When Energy meets Big Data – Real meaningful IoT

Partner at 83North

A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute found that the “Internet of Things” (IoT), connecting millions of sensors from machines, buildings, vehicles and humans to the internet could be worth between $3.9 trillion and $11.1 trillion by 2025. A lot has been written in recent years about IoT and frankly the space feels over-hyped. Appropriately the title of the MGI study is: The Internet of things: Mapping the value beyond the hype.

I am a big believer in the eventual value that could be driven from the availability of much more information and analysis of data produced by machines/sensors in all segments of commercial and personal use. I also agree with the study that a major part of the economic value created will come from commercial/industrial use of IoT, e.g. connecting factories, retail environments, buildings and cities.

One space that started looking years ago at the benefits of connecting more entities and collecting more data was Energy (Smart meters, Demand/Response, etc.). It is also worth observing that all the commercial/industrial entities that will benefit from IoT capabilities based on market predictions, all use energy as a common denominator. Energy in many cases can be used as an interesting proxy for understanding things better on the operations of the devices and systems that are found in all areas of commercial/industrial businesses, and even residential.

This is why I was intrigued when our portfolio company Panoramic Power offered to install some of their wireless sensors at my house. Panoramic Power specializes in providing businesses real-time visibility into device-level energy data and provide actionable insights that can improve operational excellence and business performance. Residential homes are not their focus today, they serve retailers, commercial buildings and industrial sites to name a few segments, but the data and insights even just in a residential setting are very powerful and eye opening. The cool thing is that the data collection is done by non-intrusive wireless sensors that easily clip on the electrical wiring and like ‘magic’ power up by the electrical current flowing. Once a sensor is ‘alive’ it transmits the power readings it collects every few seconds to the cloud where data is analyzed and presented to the end user via charts and insights.

For example, take a look at the following chart -

There is a clear difference between the behaviors of these data sets at the first half of the time frame and the second half. In the middle there is some period of low activity, followed by increased activity, but not as much as in the first half. What’s going on?

The chart show a granular view of power consumption in our house over the last 4 summer weeks. The blue line represents the central A/C unit which is clearly the main energy consumer in the house. The other two lines show aggregated views of consumption in the ground and 1st floor. The different behavior over time shows that over the last 4 weeks not all family members lived in the house. Makes sense since it is summer and we are traveling. The A/C line also shows some very high consumption spikes when everyone is in the house in the first two weeks of this period.

The above is just an example, there are many more granular views we can now look into when it comes to energy consumption in the house… very interesting questions come up for the ‘Data analyzing enthusiasts’, including some ‘spikes’ in consumption that are not just related to A/C that are yet to be investigated (e.g. water heaters mysteriously coming on in the middle of the hot Israeli summer). In residential settings these insights can lead to energy savings and behavioral changes, but in commercial settings the insights can provide for great improvements in efficiency and overall operations.

Which brings me to the title of this post. A lot has been said on the emergence of IoT and having millions and billions of devices connected to the internet, all generating mountains of data. This will lead to a whole new era of analytics and machine learning that will need to emerge to handle all this information and provide the business benefit. Interestingly, the common thread between all the segments is the use of energy, and providing granular, meaningful insights on the consumption of energy is something all businesses will drive an economic benefit from. Panoramic Power is a pioneer in this space and is blazing an innovative trail. The example of my house is just a small illustration of the exciting and beneficial conclusions that energy consumers will be able to reach by the virtue of having visibility to what is actually going on, something many are blind to today. And the benefits go beyond just energy efficiency: energy consumption and correlation between various consumers of energy, leads to operational insights as well, driving both savings and impact to the top line.

BTW, here is how the wireless sensors look like installed in the electrical closet. As I mentioned, the nice thing about them is that they are just snapped on the wires and self-power from the electrical current, immediately transmitting to the Panoramic Power cloud whatever they measure for further analysis and data-crunching.