The Wall Street Journal reports that Alphabet-owned Google and Amazon “are taking early steps to expand into the electricity business, as home-energy automation emerges as a rich new source of customer data.”
The focus, at the moment, is specifically on finding ways “to expand their smart speakers, internet-connected thermostats and other devices to harness information on consumers’ personal energy use. That data holds great power: It can be used to manage energy demand by incentivizing consumers to use less electricity during peak hours.
“While the energy ambitions of tech companies are currently limited, some executives anticipate a future where solar panels, battery storage and even electric vehicles all become part of a smart-home ecosystem. Under that scenario, any company that controls the software and systems that deliver energy could gain a formidable market position, according to executives and consultants.”
One estimate says that spending on home-energy devices exceeded $40 billion in 2018 and is set to double in the next five years.
The focus, at the moment, is specifically on finding ways “to expand their smart speakers, internet-connected thermostats and other devices to harness information on consumers’ personal energy use. That data holds great power: It can be used to manage energy demand by incentivizing consumers to use less electricity during peak hours.
“While the energy ambitions of tech companies are currently limited, some executives anticipate a future where solar panels, battery storage and even electric vehicles all become part of a smart-home ecosystem. Under that scenario, any company that controls the software and systems that deliver energy could gain a formidable market position, according to executives and consultants.”
One estimate says that spending on home-energy devices exceeded $40 billion in 2018 and is set to double in the next five years.
- KC's View:
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It is all about these companies creating amazing and competing ecosystems that will serve as organizing infrastructures that will allow is to run our lives more efficiently and effectively, making themselves intrinsic to how we do pretty much everything.
This is worth paying attention to, since the companies that may help us regulate our electricity also will be helping us buy food and clothing and pretty much everything. There are enormous implications here - some of them scary - about how anyone else is going compete in this environment.
