Rainforest Automation
Division: Smart Grid
Bill Richardson
34 West 7th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Y 1L6, Canada
Description
Rainforest Automation is a dynamic startup company based in Vancouver, BC. We make products that allow utilities and homeowners to manage residential energy consumption using the Home Area Network (HAN) portion of the Smart Grid.
Our first product is the EMU™ (Energy Monitoring Unit), an affordable In-Home Display (IHD) that communicates directly with the smart meter via ZigBee® wireless. It allows consumers to view their energy usage and cost, while providing a simple way for utilities to send personalized messages to each one of their customers. Placing an IHD in the home creates an awareness of real-time energy usage, which has been shown to prompt consumers to find substantial energy savings. It also helps avoid surprises and controversy when the new utility bill arrives – a source of significant conflict in some smart meter rollouts.
With its simplicity and low-cost design, the EMU™ can be affordably given away by utilities to their entire customer base.
The EMU™ has received ZigBee® Smart Energy Profile 1.0 certification, and been granted production security certificates by Certicom. It has been tested for interoperability with several meter manufacturers, and is in lab trials with a number of utilities.
The Rainforest Automation software team can be engaged to provide additional screens, features, and options to meet the specific requirements of individual utilities. Support is available for tiered, time-of-use, and prepaid pricing models.
As a follow-on product, the company is developing TIgER™ (Thermostat with Integrated Energy Reporting), a ZigBee Programmable Communicating Thermostat (PCT) with built-in IHD functions. TIgER™ is differentiated by its simplicity and low cost. This is achieved by offloading the complex programming functions to a full-featured web client, leaving the device itself very basic and inexpensive. The web client also provides a value-added feature for the utility’s customer web portal. The compressed programming instructions are sent to TIgER™ transparently over the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) network using a unique message tunneling technique.
Rainforest Automation is also developing SPIDER™ (Secure Public Internet Diversion Enabling Router), which acts as a HAN Gateway, and allows utilities to leverage existing consumer broadband Internet service for smart meter backhaul communications. It enables rapid and inexpensive deployment of smart meter pilot installations, and can provide network bandwidth offload for existing AMI networks. In addition, SPIDER™ can also act as a HAN and Energy Management System (EMS) controller, allowing consumers to download HAN applications.
These products are part of our plan to address the multibillion dollar HAN market opportunity in the US. Rainforest Automation is looking for customers, partners, and investors to join us in building this new Internet of power.