Meet BERT, Your Energy Control Freak

Will Ernie be next?

Remember when your mom would shout at you to turn off the lights when you left a room?  Well, now there's an electronic mom that does it for you without the yelling.

They call it BERT, which stands for Best Energy Reduction Tools, and it's a new "smart plug" has the witty tagline that it's "your energy control freak." 

I've written before about smart plugs (see ThinkEco's Modlet and Israel's Greenlet) and other energy demand management solutions, but yesterday's announcement by Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP) of Southeastern Pennsylvania that it was awarding a follow-on investment of $500,000 to Green Power Technologies of King of Prussia, PA, caught my attention.  (BFTP has already invested $250,000 in an earlier round.)

They call it BERT, which stands for Best Energy Reduction Tools, and has the witty tagline that it's "your energy control freak."

BERT eliminates wasted energy from devices that are turned off but still plugged in -- and let's face it, we're all guilty of leaving our devices plugged in when they don't need to be.  BERT software enables you to program up to 100 on/off commands per week, which gives you control of energy use day or night from your WiFi enabled computer or smart phone.

The company plans to manufacture in the US, which would make Jack Donaghy proud.  GPT has contracted with Millennia Group, a manufacturer in Cheswick, PA, to make BERTs.

I'm still looking for a solution that cuts off power to my phone charger when the charge is complete, such as when I charge it overnight, but this programmable smart plug gets closer to solving that problem. 

Philadelphia: Birthplace of Energy Independence?

Image via Wikipedia

Philadelphia Navy Yard, Robert N. Dennis collection

Can Philadelphia become the birthplace of another kind of American independence: energy independence?

Two developments this week add to the Greater Philadelphia region's bid to become a regional powerhouse, if you will, of energy efficiency, clean technology research and commercialization, and entrepreneurship.

The location of these new developments is the old Philadelphia Navy Yard, the "city within the city" that is rapidly becoming an economic center with the headquarters of URBN, TastyKake, and the Aker Philadelphia Shipyard.

On Tuesday, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP-SEPA), announced the launch of its Energy Commercialization Institute (ECI), which it describes as "the region's first partnership for accelerating alternative and clean energy technology development and commercialization, through translational research and sponsored research funding."

The ECI is a partnership between Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, and BFTP-SEPA, which created the ECI with $1.2 million from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A host of other area universities will also participate.

"The Energy Commercialization Institute is a catalyst for regional energy-based economic growth," said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President & CEO of Ben Franklin.

The Institute will implement "common intellectual property protocols among the participating institutions and by provide capital at the earliest stage of technology commercialization," according to Rosenthal.

The other development tackles another energy and economic opportunity: efficiency.  A research consortium led by Penn State University announced yesterday that it won a competitive grant from the Department of Energy worth $129 million to develop an "energy innovation hub" at the Navy Yard.

The hub will fund research into energy efficiency for buildings and train workers in both retrofitting and new construction.

"Our goal is to create the building equivalents of super low emissions vehicles (SULEVs) in buildings – call them SULEBs!" said Dr. Henry Foley, Penn State's vice president for research and dean of the graduate school, who is leading the effort.

"With this kind of support we can realize the vision of Philadelphia becoming America’s greenest city and we can put Pennsylvanians in the lead of this technological revolution," Foley said in an email.

The Navy Yard, with a land footprint of 1,200 acres, has some unique qualities suitable for such a research facility, including its own unregulated power grid, allowing for testing technologies in a way that won't impact the larger, city-wide power grid.

The campus also has over seven miles of waterfront, more than 100 companies with a workforce of 8,000, 5.5 million square feet of buildings, and more than $500 million of private investment, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
 
Critics question the assertion that the energy hub will create 100,000 jobs and note that other top-down efforts have failed to deliver results.

But Foley dismisses such criticism, saying in an email that "this effort will be driven by science and engineering for innovation. This HUB is highly focused in one incredibly important area. The outcome will be technology-based economic development."

As for comparing this to other top-down efforts, Foley said, "it sounds to me like a comparison of apples to bowling balls – they’re both spherical."

The combination of this hub, the energy commercialization institute, and existing business incubator-style efforts at the Navy Yard, which houses such promising companies as OxiCool that is developing a cutting-edge air conditioning technology, makes the case for a growing support infrastructure for the region.

What's needed next is more opportunities for ground-up entrepreneurial efforts, attracting some later stage companies that will provide jobs, and an investment ecosystem to support the best emerging technologies in the region.

Philadelphia still has a long way to go, but it is slowly building momentum to ramp up to full power. If these efforts succeed, Philadelphia may become the birthplace of another American revolution, that of energy independence.


(Disclosure: The author is co-founder of the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic, which provided a letter of support for the Energy Innovation Hub application and is a partner in that effort, along with other efforts supported by BFTP-SEPA.)

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• Penn State to lead 'energy innovation hub' at Navy Yard (philly.com)
• DOE's Next Energy Innovation Hub: Energy-Efficient Buildings at Penn State (fastcompany.com)
• Governor Rendell: Penn State to Lead Philadelphia-Based Team That Will Pioneer New Energy-Efficient Building Designs (prnewswire.com)
• Tastykake Baker Found a New Home in Navy Yard (nytimes.com)
• Tasty Baking Moves to World's Largest Green Bakery (environmentalleader.com)
• Phila Navy Yard wins Penn State “energy innovation hub” (philly.com)

Upcoming: Wharton Entrepreneurship Conference 2010

Has there been a better time to be an entrepreneur than right now?

Technology breaks down barriers and makes it easier and less expensive than ever to turn an idea into a business -- and traditional job venues don't seem to be getting into hiring mode any time soon.

So get yourself over to the 13th Annual Wharton Entrepreneurship Conference at the Marriott in Philadelphia this Friday (February 19, 2010) to learn about "Opportunities for the Entrepreneurial Community in a Rising Economy."

The conference is a leading entrepreneurship forum for entrepreneurs, investors, industry professionals, academics, and students to foster entrepreneurial innovation and leadership.

This year's conference focuses on identifying and capturing entrepreneurial opportunities as the economy regains momentum or, at least, as the economy reboots.

Of particular interest to readers of The Green Skeptic is the panel on "Current Trends and Opportunities in Clean Tech," which features Sam Gabbita of Element Partners, Sean Carney of FiniteCarbon, and Stephen Tang, President of the Science Center, and a session on "Financing Your Clean Tech Ventures" with Ravikant Barot of OxiCool, Mark deGrandpre of Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Emily Landsburg of BlackGold Biofuels, and Harrison Wellford of Wellford Energy Advisors.

There are also sessions devoted to Health Care Services, Consumer Products, Tech and Web-based Services.

Keynote speakers include:

• Rob McCord, Treasurer of Pennsylvania and founder of life-science and technology venture funds
• Scott Friend, Co-Founder of ProfitLogic (which sold to Oracle in 2005) and Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures
• Dr. Kathy Crothall, founder of three medical device companies (including Animas, which sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2006) and a Principal at Liberty Ventures Partners.

The conference is trying something new this year: a Student Expo. Building off the success of last year's Start-up Expo, this year's Expo will feature both local start-ups and selected start-ups run by Penn students. Entrepreneurs will showcase their businesses and introduce their teams to the 500+ conference attendees.

The conference is this Friday, February 19th at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. More information is available at WhartonEconference.com.

Register for the event using TicketLeap.

Hope to see you there!