Clear Green Technologies – Energy Awareness and Management

not pretty or inexpensive

Wow, it’s been over a year since I last wrote about the Green Widget. Well, a lot has happened in that time frame.

One: the economy continued to spiral downward, making angel funding and venture capital harder to find. (My post calling for angels.)

Two: many innovative products have entered the green widget space, and even won green awards. Of note, here is the PicoWatt.

Three: the play is clearly going to be in the large grid space with power companies and municipal districts.

Four: we’ve still got a few tricks under our sleeve.

Five: our product is designed to be aesthetically pleasing AND inexpensive. Most devices that are heading your way are neither.

Six: when Black and Decker gets into the game, we’ve got some mindshare.

Seven: perhaps we’d best sell to a larger company quick, so we can actually do more than concept and speculate.

Eight: the money is beginning to flow a bit, the demand for green products and smarter grids gets louder daily.

Nine: the “green police” ad during this years super bowl was funny and informative. (and signals a huge mindshift)

Ten: the cleargreen suite of products still has huge advantages and options for growth.

Eleven: Even the IP attorney’s get it. But they want to be paid before they write the killer application to protect all these ideas we can’t share with you just yet.

Twelve: don’t count out innovation, the little guy or the power of persuasive spirit. (See Steve Job’s iPad announcement for inspiration.)

We still can’t share any more of the Clear Green system until we’ve fully vetted and documented the plans and schematics. But I can assure you this. These devices are coming. If you are not going to lead the challenge and lead the innovative company that’s going to bring some awesome technologies to the table we don’t really need to talk about it.

If you are up for the challenge of a lifetime. And an opportunity to make things greener and more sustainable for all of us, send us a message.

Enjoy your energy!

@jmacofearth
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Notes from SXSW Talk on Sustainability and Social Media. Empowered we ROCK!

“If sustainability is the goal, then social media will be an enabling technology.”

If you only see only one panel at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference it’s gotta be Social Media to Accelerate Sustainability Monday at 3:30 pm in Room 8. I will be joining Jon Lebkowsky, Emily Gertz, and Rob Reed in this timely discussion. I will be representing my company Clear Green Technologies and giving an initial look at the GreenLight product, a catalyst for changing our awareness of our personal energy use.

“Sustainability requires doing more with less, constantly learning how to get more out of every pound of material and watt of energy. The creation and communication of this knowledge occurs in social networks of relationships, empowered by social media.

Join us for a discussion and exploration of how social media are being used to accelerate our transition to a global sustainable culture.”We do some of our best work when we’re constrained: by budgets, by headcount, by technology, by the economy. These are the times when bureaucracy and waste die by necessity. What’s left are ideas, and the muscle to make them real. 2009 will be a tough year in many ways, but now more than ever, the core concepts of Web 2.0 provide an advantage. Lightweight tools, user interfaces, and development models will help streamline productivity and focus resources; new business models will emerge out of the environment of change.

The technologies driving social media are at the heart of today’s change movement. From electing Barack Obama President to his appointment of Van Jones as Special Advisor for Green Jobs and the countless small gains being made across the social web, we have a greater say in how government and business operates. If sustainability is the end, then social media will be a means.

Hope to see you there.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/sxsw-green

In the growing energy monitoring market decisions are being made at an increasingly rapid rate. One of the major decisions we were facing when developing the GreenLight System was what flavor of connectivity to use.

And here is the decision we made after careful consideration. For the average consumer our system will function much like today’s wireless weather stations. The remote units (GreenLight+) will use low-cost RFID to communicate with the GreenLight Base Station. Then at the point of connection to either a computer, computer network or utility company system, the GreenLight Network Key can be inserted to provide the desired protocol.

Once the GreenLight System is connected, the data can be streamed to a personal computer via a built-in USB connector or wirelessly (wifi, bluetooth, zigbee) based on the individual user’s needs.

The Greenlight System Outline (Process IP Filed)

While we are not yet a member of the Zigbee Alliance we believe the work being done is critical to the success of the GreenLight System and the growing energy management industry. And once the Zigbee specification is complete, the GreenLight System will add compliance by adding the Zigbee Key.

Enjoy Your Energy,

JM
permalink: http://bit.ly/green-wireless
twitter: greenlighttech