By Dan Murtaugh, Naureen S Malik, and Mark Chediak A short drive away from the glass skyscrapers of downtown Houston, in a leafy neighborhood known for good schools, biking trails and hipster bars, sits a home of the future, at least as far as energy is concerned. Its roof is festooned with solar panels, its garage replete with lithium-ion batteries and bidirectional charging equipment, which can enable an EV to send power back into the house or the grid. It features the latest in energy-saving appliances, such as electric stovetops, front-loading washing machines and heat pumps. And at its center are the electronics and software that control it all, known as power management systems.  An electric vehicle charges during NRG’s smart-home tour in Houston. Photographer: Danielle Villasana/Bloomberg Such controls generally aren’t sold to consumers as standalone gadgets. Instead they’re based on capabilities embedded into storage batteries, solar system components, thermostats and more. An app on a phone or tablet connects wirelessly and lets the homeowner set preferences for how the home energy system works — allowing the utility to, for example, remotely turn up the thermostat by 1F (0.6C) during periods of high demand for air conditioning in the summer. For a home with solar and batteries, the system can also enable the homeowner to sell power into the grid, earning utility bill credits or even payments. The app may also tie in a constellation of smart appliances as well as a smart breaker panel, which tracks and controls how much power is used by different circuits, as on the smart-home tour presented by Houston utility NRG Energy Inc. in March. Why is power management important? Consider the effects of a homeowner installing a heat pump and a charger for an electric vehicle: good for the planet in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but a household that does this may double the amount of electricity it needs. If such homes manage their use of power more efficiently, they can save hundreds of dollars a year on utility bills. In aggregate, though, it may also avoid billions of dollars of infrastructure investment in the grid that might otherwise be required. “It’s boring utility stuff, but there’s a lot of money to be made,” says Evan Caron, a former US power trader turned venture capitalist. “Ultimately the home is this big, large, untapped opportunity.”  An app provides energy usage and consumption data for consumers. Photographer: Danielle Villasana/Bloomberg The easiest way to understand how one of these systems works is to think of it as a trader buying and selling electricity for an individual house. It takes in data including power prices, weather forecasts and the homeowner’s preferences, which it uses to optimize multiple sources of supply and demand for electricity. On a sunny afternoon when nobody is home and rates are low, the system might use solar panels to charge the home battery. During an evening when you go out for dinner instead of cooking, it might discharge that battery back into the grid for a profit. When you load up the dryer with wet clothes before bedtime, it might offer to start a few hours later, saving you money running one of the most power-hungry appliances in any house. The race to get energy tech inside the home is luring everyone from industrial stalwarts such as Siemens to tech giants Amazon.com and Alphabet, along with traditional consumer-electronics companies like LG Electronics. Rooftop solar seller and installer Sunrun as well as battery and equipment makers Enphase Energy, SolarEdge Technologies and Tesla are layering the software on top of their products. And utilities that have spent decades selling electricity to homes are pouring money into the market. “Anyone who has a recurring relationship with a homeowner is probably interested in this space,” says Jeff Osborne, an analyst with TD Cowen. “The question is how you give homeowners the tools to manage their electricity use. And that’s an area that I would call the Wild Wild West.” | 
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