By Grant Fisher, chief information officer, Pecan Street

We can say we collect 10 million records per-day, per-house. Or, we can say the database is many terabytes large. Or that we have the world’s largest collection of energy, water, and gas data for use by academic researchers. However, it isn’t until recently that I think Pecan Street has crossed into the “Big Data” realm.

By Rachel Jenkins, director of operations, Pecan Street

Thanks to our friends at Environmental Defense Fund, we spent some time last week shooting new photos of two research families and flying a drone to get some cool footage of all the solar panels around the Mueller neighborhood. Look at all those solar panels!

By Suzanne Russo, CEO, Pecan Street

Clean electricity is booming. Last year in California, solar power plants generated nearly 12% of the state’s total electricity production and distributed solar likely produced another 5%. Texas got 18% of its electricity from wind and solar. In many markets, unsubsidized clean energy costs the same or less than conventional fossil-fuel powered plants. And the cost of clean, renewable electricity continues to fall.

By Suzanne Russo, CEO, Pecan Street

You know those friends you haven’t seen in a while…the ones that you KNOW have been busy trying to change the world, but haven’t bothered blogging about it? That’s us.

Thanks to a consortium of funders led by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Pecan Street is expanding its home energy research network to California’s Bay […]

Why are some morning commutes so much worse than others? New research shows that nighttime and early-morning energy use can be a good predictor of morning traffic congestion.  Sean Qian, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and Ph.D. student Pinchao Zhang created a model that mined data on electricity consumption from 322 homes in Austin, Texas, and used artificial intelligence to predict what traffic would look like the next morning.

(AUSTIN, TX – August 1, 2018) – A $1.1 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will allow Pecan Street Inc. to expand its […]

Your eGauge energy data collection system reports data back to Pecan Street’s servers using Power Line Communication (PLC), where the data collected by the eGauge […]

Follow the directions below to install and connect a new BluCube. This also may be necessary if you change your home WiFi equipment, network name […]

Following is a participant agreement for the Pecan Street’s current volunteer recruitment in New York and California. By completing and submitting this form, you are […]

(AUSTIN, TX – March 29, 2018) — Pecan Street Inc. has released a groundbreaking dataset containing one year of one-second interval consumer electricity data collected […]

The board of directors of Austin-based research organization Pecan Street Inc. has named Suzanne Russo chief executive officer effective March 1. Russo joined Pecan Street in 2010 and has served in several roles, including chief of staff and chief operating officer.

Texas-based Pecan Street Inc. is now accepting applications from energy technology startups for its new PLATFORM program. Designed to leverage Pecan Street’s groundbreaking research on residential and small business electricity and water use, PLATFORM integrates data-driven market intelligence, product development and validation, rapid prototyping, and collaboration with venture funding and energy industry executives.

Start-ups with a clean energy hardware innovation targeted at the residential or small commercial sectors and who have a functioning prototype can learn more and apply here.

Research conducted by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) found that homes with residential solar and electric vehicles generate fewer greenhouse gas emissions and use less water than homes powered solely by the grid. The research used data from homes in Austin participating in Pecan Street’s energy research.

Pecan Street is hosting its second student research competition. Awards totaling $10,000 will be made to students that develop the most impactful research using Pecan Street’s unique dataset to answer a question of critical importance to industry.

Pecan Street uses a smart-grid system, an electricity supply network that uses newly developed technologies, to detect and communicate changes in the use of electricity, gas and, most recently, water. Pecan Street provides researchers and organizations energy use data to manage electricity demand and encourage sustainable practices.

More generally, the new battery could also help on the business side, for instance by enhancing the range of trucks. “It’s a plus across the board,” said Scott Hinson, the director of engineering for Pecan Street Inc., an Austin-based consortium trying to introduce new water-and-energy-use technologies into everyday life.

November 1, 2016 by Kate Zerrenner, EDF, and Dustin McCartney, Senior Data Analyst, Pecan Street Originally published on EDF’s Texas Clean Air Matters blog. Have you ever thought about […]

Solar power stands at the precipice of explosive growth, according to Brewster McCracken, CEO of Pecan Street, a research institute located in Austin, Texas, that focuses on the utility industry.