Self-Quantifiers

I recently attended a meeting of “Self-Quantifiers”—people who are tracking random data about their lives in excruciating detail. Think of it as datamining yourself without any explicit goal of discovering something useful.

A few examples:

1) Communications designer who decides to track what colors of food she eats everyday (by Pantone color) and then portrays it in a unique color swatch infographic.

2) Computer hacker who has hacked his Toyota Prius in the hopes of creating the equivalent of Guitar Hero for the Toyota Prius (or “Prius Hero”). People would be connected to a device-enabled network, and there would be a leaderboard for different routes in NYC based on how many miles per gallon people got on the routes!

3) Young woman who has itemized all of her clothing (over 500 pieces!) in the hopes of creating the perfect wardrobe. Using Excel, she has created a scoring rubric based on how often an item can be worn on different occasions (e.g. casual, social, formal), as well as how well one item can be matched with all of the other items.

Can we take this emerging phenomenon of self-quantifiers and apply it meaningfully to alt-energy in the near future? Can we emulate the Guitar Hero model and engage consumers in a self-quantifying, energy efficiency experience that appeals to their heads, hearts, and...love of mildly competitive, somewhat geeky games?

The answer is clearly yes if we can build a Smart Grid that effectively leverages distributed generation, where generation happens closer to the home. In the May 28th edition of the Economist, an article titled “A Green Revolution” describes a Stanford professor who has installed solar panels on his home. During the day, he sells power to the grid for 29 cents a kWh and buys power at night for 9 cents. The professor can lower his energy bill to zero and wants to go further.

The challenge, of course, is to create the right business model—with a differentiated experience—to encourage all consumer segments, including less environmentally-conscious ones—to strive for eco-efficiency. It may take a couple of years, but I look forward to the day when my utility will allow me to track my progress and compete against my neighbors in a game of Smart Grid Hero!