Living in a Prius

This post is not really about a car.

But it is about what that car has taught us. I'm sure you know about the Toyota Prius, the most popular hybrid vehicle on the road. Why is it so popular? Obviously not for it's appearance - let's be honest, that's one ugly car! But have you ever driven one or ridden in one? If so, you get it. It's not just that the Prius get's great gas mileage. It's that the Prius' dashboard screen gives the driver real-time feedback on how his or her actions affect the car's efficiency. Yes, it's wonderful and important for the auto manufacturers to create cars that are significantly more energy efficient. But it's equally important to get the drivers engaged in enhancing that efficiency through their actions.

At Tendril, we're trying to do for your home what the dashboard monitor does for the Prius. We're using wireless networking technology, in home devices and software on the Web to help you understand in real time what sort of "mileage" you're getting out of your home. The energy that you use in your home affects the environment and your wallet every bit as much as the energy you use in your car. Yet people seem to be less sensitive to this impact... why? Well, chiefly because they don't get any feedback on how much energy they use in their home until 30-45 days after they've used it - when the bill arrives. We think that our creative solution can solve this feedback gap by giving people that real-time information and the tools to react to it.

So soon living in you house will be like driving a Prius - but not quite as ugly!