Google (
GOOG) is a modern day deity. And I believe the pages of history will document the prominent gods as such: Apollo... Zeus... Google.
The company quickly grew from start-up obscurity into a search giant. It's cornered e-mail with gmail. It has a web browser. Google Wave is all the rage. An operating system is coming soon. And, oh yeah, they have a solid candidate in the wireless phone arena, as well.
On its path to dominance, Google has left many stalwarts trembling in its wake. Microsoft and venerable wireless companies like AT&T (T) and Sprint now see Google as a major competitor.
Now, you can add electric utilities to that list. And I heard it first-hand from one of Google's top players last week in Silicon Valley.
Just Google It
Ed Lu, a Manager of Advanced Projects at the search giant, tried to play down Google's interest in entering the utility business...
...clearly, we aren't going to generate or distribute power. Utilities are good at that. We are good at reaching lots of customers and we think this is where we can help — we can help utilities reach customers and customers to monitor their energy usage.
Still, everyone in the audience at GreenBeat 2009 got a good chuckle out of Lu's dismissive approach.
After all, the company said the same thing about cell phones before they announced their Android phone, now a bestseller.
At the heart of the matter is Google's new app, called PowerMeter. If you haven't had the chance to read up on this gem of a platform, here's a summary:
Google PowerMeter is a free electricity usage monitoring tool that provides you with information on how much energy your home is consuming. Google PowerMeter receives information from utility smart meters and in-home energy management devices and visualizes this information for you on iGoogle (your personalized Google homepage). And, Google PowerMeter is free.
So all you need is a Google account (you probably already have one), and an approved device to sign up. Then you'll see a screen like the one below on a personal webpage, perhaps even on the same page as your gmail or search window:
Pretty cool, huh?
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Scale the Ways...
Do you see what's going on here? Google is about to leverage its Internet ubiquity to enter the energy efficiency market.
And as with phones, they already have the scale to do it.
Think about it...
