business.
And returning guest, Chris Rauscher, is the senior director of Market Development and Policy at Sunrun, which provides photovoltaic (PV) systems and battery energy storage products primarily for residential customers.Chris, our third guest, is the senior director of Market Development and Policy at Sunrun, which provides photovoltaic (PV) systems and battery energy storage products primarily for residential customers.
Hannah said price point is a significant driver for consumer purchasing behavior in well-established categories like thermostats. "And so in collaboration with other partners, such as utilities, we've been able to harness energy efficiency rebates and then energy service incentives to drop down the point of sale cost on those devices. And that has helped to accelerate adoption," she said.
As more people increase home automation, add products like solar panels and increase their dependence on batteries, electric appliances and electric vehicles, there's an increasing need to monitor and manage all the technology.
No technology has existed longer to do that than the humble electric panel. Now, after more than 100 years, companies like SPAN are offering smart electric panels to ease the transition to electrified homes.
Ryan stressed that the smart panel is still, at its core, a safety device. "We maintained a lot of that functionality and added a bunch of computing and communication capabilities on top of it to enable a better home experience as owners start adding renewables and storage," he said.
"In any electrification product, there's first and foremost the end consumer. But there's an intermediary consumer, which is an electrical contractor. We're only electrifying something if we make this product easy, understandable, and accomplishable for that essential layer in this journey. And so, for the SPAN panel, we made it very understandable from an installation perspective by the electricians and the community of home renovation groups. And we wanted to add, on top of that, a coherent layer of home energy management for the consumer," he said.
As we empower consumers to monitor their comfort more elegantly and simplify and manage it in understandable ways, they can better envision a world where they can produce electrons from their own technology. They can put solar panels in their home, and they can put batteries in their garage and begin to participate in markets we only envisioned being real three, four or five years ago.
Sunrun was an innovator in the Northeast, the first company to participate at a macro level to aggregate storage demand and sell it into a regional market. Sunrun continues to innovate in the products it offers homeowners.
"This is a consumer-driven revolution we're experiencing and taking part in," Chris said. "The three companies represented here — Google Nest, SPAN, and Sunrun — are crucial building blocks in this transition. And at Sunrun, we like to think of ourselves as the guide for the homeowner. We're the one company that brings together the technologies, the financing, the management, and the ownership — the single point of contact for busy families in our country who can't navigate this on their own.
Join us to learn more about the evolving customer journey and how companies make it easier for homeowners to electrify and decarbonize their homes with beautiful products.
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SUNGROW focuses on integrated energy storage system solutions, including PCS, lithium-ion batteries and energy management system. Pleae visit https://www.mysuncast.com/sungrow
ABOUT THE HOST OF SUNCAST:
Nico Johnson is the creator and host of SunCast, consistently rated a top solar podcast in the clean energy sector. The content of the show is geared towards listeners looking for insights on where the markets are headed, how to position themselves or their companies, and what today's market leaders do to stay ahead of the pack.
Nico is an Investor, Executive Coach, and 16-year veteran of the solar industry, having led development in the US and Latin America for global companies like Trina Solar and Conergy.
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