Smart business

Darren Beck
Gaining an Edge Through
IoT-Powered Sustainability
Smart
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Darren Beck
Smart Business
Gaining an Edge Through
IoT-Powered Sustainability
Boston Farnham Sebastopol TokyoBeijing Boston Farnham Sebastopol TokyoBeijing

978-1-491-97504-6
[LSI]
Smart Business
by Darren Beck
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Table of Contents
1. Small Business, Big Impact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Barriers and Opportunities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Focus on Big Business 6
Overcoming Inertia 8
IoT with the Assist 10
3. Reduce Energy with IoT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Saving on Illumination with Smart Lighting 15
Managing Light and Heat with Smart Windows 17
Cooling Expenses with Smart HVAC Solutions 19
Deploying Total Energy Management Solutions 23
4. Save Fuel with IoT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
What If Your Fleet Manager Had ESP? 29
5. Conserve Water with IoT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Optimizing Irrigation for Healthier Crops 37
Reducing Water Use in Commercial Applications 43
6. Competitive Differentiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Giving Products an Edge with IoT 53
PlotWatt: Mining IoT Data for Actionable Insights 55
Big Ass Solutions: Enhancing Products Sensibly with IoT 58
7. Resources for Success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Assessing Your Priorities 64
v

Funding Your Endeavors 67
Maintaining Momentum 70
Final Thoughts 72
vi | Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1
Small Business, Big Impact
Each day, millions of small businesses across the country provide
products and services that enrich our lives. There is the local café
that serves melt-in-your-mouth pastries for breakfast, a visionary
software firm that develops cloud-based tools that make your busi‐
ness hum, the florist shop that arranges a cheerful bouquet for your
friend on the mend, the golf course that offers an oasis where your
foursome unwinds after work, and the plumbing company that fixes
the leak you discover upon arriving at home.
Small businesses are the heart and soul of the American economy.
According to the Small Business Administration, ventures with
fewer than 500 employees make up more than 99 percent of US
employers and generate about half of private-sector output. They
also use a significant amount of energy and resources to create this
economic value. Based on ENERGY STAR estimates, the nation’s
small businesses collectively spend more than $60 billion annu‐
ally on energy alone. “That equates to nearly half a billion metric
tons of carbon emissions each year that impact climate change,” says
Daniel Hill, cofounder and president of the Green Impact Cam‐
paign, an organization that provides small businesses with free
energy assessments to help them improve profitability and environ‐
mental sustainability.
1

Small businesses spend more than $60 billion a year on energy.
—ENERGY STAR, Small Businesses: An Overview of Energy Use
and Energy Efficiency Opportunities
While Hill and other leaders across the country highlight the eco‐
nomic importance and environmental impact that small businesses
have in aggregate, they also point to a missed opportunity. Small
businesses rarely factor into most public discussions about sustaina‐
bility. “One of the issues that our work is trying to shine a light on is
the overall neglect of small businesses in climate change discussions,
that includes a lack of data on small business energy profiles, water
usage, and waste. If we’re not trying to collect that data and measure
small business’s impact, we will struggle to truly reduce their
impact,” says Hill.
In short, small businesses have yet to receive the same level of atten‐
tion, guidance, and assistance that have propelled so many
enterprise-sized companies to focus on the triple bottom line: eco‐
nomic, environmental, and social performance. What if technology
could help level the playing field for them? What if it could provide
the resources needed to effectively identify opportunities and capi‐
talize on them? The Web is doing just that.
The Internet is a powerful resource for small businesses. It enables
them to compete effectively with the big guys by reaching custom‐
ers, marketing their business, and transacting deals with relative
ease. It helps them drive continuous improvement through quick
access to knowledge and experts from around the world. Now with
the Internet of Things (IoT)—sensors and controllers embedded
in everyday objects networked via the Internet—small businesses
can also identify and embrace opportunities to operate more green
and lean.
IoT-enabled solutions earn their keep by revealing hidden insights
that help small businesses make better decisions and automate tasks
to help owners and employees focus on what’s most important—the
core business. For instance, imagine systems that monitor the elec‐
tricity use of equipment, analyze performance, and generate just-in-
time advice on how to reduce energy consumption; smart windows
that know just how much light to let in for optimal comfort, produc‐
tivity, and energy savings; on-board vehicle intelligence that can
help lower fuel use in small fleets; and sensors that can help con‐
serve water by detecting leaks and preventing over-irrigation.
2 | Chapter 1: Small Business, Big Impact

These solutions enable small businesses to operate more efficiently
and sustainably, giving them a competitive edge. They help drive
down the cost of doing business by saving time, labor, and resour‐
ces. They create a marketable advantage by shrinking the business’s
environmental footprint—an appealing proposition for conscien‐
tious consumers, as well as corporate and public sector organiza‐
tions that are seeking to improve supply chain sustainability and
resilience. Eco-focused, IoT capabilities can even be infused into the
products and services that small businesses produce and sell,
spurring new and/or greater opportunities for revenue. Best of all,
there is a range of resources available that make it easy to take
action. From free consultation to grants and subsidized loans, sev‐
eral initiatives exist that small businesses can leverage to seize these
opportunities.
Small Business, Big Impact | 3

CHAPTER 2
Barriers and Opportunities
If small businesses represent such a large opportunity for environ‐
mental savings and they can benefit financially by going green, why
are they less likely to be engaged in sustainable business endeavors
than their larger counterparts?
Consider the Cox Conserves Sustainability Survey published in
2015. It gauged perceptions of small and medium-sized businesses
toward sustainability and the actions they have taken. In the sur‐
vey, only 57 percent of companies with less than $10 million in
annual revenue reported implementing environmentally conscious
steps like using energy-efficient lighting and equipment or conserv‐
ing supplies, compared to the 90 percent of companies with $100
million or more in annual revenue who reported doing the same.
That’s a significant difference.
Small businesses are less engaged because they have been over‐
looked and underserved. This situation has resulted from a combi‐
nation of factors. In part, small businesses have not been the focal
point for external forces like environmental non-government organ‐
izations (eNGOs), analyst ratings for investors, government audits
and voluntary programs, consultants, or solutions providers.
The other key factor is internal inertia. Without a sense of why these
endeavors are worthwhile, how to begin taking action, what resour‐
ces are required, and when they will see a return on their invest‐
ment, it’s easier for a small businesses to stay the course—especially
when the organization’s sheer survival requires unwavering attention
day to day.
5

The Focus on Big Business
While self-enlightenment can be a motivator, most companies begin
examining the sustainability of their business based on outside
influences. One very notable case is McDonald’s. In the late 1980s, it
was receiving substantial public pressure to reduce the impact of
packaging and waste in its restaurants. Then, in August of 1990,
McDonald’s teamed up with the Environmental Defense Fund, an
eNGO focused on industry transformation. Together, they found
ways to reduce McDonald’s solid waste—most famously switching
the packaging for sandwiches like the Big Mac from polystyrene
foam “clamshells” to paper-based wraps. This decreased their pack‐
aging volume by 70–90 percent and reduced the operational
cost, landfill space consumed, energy used, and pollutant releases
over the life of the packaging.
So why did the Environmental Defense Fund choose to work with
McDonald’s rather than a local restaurant or a small franchise? The
answer is scale and brand awareness. By focusing its limited resour‐
ces on a major organization, one that had more than 8,500 restau‐
rants in the US alone at the time, it could impact a significant
portion of the waste stream. Because McDonald’s is a national insti‐
tution, its work with this leading chain would also garner a lot of
public attention and hold considerable sway with other organiza‐
tions it approached. That’s why eNGOs tend to focus on large com‐
panies with major brands.
Fast forward 25 years, and the same holds true. In 2015, Greenpeace
updated its report entitled "Clicking Clean: A Guide to Building the
Green Internet.” In this ongoing exposé, it discloses the energy foot‐
print of major Internet companies (e.g., Amazon, Apple, Google,
and Facebook) and scores them based on action taken to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. The report could have featured a wide
range of smaller, less well-known Internet companies, but that
approach would have had several drawbacks. It would have required
a tremendous amount of research into data that may not be tracked
or even publicly available. The combined contributions of these
companies toward climate change would barely register. Also, few
Internet users would be aware of these companies or regularly
encounter them. In short, focusing on major corporate brands gives
eNGOs the biggest bang for their buck.
6 | Chapter 2: Barriers and Opportunities

Likewise, government agencies and regulators also need to deploy
their resources judiciously. While environmental legislation at the
city, state, and federal levels tends to apply equally to all businesses,
small and large, within a jurisdiction, enforcement is another matter
altogether. In the US, a desire for “less government” often leaves
public agencies perpetually operating in an atmosphere of financial
austerity. With few resources to deploy when auditing and prosecut‐
ing businesses for compliance, they have to be selective about where
they focus their efforts.
Most public agencies tend to concentrate on companies that could
have a large impact, are highly recognizable to constituents, and
possess deep pockets that can accommodate sizable fines or settle‐
ments. Case in point, the state of California has been actively inves‐
tigating and prosecuting companies for hazardous waste disposal
infractions. In recent years, Walmart, Target, Rite Aid, and CVS
have all fallen under the state’s scrutiny. Two of the latest, Comcast
and AT&T, were cited primarily for improper disposal of electronic
waste. Altogether, these companies have agreed to pay more than
$200 million in fines.
This approach leaves major companies in the crosshairs, while
smaller businesses tend to fly under the radar. Occasionally, infor‐
mation about a particularly egregious violation by a small business
arises through a whistle blower, non-governmental watchdog, or
media investigation. Executive Recycling is an excellent example.
Two executives of this small business were fined and sentenced for
falsely advertising environmentally friendly recycling practices and
then exporting electronic waste containing toxic materials to devel‐
oping countries for disposal. Authorities received a tip and evidence
from a watchdog group, the Basel Action Network. Notwithstanding
these exceptions, regulators usually strive to keep all businesses
in line, including small ones, by making public examples of the big
guys.
An entire sustainability industry has emerged in response to the
focus and attention that enterprise-sized businesses have received.
Initially, these green consultants, service providers, and product
developers helped large companies comply with environmental reg‐
ulations and cope with increasing public pressure to adopt more
eco-friendly operations. However, the breadth and depth of their
offerings have evolved. Today, they enable major corporations to go
above and beyond mandatory efforts. They help identify and
The Focus on Big Business | 7

address natural resource constraints that could disrupt supply
chains; analyze and optimize the use of energy and raw materials to
offset rising prices; drive process and product innovation that cre‐
ates business value while reducing environmental impact; track, ver‐
ify, and report performance in these areas; and wrap the story of this
sustainable approach into their client’s brand.
The good news for small businesses is that big businesses have done
much of the heavy lifting in this space. Their deep pockets and
urgency to put solutions in place has spawned a rich and fertile mar‐
ketplace for sustainability solutions. It has also given rise to a vast
body of case studies highlighting the positive return on investment
(ROI) associated with many of these solutions. As a result, sources
of funding and financial incentives from the public and private sec‐
tor have become commonplace and continue to grow.
This puts small businesses in an enviable position. They can essen‐
tially leapfrog over the lengthy development process and learning
curve that the marketplace and their larger counterparts had to
endure. Small businesses can tap into many of today’s resources for
achieving a more environmentally sustainable and profitable busi‐
ness just as they are. Many of the remaining resources can be modi‐
fied to fit the needs of a small venture with relative ease.
Overcoming Inertia
Understanding that much of the groundwork has already been done
to enable their green transformation, what prevents more small
businesses from taking action? REV, a consultancy that helps organ‐
izations accelerate the impact of their sustainability efforts, has iden‐
tified several challenges.
In a 2015 white paper, "“Bringing Sustainability and Profit to Small
to Mid-Sized Businesses,” REV offers this insight:
Though critical to a thriving, sustainable economy, small to mid-
sized businesses are considered a hard-to-reach market. Current
obstacles include lack of awareness, misperception that sustainabil‐
ity comes at a high cost; belief that sustainable practices are relevant
to large companies only; uncertainty around the process and ‘how-
to,' not knowing who to turn to in a crowded and confused market‐
place; and lack of funding.
It should come as little surprise that awareness and applicability are
two of the primary obstacles. Even though terms like climate change

and recycling have permeated society and daily conversation, small
business owners, who are often operating in start-up or growth
mode, are all-consumed with advancing the business. Most have
developed an extraordinary ability to tune out anything that seems
to be immaterial or that might add questionable value to their com‐
pany—things like sustainability or being green.
Yes, a growing number of small businesses are being founded on
environmental principles (e.g., offering products that are local,
organic, or nontoxic; or donating a portion of profits to nature
restoration). However, many are coming from a different frame of
mind. Sustainability can seem like something big companies do
because they have the luxury of reliable cash flow, a nice financial
cushion, and specialized employees who can pursue it solely for PR
value. That’s far from the reality in which most small ventures are
immersed. Since they usually operate under lean conditions, focus is
paramount. Anything that siphons attention from delivering on the
core business can be seen as a threat to the company’s survival—a
real concern given that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports just
about half of companies are still in business five years after their
inception, and only about a third survive beyond 10 years.
Important advancements in perception can come from simply
reframing terms like sustainability, though. Daniel Hill, cofounder
and president of the Green Impact Campaign, has done just that. He
brings it home in a way that likely resonates with all small business
owners when he says, “The term ' sustainability’ has begun to mean
many things. Most people associate it with composting and environ‐
mentalism. I’m unsure how many small businesses are focused on
those things, but when it is defined in business terms—reducing
operating costs through things like reducing utility costs and
increasing profits—then yes, I believe most small businesses are
focused on sustainability. I don’t think the problem is getting small
businesses interested in sustainability. The problem is that those
businesses are not getting the tailored services they want. We need
to create more small-business-focused services and outreach to give
them what they need to start reducing their energy use.”
The good news is that interest is on the rise. According to a study
conducted by Office Depot, more small businesses are engaging in
sustainability than ever before. The study reports that 51 percent of
small businesses planned to be greener in 2016, a sizable increase
from the 34 percent that said the same in 2013. While organizations
Overcoming Inertia | 9

like the Green Impact Campaign can help these small businesses
identify opportunities for greater sustainability and savings at no
cost (more about that in Chapter 7), technology, like solutions pow‐
ered by the 3IoT, can help them exploit those opportunities. IoT-
enabled solutions can also address another major obstacle that
prevents small businesses from pursuing sustainability—not having
enough people with sufficient time or expertise to figure out how to
optimize the company’s use of natural resources.
IoT with the Assist
By now, you understand that much of sustainability is about operat‐
ing more efficiently and using fewer resources. Small businesses that
operate leanly can save money, lighten their impact on the environ‐
ment, and still delight customers. They can benefit just like the big
guys, and maybe more so. Proportionally, their business is likely to
have more low-hanging fruit to pursue, and there are more products
and services available than ever before to help them succeed. This
includes IoT-enabled solutions that can monitor, track, and analyze
resource data within their business. The question is, “Where do
you start?”
The next three chapters showcase a wide range of IoT-enabled solu‐
tions that can help small businesses streamline their use of natural
resources like energy, fuel, and water. These solutions can address
the shortage of people and time by augmenting staff and acting like
virtual employees dedicated to specific tasks. Many of the solutions
also draw from a vast body of online intelligence (e.g., data, algo‐
rithms, and expertise) to automate certain operations and to help
owners and employees to make more informed decisions about
resource deployment.
Knowing that cost and a relatively swift payback are important to
small businesses, each solution is accompanied by a dashboard. This
image will make it easy to visualize the initial investment, payback
period, cost savings, and effort involved with installing the solu‐
tion. Where possible, a brief case study accompanies the solution
overview as well. It highlights how the solution has been imple‐
mented and how the results can provide a competitive edge.

CHAPTER 3
Reduce Energy with IoT
From buildings and lighting to equipment and electronics, every
business requires energy to run. Today, most of that energy comes
from burning fossil fuels. For instance, in 2015, two-thirds of the
electricity in the US was generated from coal, natural gas, and petro‐
leum. Additionally, natural gas remains the standard fuel source
used for heating in this country.
Generating power from fossils fuels releases greenhouse gases
(GHGs); primarily, water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide, and fluorinated gases. Water vapor dissipates in a few days,
but the rest are more persistent. As they accumulate in the atmos‐
phere, they absorb the sun’s energy and slow or prevent the loss of
heat to space. GHGs act like a blanket, making Earth warmer than it
would otherwise be. Rising global temperatures can cause signifi‐
cant, and often unpredictable, shifts in climate and weather. As a
result, this can increase risk for businesses—potentially constraining
or interrupting the flow of resources in their supply chains, imped‐
ing their own ability to operate, and reducing the capacity of some
customers—because they are dealing with these changing condi‐
tions—to buy goods and services.
A sustainable response to this situation is for businesses to become
more energy efficient and shift to non-carbon-based power sour‐
ces. Optimizing energy use and adopting renewable energy can gen‐
erate short- and long-term financial savings and help to slow, and
eventually reverse, the effects of climate change. These shifts are rel‐
atively easy to make. They can come through changing policies and
11

behavior, upgrading equipment and buildings, and even implement‐
ing IoT-based solutions that enable greater energy efficiency and
help maximize investments in renewable energy. The key is knowing
where to begin.
The first step is learning what drives energy use within the business.
With that knowledge in hand, it’s easier to prioritize which effi‐
ciency measures to pursue. While the energy profile of each busi‐
ness is unique, industry averages can provide general insights.
The Business Energy Advisor website, developed by E Source, is just
such a resource. Drawing upon data produced by the US Energy
Information Administration, it freely publishes average energy
profiles for businesses ranging from farms to ice rinks. It also rec‐
ommends actions, tailored by business type, for enhancing energy
efficiency.
To illustrate how energy profiles differ between industries, consider
the three types of commercial buildings compared in Figure 3-1:
restaurant, grocery store, and small-to-midsize office. As the chart
shows, restaurants and grocery stores use the majority of their elec‐
tricity for refrigeration. Thus, refrigeration should be a top priority
for energy efficiency projects, followed by lighting and cooling. Gro‐
cery stores can also target heating for additional savings. It accounts
for most of their remaining electricity and natural gas use. For res‐
taurants, it’s about food preparation. Cooking, water heating, and
ventilation comprise most of their remaining electricity and natural
gas use. The primary focus for small-to-midsize offices should be
lighting, heating, and cooling, which represent their largest end uses
of electricity and natural gas. Offices also use more electricity to
power computer and office equipment than restaurants and grocery
stores. This is an additional area to plumb for energy savings.
12 | Chapter 3: Reduce Energy with IoT

Figure 3-1. Average profile of electricity and natural gas use by build‐
ing type (source: E Source analysis of US Energy Information Adminis‐
tration data)
In general terms, here’s what each stands to gain:
• Office buildings in the US spend an average of $1.34 per square
foot on electricity and 18¢ per square foot on natural gas each
year. This makes them the least energy-intensive of the three
business types compared. However, electricity and natural gas
amount to nearly 20 percent of total expenditures for a typical
Reduce Energy with IoT | 13

office building annually. Reducing that cost can make a sizable
contribution to the bottom line.
• Restaurants have nearly 2.5 times the energy intensity of office
buildings and, in the US, spend an average of $2.90 per square
foot on electricity and 85¢ per square foot on natural gas each
year. Although energy accounts for only 3 to 5 percent of a typi‐
cal restaurant’s total annual operating expenses, it’s a reduction
worth pursuing as the profit margin for most restaurants is thin.
In May 2015, Sageworks, a leading source for financial data on
privately held companies, estimated net profit for restaurants
and other eating places to be 4.6 percent. Since ENERGY STAR
estimates most small businesses can easily cut energy costs by
10 to 30 percent without sacrificing service, quality, style, or
comfort, assume that the restaurant in this scenario shoots for
the middle—a 20 percent reduction. For a typical 15,000-
square-foot restaurant, this would return $11,250 to the bottom
line. With a profit margin of 4.6 percent, a restaurant would
have to increase its sales by nearly a quarter million dollars
($244,565) per year to make a similar contribution to the busi‐
ness’s profitability.
• Grocery stores have 2.76 times the energy intensity of office
buildings, the highest of all three business types compared. On
average, grocery stores in the US spend an average of $3.95 on
electricity and 24¢ on natural gas per square foot annually. This
accounts for just 1 percent of total business costs. Seemingly lit‐
tle, unless one considers that grocery stores operate on an even
thinner net profit margin than restaurants—1.7 percent, accord‐
ing to Sageworks, in March 2015. Assuming that the typical
46,000 square-foot grocery store achieves the same 20 percent
reduction in energy costs as the restaurant above, this would
return $38,548 to the bottom line. With a profit margin of 1.7
percent, a store would have to sell nearly $2.3 million more gro‐
ceries each year to make a similar contribution to the business’s
profitability.
It’s clear that strategic investments in energy efficiency can yield sig‐
nificant savings. The key for a small business is finding affordable
solutions that are easy to install, operate, and maintain. This is
essential as there are limits to the venture’s money, staff, and “know-
how,” and these existing resources are usually laser-focused on deliv‐

ering the core business. Now consider how technology can assist,
especially product enhancements and IoT-enabled solutions.
Saving on Illumination with Smart Lighting
Start with the small-to-midsize office just highlighted. One of every
five dollars spent on its operating cost is allocated to energy. One
third of that covers lighting—the largest single line item in its
energy profile. The easiest way to begin reducing energy in this cate‐
gory is to upgrade the lamping and bulbs in the office. Advances in
product design have created a new generation of products that offer
the same level of illumination, last many times longer, and use just a
fraction of the electricity required by traditional lighting. Basic tips
on how to capture those energy savings can be found in the
free office lighting checklist developed and published by the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Many utilities and
cities across the country offer rebates to make lighting upgrades
more affordable. In Chapter 7, several resources are identified that
can help small businesses reduce the financial cost of pursuing this
and similar energy efficiency projects.
What if the lighting system were self-aware? What if it could detect
whether light was needed in a space, and if so, provide just the right
amount of illumination to complement the natural light that is
already present? Imagine how much more energy could be saved if
the system had this capability. Enlighted, represented in Figure 3-2
and the first of many IoT-enabled solution providers that will be
covered in this report, has introduced an Intelligent Lighting Con‐
trol System that does just that.
Figure 3-2. Dashboard for Enlighted’s Intelligent Lighting Control
System
Saving on Illumination with Smart Lighting | 15

The Enlighted system involves three main elements:
• Smart sensors and their powerpack control units; one pair for
every lighting fixture within the building
• Communications gateway; typically one per floor
• Energy manager device; one per building
The system can easily be deployed with new lighting upgrades or the
lighting that already exists. No new wiring is required for the build‐
ing, and installation can be done without the need to design, pre-
engineer, or even hire certified technicians. The first step is
installing the smart sensors and their power packs to each lighting
ballast. They work with all types of lamps, including fluorescent and
LED. Enlighted estimates that this will take about 20 minutes per
fixture. Once installed, the sensors can detect the occupancy, tem‐
perature, and ambient light in a space and manage the lights to pro‐
vide just the right level of illumination. Tying the sensors to
individual fixtures also enables illumination just where its needed.
For instance, when one or two employees are working, it can auto‐
matically provide a comfortably lit workspace for each while dim‐
ming unoccupied areas, rather than illuminating the entire office
work row.
Data is gathered in the following way. All of the smart sensors relay
their detection and energy usage data through an encrypted, wire‐
less connection to the gateway installed on their corresponding
floor. Those gateways then pass it along to a server-class device
called the Enlighted Energy Manager. It tracks and analyzes the
energy savings, which building managers can view through a web-
based interface. It also provides real-time input on occupancy, light,
and temperature for other building energy efficiency systems.
Examples include demand-response systems that help shift or shave
building electricity use during times when overall use is peaking on
the electrical grid resulting in higher prices per kilowatt hour
(kWh), and intelligent heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
(HVAC) systems that strive to provide warmth, cooling, or
improved air quality within a building just where it’s needed.
Based on customer installations to date covering more than 30 mil‐
lion square feet of commercial real estate space, Enlighted estimates
that the system can reduce energy use for lighting by more than
half. For example, one business deployed the solution for 150 light

fixtures in its 35,000-square-foot office building and achieved a 70
percent savings over an 18-month period.
Managing Light and Heat with Smart
Windows
Another way small businesses can save on lighting and reduce
HVAC costs in buildings is by using smart windows. Brandon Tinia‐
nov, vice president of business development for View, Inc., frames
the opportunity well when he says, “Glass is the gateway to energy
flow in a building—both light and heat.” Glass window panes bring
the sunshine indoors. As more natural light passes through, a build‐
ing needs less artificial light to provide a comfortable experience for
its occupants. Likewise, as solar heat is transmitted through win‐
dows, it impacts how much heating and cooling a building requires
to keep occupants comfortable. The Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory estimates that 34 percent of the total annual energy used
to condition spaces inside commercial buildings is in response to
the amount of heat entering or leaving through window panes.
View Dynamic Glass, represented in Figure 3-3, is an IoT-enabled
solution that helps businesses reign in the energy consumed via
HVAC and lighting. This intelligent window is similar to the photo‐
chromic Transitions lenses used in eyeglasses that darken or lighten
based on their exposure to specific light (i.e., photo means light;
chromic means color). Here’s how dynamic glass differs. Sandwiched
between panes of glass in the window are thin layers of metal oxide
that form an electrochromic ceramic coating (i.e., electro means elec‐
trical). By applying a tiny amount of voltage to the glass, the window
can be darkened or lightened to just the right level. This technology
offers businesses the freedom to automatically or manually control
the tinting, which can prevent uncomfortable glare and excess solar
heat from passing through the glass while still transmitting as much
natural daylight through the window as possible.
Figure 3-3. Dashboard for View Dynamic Glass
Managing Light and Heat with Smart Windows | 17

The View Dynamic Glass system achieves this balance through a
network of devices that communicate with each other and draw
from embedded, predictive, and real-time intelligence. Each window
has its own unique IP address and is equipped with a controller. It
delivers electronic signals to the glass, changing its state from trans‐
parent to the desired level of tint. Windows can be changed individ‐
ually, in predetermined groups (or zones), or on one side of the
building all at once. All of the individual window controllers com‐
municate with a master controller on site. This apparatus provides
guidance for all of the windows in the building and serves as the
central communication point for the rooftop light sensor, the wall-
mounted and mobile device interfaces (which enable employees to
manually control the tinting), the manufacturer’s automatic control
system, and even an existing building automation system that con‐
trols HVAC and lighting, if one is already in place.
Like a living system, the state of the building’s windows changes flu‐
idly throughout the day when in automatic mode. A light-sensitive
weather mast on the roof detects clear or cloudy skies from every
direction, providing real-time feedback for the glass. In addition,
View continuously runs a series of algorithms that analyze streams
of relevant data to optimize the windows performance. For example:
• Astronomical data is analyzed to determine the exact angle of
the sun at any time during the year in relation to the building’s
location to help prevent glare.
• Predictive weather feeds are assessed to determine when cloud
cover may require a change in tinting to help maximize natural
daylight.
• Based on predetermined heat loads for different spaces within
the building, algorithms constantly calculate the sun’s energy and
how much solar heat to deflect to help control indoor tempera‐
tures throughout the day.
A system like this is a solution worth considering for any small busi‐
ness that is planning new construction, a remodel, or even replacing
an aging HVAC system. The product has been deployed in buildings
as small as 30,000 square feet. View has also conducted a 12-month
energy-monitoring comparison between two identical office rooms
—one equipped with dynamic glass and one with low-e glass (a
standard, energy-efficient glass that has a low thermal e, or emissiv‐
ity coating). Overall, the room with View Dynamic Glass saved 39

percent of the total energy consumed for heating, cooling, and light‐
ing compared to the low-e glass room. The savings was as high as 87
percent on the weekends when the office would be unoccupied, the
set point for temperature was higher, and the tint was automatically
adjusted to its darkest setting.
View customers typically experience a return on their investment on
energy savings alone in less than five years, and some within 36
months. Other financial benefits include saving money on structural
elements on the building’s exterior that provide shade, as well as
blinds or curtains inside that are no longer needed.
Cooling Expenses with Smart HVAC Solutions
It’s clear. Smart windows can be a smart decision for a small business
that wants to achieve energy savings and improve the indoor experi‐
ence, but how else might you drive down energy costs associated
with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning for a building?
Start with the basics. When buying new systems or replacing ones
that have reached their end of life, choose energy-efficient equip‐
ment. The EPA and US Department of Energy (DOE) have teamed
up to help you find it easily. They have established a program called
ENERGY STAR that identifies some of the most energy-efficient
products for sale in the US. To carry the ENERGY STAR label, a
product must undergo an expert analysis and testing by a third party
to prove its quality, performance, and efficiency. A quick and easy
way find products that have passed the test with flying colors, like
HVAC products for light commercial applications, is by visiting the
ENERGY STAR website.
Another step you can take is checking whether any conditioned air
is leaking from the facility in which your business operates or its
HVAC ducts. Whether you’re heating or cooling air, it’s a significant
expense. When some of that air is siphoned off as it circulates
indoors or slips through poorly insulated spots of your building’s
exterior, part of that investment is lost. The ENERGY STAR website
offers tips on sealing and insulation that can help. While the advice
was written with homeowners in mind, much of it applies to small
businesses as well. Using information from the site, create an action
plan to make air ducts and the envelope of your building airtight.
Then turn your attention to two other areas of low-hanging fruit for
Cooling Expenses with Smart HVAC Solutions | 19

energy efficiency: air filters and thermostats. Both can be optimized
using IoT technology.
Whether an HVAC system is heating, cooling, or humidifying the
air within your building, it relies on one common denominator to
get the job done—circulation. It needs to cycle conditioned air
throughout the building or specific zones to achieve desired indoor
temperatures. The harder a fan motor in your HVAC system has to
work to move the air around, the more energy it consumes. For
example, filtration is one aspect that can impede airflow, but it’s a
trade off that most of us are prepared to make. HVAC systems use
air filters that clean the air as it circulates. The minimal resistance
these filters present to airflow is worth all of the health benefits that
come from breathing clean air. The challenge is that air filters need
to be regularly cleaned or replaced, which often goes overlooked.
“Clogged, dirty filters block normal airflow and reduce a system’s
efficiency significantly,” according the US Department of Energy.
“Replacing a dirty, clogged filter with a clean one can lower your air
conditioner’s energy consumption by 5 to 15 percent.”
One simple IoT solution that can help small businesses pocket those
savings is a product that monitors airflow and sends alerts when an
air filter is ready be cleaned or changed. FILTERSCAN, produced by
CleanAlert and represented in Figure 3-4, does just that. Available
for $99, this battery-operated device monitors the difference in air
pressure around the air filter to determine when it’s getting clogged.
It then notifies anyone locally with an audible beeper and a green-
yellow-red LED status light. Since the device is WiFi-enabled, it can
also send texts and emails to designated personnel. It even has
an optional wired output to route the alert through an existing
building automation system. The device recalibrates after the filter
has been serviced so it can begin monitoring the filter’s status
through its next cycle.
Figure 3-4. Dashboard for CleanAlert’s FILTERSCAN
Beyond airflow, the most crucial job an HVAC system performs for
your business is maintaining an optimal indoor temperature for

everyone and everything inside your facility. That’s where thermo‐
stats come into play. They monitor air temperature in an entire
building or zones within a building. When the temperature varies
from a point set by the user, the thermostat signals either the fur‐
nace or air conditioner to run until the indoor temperature reaches
the set point. Historically, thermostats were manual devices. They
were adjusted physically by the user and remained at a single set
point until the user adjusted them again. Today, smart thermostats
abound. They can be programmed electronically to achieve different
temperatures at different intervals and can be operated remotely.
For a small business that has only one building with a single zone
and a solitary HVAC system, energy management can be easily
achieved with a smart residential thermostat. Many electric and gas
utilities will provide and install a WiFi-enabled programmable ther‐
mostat for free upon request. The thermostat enables the user to
save energy by scheduling changes in temperature based on when
and how the building will be used around the clock and throughout
the year. This programming can be done in person or, in many
cases, remotely through a web-based interface on your computer or
a mobile app on your smartphone or tablet.
Through an upfront agreement with the user, the utility may also
use the WiFi Internet connection to slightly adjust the thermostat’s
set point during times of high demand or peak power usage. Want
to maintain full control? Or is this offer is not available through
your utility? Never fear. Smart, residential-grade thermostats are
affordable and easy to install.
For instance, the 3rd gen Nest Learning Thermostat, represented in
Figure 3-5, is available for a retail price of $249. Installation is sim‐
ple and straightforward. Nest estimates that it takes just 20–30
minutes to replace an old thermostat with the new one, which is
WiFi-capable. After it’s installed and connected to the Internet, there
is no programming required. Just adjust the Nest thermostat man‐
ually or via a mobile app on your smartphone for the first week. It
learns your preferences and patterns, then starts adjusting itself
automatically. It also uses input from a built-in motion sensor to
determine when your business is occupied. When no one is there,
the Auto-Away feature activates for additional cost savings. At any
time, the user can adjust the system. It continues to learn.
Cooling Expenses with Smart HVAC Solutions | 21

Figure 3-5. Dashboard for Nest Learning Thermostat
What kind of energy savings can be experienced? Based on the
results of independent studies, Nest thermostats saved users on
average about 10–12 percent on heating and about 15 percent
on cooling. Typically, that’s enough to pay for itself in less than two
years.
If your business operates in several buildings or has multiple zones
within a building, it would be more effective to implement
commercial-grade thermostats. One such solution is the ecobee
EMS (Energy Management System), represented in Figure 3-6.
Figure 3-6. Dashboard for ecobee EMS
It’s a good fit for small businesses where a basic programmable ther‐
mostat is not enough and a full-scale building automation system is
too complicated and costly. The fully loaded thermostat, which has a
touchscreen control and the ability to interact with up to four
remote sensors, can be purchased online for around $400. Its instal‐
lation is more complex than the Nest, so be prepared to hire an
HVAC contractor to get it connected.
Here’s how it works. In most cases, multiple ecobee EMS thermo‐
stats are deployed. They are directly connected to the HVAC sys‐
tems in different facilities (e.g., in each store owned and operated by
the same retailer) or in different zones throughout a single
facility (e.g., in an office building as large as 25,000 square feet that
has multiple rooftop units for handling air).
All of the thermostats are WiFi-enabled, so they can be managed
remotely through a single web portal or smartphone app. Settings
for each device can be programmed individually or in groups to
standardize operations across zones and locations. Ranges can be

programmed that allow employees to adjust the thermostat on site
within a few degrees of the target temperature that you set. ecobee
EMS thermostats also have built-in algorithms that can do the work
for you. Drawing from the space’s energy profile and its occupancy
patterns, live weather feeds, and an array of other data points, the
system can adjust indoor temperatures for optimal comfort and
energy savings. The web portal also offers diagnostics and reporting
tools that can alert you about issues with equipment performance
and help you remotely isolate and assess the cause—saving you
administrative time and money on service calls.
Since there are no recurring fees associated with ecobee EMS ther‐
mostats beyond the cost of purchasing, installing, and powering
them, the average payback period is less than one year. According to
ecobee, customers have reported energy savings between 8–50 per‐
cent month over month.
Deploying Total Energy Management
Solutions
On their own, each of the aforementioned solutions are powerful
tools that can help a small business focus on one aspect of energy
use and savings. What if you’d like to address them collectively?
For example, earlier in this chapter, it was noted that restaurants and
grocery stores use a considerable amount of energy for refrigeration,
cooking, and water heating in addition to lighting, heating, and
cooling. Is there a comprehensive solution that monitors
and controls energy usage for lighting, HVAC, and other equipment
in a facility, while also optimizing operations and maintenance
schedules?
The answer is yes. Holistic solutions exist that allow a small business
to visualize and optimize energy use at a granular level throughout
and entire organization’s operations. While some solutions offer
analytics and insights, others go beyond to provide control as well.
Panoramic Power, represented in Figure 3-7, is an example of the
former.
Deploying Total Energy Management Solutions | 23

Figure 3-7. Dashboard for Panoramic Power
At the heart of the Panoramic Power solution are low-cost, self-
powered wireless sensors with an innovative design. When closed,
they look like long cubes that are slightly smaller than a pill bottle.
They’re hinged on one side, so when opened, they resemble a block-
like version of Pac-Man, mouth wide open. The sensors snap and fit
around an electrical wire that leads out of the control panel into the
equipment you’d like to monitor. The fitting is noninvasive and does
not cut through the wire’s conduit.
The sensor fits just snugly enough to do two things. First, it senses
how much electricity is flowing through the wire to the equip‐
ment. Second, it harvests enough energy from the wire’s electromag‐
netic field to power itself perpetually. This design makes it simple,
quick, and easy to deploy sensors across your operations, and they
are virtually maintenance-free.
The sensors, each with their own unique ID number, relay data on
energy usage in real time to a communications bridge via a wireless
connection. Each bridge device can receive data from up to 200 sen‐
sors. It then relays that collective data every 10 seconds to a cloud-
based analytics platform, called PowerRadar, which monitors,
measures, and reports electricity consumption. Users can view this
platform via a web-based dashboard or smartphone app, making
it easy to understand how electricity is being used at the individual
circuit level throughout an entire facility and across multiple loca‐
tions. It also alerts users of peaks and anomalies in energy consump‐
tion caused by a range of factors, including inefficiencies, improper
usage, and early signs of equipment failure. All of these point to
opportunities for savings.
What might that look like for restaurant owners? “By implementing
device-level monitoring of energy consumption, owners and their
employees gain unmatched visibility into the devices running their
restaurants and can easily identify systems that are inefficient or
improperly used,” says Yaniv Vardi, chief executive officer for Panor‐
amic Power. “For example, managers can be alerted when lighting

systems operate during off hours, if cooking equipment idles super‐
fluously, if a fryer needs maintenance, or when cooling and heating
systems inadvertently work concurrently. Armed with this informa‐
tion, a restaurant can immediately take action to eliminate their
energy waste, improves processes, and reduce their expense.”
A sampling of Panoramic Power case studies across industries
shows that customers have been able to save 5–15 percent on energy
bills and experience tens of thousands of dollars in operational
improvements by implementing the solution. They also have experi‐
enced ROIs ranging from 6–18 months.
While sensors, backed by a cloud-based analytic platform, can offer
valuable insights, some businesses may want to go a step further.
Rather than just receiving actionable intelligence, they may want to
remotely or automatically control their building’s electronic equip‐
ment in response. One energy management solution that offers this
type of comprehensive package is GridPoint. It’s represented in
Figure 3-8.
Figure 3-8. Dashboard for GridPoint
In addition to providing submeters that can track the energy used
by each electric-powered asset in your facility; sensors that can
monitor variables like temperature, light, humidity, and CO2; and a
cloud-based software platform that can collect, analyze, and help
make sense of all this data, they also provide control devices for
HVAC systems and indoor and outdoor lighting.
For one restaurant franchise owner, here’s what the GridPoint
deployment looked like in each of the six Burger King locations
where it was piloted:
Controls and submeters
Connected to five HVAC units as well as parking, kitchen, din‐
ing, and signage lights
Deploying Total Energy Management Solutions | 25

Submeters
Also added to cooler/freezer, ovens, fryers, fryer fans, broiler
fans, biscuit ovens, egg cookers, and water heaters, plus ice,
milkshake, and slush machines
Monitors
Sensing HVAC runtime, zone and supply temperatures, cooler/
freezer temperatures, and cooler/freezer door position
The franchise owner, TOMS King, was able to view and assess all of
the wirelessly collected data through a cloud-based platform called
GridPoint Energy Manager, which is accessible through a web portal
or smartphone app. The platform enabled TOMS King to adjust lev‐
els and program schedules for heating, cooling, and lighting at each
location. It also provided algorithms to help avoid sudden surges of
electrical demand when bringing overnight temperatures back to
normal levels at the start of each day and alerts to indicate when
monitored items, like the HVAC system and cooler/freezer, were
operating outside the normal range. Additionally, through a sub‐
scription to GridPoint’s advisory services, the company also received
assistance with setting controls for HVAC and lighting and identify‐
ing opportunities to save more energy and operational expenses
based on further data analysis. Gridpoint has helped clients like
TOMS King save up to 30 percent on energy, operational, and main‐
tenance expenses with an 18–36 month payback period.
While the examples offered here have focused on restaurants, Pan‐
oramic Power, GridPoint, and similar energy management solutions
are versatile. They can be used in a wide range of businesses from
retail, grocery, and convenience stores to offices, data centers, and
health clinics. Energy management solutions can help you under‐
stand your business in a whole new way. It can be like removing a
veil. For the first time, you can see usage, patterns, inefficiencies,
and behavior that may have always been there but were unknown.
Not only is this a real rush, it’s empowering. Decisions are often only
as good as what’s known when they are made. As your knowledge
grows, your ability to make smarter decisions about the direction of
your business improves as well.

CHAPTER 4
Save Fuel with IoT
Small ventures rely on electricity in a wide variety of ways, but for
many, it’s not the only thing powering their business. A lot of
companies with 500 or fewer employees rely on transportation or
delivery for their operations. Think of couriers, shuttle services,
brewing companies, furniture stores, florists, landscapers, painters,
plumbers, electricians, and towing firms. What do they have in
common? Each depends on company-owned vehicles to get the job
done. It could be a single car, truck, or delivery van, or even a small
fleet. Regardless of the type, almost all of those vehicles are being
fueled by gasoline or diesel. With an average price of just over $2.30
per gallon for both fuel types when this report was written, small
businesses can generate significant savings by becoming more fuel
efficient.
A report published by the Environmental Defense Fund and PHH
Arval does a wonderful job of sizing up this opportunity. It states,
“Medium-duty trucks, identified as Classes 3–6, are the workhorses
of the American economy. These vehicles deliver food and bever‐
ages to restaurants and convenience stores, drop off packages at
homes and offices, serve as mobile workshops for all types of techni‐
cians, and perform thousands of other daily tasks. They also use a
lot of fuel—over 8 billion gallons a year.” That’s an annual cost
of $18.4 billion dollars at the aforementioned price. The report goes
on to say that medium-duty trucks emit more than 13 metric tons of
carbon dioxide per vehicle per year on average. To put that in per‐
spective, it would take more than 12 acres of US forests just to
27

absorb the emissions from one truck for one year. So, being fuel effi‐
cient can also reduce stress on the environment.
The good news is that any business can take some simple steps to
conserve fuel, retaining cash and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
in the process. Following are several areas where you can take
action:
Out-of-route miles
Shorter trips save your business time and money. That’s why it
pays to avoid excess miles when possible. Using GPS technology
is an easy way to optimize routes. The Carbon War Room notes
that it’s especially advantageous for intracity trucking, reducing
mileage by 5–10 percent. Businesses can also benefit from
knowing where field personnel are relative to the next job that
needs to be serviced. Ideally, the closest individual who’s best-
suited for the occasion would always be sent. Using GPS-
powered, location-based solutions can optimize dispatching and
reduce vehicle miles as well.
Idling
Argonne National Laboratory studied commercial trucks and
found that all sizes idle for extended periods (30 minutes or
more) during workdays. Often, it happens as their drivers are
waiting to pick up or drop off a load. For instance, a basic
enclosed van that drives under 40,000 miles annually averages
600 workday idling hours per year. That wastes an average of
381 gallons of gas per year. Knowing when idling occurs and
setting company policies to restrict how long it happens can
save money and lower your environment impact.
Speeding
The fuel efficiency of vehicles differs by make and model, but
one thing is certain. As soon as you go beyond 50 miles per
hour (mph), you get fewer miles per gallon (mpg). Oak Ridge
National Laboratory studied increasing highway speed and its
effect on fuel economy. Based on a test of 74 light-duty vehicles,
mpg decreased by 12.4 percent from 50 to 60 mph, 14.0 percent
from 60 to 70 mph, and 15.4 percent from 70 to 80 mph. Mod‐
erating speed can improve your triple bottom line, while reduc‐
ing risk for your driver and vehicle.
28 | Chapter 4: Save Fuel with IoT

Aggressive driving
Speeding, rapid acceleration, and forceful braking are hard on
your vehicle and waste gas. According to FuelEconomy.gov, this
can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and
5 percent around town. Driving sensibly reduces vehicle operat‐
ing costs and GHG emissions. It’s also safer for the driver and
everyone else on the road.
Tire pressure
When tires are low on air, they spread out under the vehicle’s
weight and create more rolling pressure. It can reduce gas mile‐
age by 0.3 percent for every 1 pound-per-square-inch drop in
pressure of all four tires according to FuelEconomy.gov.
Improve your mpg and lower fuel emissions by up to 3.3 per‐
cent by keeping your vehicle’s tires inflated to the proper pres‐
sure.
Engine maintenance
Does the system under your hood need attention? FuelEcon‐
omy.gov points to engine maintenance as another opportunity
to increase mileage. Repairing a car that is out of tune or has
failed an emissions test can improve its mpg by an average of 4
percent. Fixing a faulty oxygen sensor can improve mileage by
up to 40 percent. Stay on top of preventive maintenance to
reduce visits to the pump and fuel-related air pollution.
What If Your Fleet Manager Had ESP?
These actions are easy to take when it’s just you behind the wheel.
But it becomes more challenging when your business has multiple
vehicles and you rely on others to do the driving. Typically, it’s hard
to know how a vehicle is being driven unless you’re riding along in
the passenger seat. It’s also challenging to know what mechanical
issues may be undercutting your vehicle’s performance at any given
time. It’s not as if the company truck or delivery van can schedule a
one-on-one meeting with you once a week to provide a status
update. That’s when ESP, or extrasensory perception, would come in
handy. Without being there, you could instantly know what was
happening and address it. Though few, if any, of us have this power,
IoT-based solutions can give everyone these superhuman insights.
Just as Internet-enabled solutions can imbue a building with sensory
intelligence, telematics can do the same for vehicles. Telematics devi‐
What If Your Fleet Manager Had ESP? | 29

ces relay data generated by computerized systems or sensors over
long distances. They tend to rely on signals provided by wireless
carriers, instead of WiFi, making them ideal for cars, trucks, and
vans that are constantly on the move. There are two types of tele‐
matics solutions that can benefit your business, especially if you own
and operate a small fleet and have several employees in the field pro‐
viding deliveries or on-site service to a set of customers that changes
by the day. Both can reduce fuel costs and vehicle emissions. The
first is a fleet management solution, such as FleetLocate, as repre‐
sented in Figure 4-1. The second is a mobile workforce management
solution, such as StreetSmart Workforce.
Figure 4-1. Dashboard for Spireon’s FleetLocate
FleetLocate from Spireon is a solution that can track of all the vehi‐
cles in your fleet, monitor their health, and gauge how they are
being driven. The solution consists of two components: 1) a telemat‐
ics device, equipped with a wireless data plan, that is installed in
each vehicle, and 2) a cloud-based system, Spireon Fleet Mange‐
ment, that receives and analyzes real-time data from your vehicles
and can be viewed through a web dashboard.
The FleetLocate telematics device, the FL7, is a bit smaller than a
pack of playing cards. It has built-in GPS technology that can track
the vehicle’s location and an accelerometer that can sense how much
gravitational force the vehicle encounters while it’s in motion. It also
contains tracking algorithms that can retrace trips and analyze inci‐
dents, and even features an audible buzzer that can provide the
driver with feedback on harsh braking, harsh acceleration, harsh
corners, over-revving, excessive idling, speeding, and seatbelt viola‐
tions.
The FL7 plugs into the vehicle’s on-board diagnostic (OBD II) port.
Think of this as the gateway to the engine’s computer system. The
OBD II comes standard in most vehicles built for the US market
since 1996. It’s always positioned within three feet of the steering
wheel and can usually be found under the dash on the driver’s side.
This port is where your mechanic will connect the repair shop’s digi‐

tal equipment to diagnose issues with the engine’s performance.
Once the FL7 has been plugged in, you also have access to all of that
data and more.
Spireon offers a mid-tier service that has most of the features a small
business likely needs. Each FL7 you purchase under the plan comes
with a one-time activation fee of less than $100 and a recurring
monthly fee of about $40, which includes connectivity for wireless
data. With this plan you can monitor, analyze, and generate reports
on the following features by logging into the Spireon Fleet Manage‐
ment web portal:
Location-based
Tracking, breadcrumb trails, stops, various map views, and
alerts on unauthorized movement and when vehicles enter des‐
ignated areas
Diagnostics
Tire pressure, idling, fuel usage, miles, CO2 emissions, predic‐
tive maintenance, engine diagnostic codes, and notification on
vehicle safety and roadside breakdowns
Behind the wheel
Driver identification, hard breaking and hard acceleration,
coasting, swerving, speed compared to posted limits, and driver
safety scoring
Spireon customers have experienced up to a 50 percent reduction in
accidents by helping drivers identify and reduce risky behaviors.
They also have saved money and vehicle emissions by reducing their
fuel purchases and idle time as much as 15 percent and 50 percent,
respectively. With those results, it’s easy to see how a fleet manage‐
ment solution like Spireon can pay for itself.
The other type of telematics product to consider for your small busi‐
ness is a mobile workforce solution. If you have a team of people in
the field who regularly drive to clients to provide service or trans‐
port goods for your company, you know that it’s essential to opti‐
mize logistics. The more quickly you can get the right personnel to
the right job, the more revenue-generating services you can squeeze
into the day. Likewise, the more swiftly and efficiently you can get
products to your customer’s doorsteps, the more deliveries there are
during the day over which your business can spread fixed costs, and
the lower variable costs (like fuel) can be per delivery. However, to

pull this off, it’s essential to know where the members of your field
team are at any give time relative to the next assignment. That’s
where a mobile workforce package, like StreetSmart from Xora (rep‐
resented in Figure 4-2), can come in handy.
Figure 4-2. Dashboard for Xora’s StreetSmart Workforce
StreetSmart Workforce is a telematics solution that uses the smart‐
phone or tablet your team members already carry as the IoT device,
rather than an ancillary device or sensor. Since this handheld wire‐
less communication equipment already has GPS tracking built into
it, along with a range of other features that can be leveraged for
delivering a better customer experience, it’s an easy way to get even
more out of an existing investment.
StreetSmart Workforce can be licensed for a little more than a dollar
a day per user. That amount covers a mobile app that can be down‐
loaded and installed on each field employee’s hand-held device. It
also includes access to the cloud-based platform that receives and
analyzes data from each of those devices. Your field dispatcher can
access this control center and manage operations through its web-
based portal. Back-office integration for bookkeeping and reporting
is also available.
With this solution, you can view where your mobile workers and
jobs are located at any time, as well as optimal driving routes, all on
Google Maps. You can also see who’s on shift, when they entered or
left or a location, how soon they’ll arrive at the next assignment,
and how many hours they’ve worked this week. Having all of this
information at your fingertips helps you make better field dispatch
decisions.

Xora has found that this additional business intelligence has enabled
most customers to reduce fuel and mileage expenses by up to 15
percent, and overtime by 25 percent or more per mobile
employee. Interested in seeing what this might mean for your busi‐
ness? Check out Xora’s savings calculator online.

CHAPTER 5
Conserve Water with IoT
In addition to energy and fuel, water is another key input to small
businesses that carries financial and environmental costs. Whether
it’s being used to irrigate crops or landscaped grounds, keep people
and equipment cool, manufacture goods, clean items, prepare food,
offer refreshment, or provide sanitation, businesses depend on water
in ways that often go unnoticed. It’s a resource that’s easy to take for
granted in a country like the US where, historically, supplies have
seemed boundless. With many of today’s changing conditions—a
warming climate and increased demand to support growing popula‐
tions and economies, freshwater supplies are in decline and the
price of accessing them is on the rise. That’s why more businesses
are prizing solutions that enable them to optimize water use, main‐
tain operational continuity, and keep expenses in check.
It’s hard to believe that access to water is even an issue on our planet.
This big, blue orb circling the sun that we call Earth is covered with
water. However, the issue is real. To put it in perspective, it may be
helpful to look at some statistics provided by the US Geological Sur‐
vey. Nearly all of the planet’s water, more than 96.5 percent, is in
oceans, seas, and bays. This is salt water, and without treatment, it’s
not viable for human consumption. It’s also difficult to use in most
commercial and agricultural applications because of its corrosive
nature and the contaminants it leaves behind. Freshwater is ideal for
these uses, though. It makes up a little more than 2.5 percent of the
total water that remains. Of that small slice, nearly 69 percent is
frozen in the world’s ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow.
Another 30 percent is in the ground. Freshwater contained in rivers
35

and lakes—the supply that’s most easily accessed and that we rely on
for much of daily life—represents less than 1 percent of all freshwa‐
ter sources and less than 1/100th of a percent of the planet’s total
water supply.
While readily accessible freshwater is a precious resource under nat‐
ural conditions, human activity is further contributing to its scarcity.
For instance, modern lifestyles and business practices are adding
more greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, exacerbating cli‐
mate change. This, in turn, affects freshwater supplies. As the US
Environmental Protection Agency puts it, “The water cycle is a deli‐
cate balance of precipitation, evaporation, and all of the steps in
between. Warmer temperatures increase the rate of evaporation of
water into the atmosphere, in effect increasing the atmosphere’s
capacity to ‘hold’ water. Increased evaporation may dry out some
areas and fall as excess precipitation on other areas.” As the world’s
population grows and the standard living across the globe continues
to rise, demand for water-intensive goods, including food and
energy, increase as well.
These combined factors place our freshwater supplies under signifi‐
cant stress. We are drawing from them faster than they can be natu‐
rally replenished. If the status quo prevails, the United Nations
estimates, “By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or
regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world’s
population could be living under water-stressed conditions.”
It’s likely you are already experiencing one effect of increasing stress
on water supplies—higher costs. To view that trend, look no further
than an annual study conducted by Circle of Blue, a nonprofit that
provides information on the world’s resources, especially water.
Each year the organization surveys utilities in 30 major US cities to
determine the latest price of water. In 2016, they found that rates
were of water. In 2016, they found that rates were up an average of
five percent from the year before and had increased by nearly half
(an average of 48 percent) since 2010.
This upward trend in price is expected to continue as utilities seek to
manage the increasing cost of providing freshwater. As the study
notes, the cheapest sources of water have already been tapped. Exist‐
ing infrastructures for conveying water to businesses and homes are
aging and in need of repair. Also, new investments need to be made
36 | Chapter 5: Conserve Water with IoT

in water treatment and recycling facilities to meet the ongoing needs
of growing communities.
As utilities restructure their rate plans, one element most keep in
mind is equity. As Brett Walton, reporter for Circle of Blue, states,
“Utilities must ensure that rates are fair: affordable for the poorest
and punitive for the water-wasters.” That’s important for a cost-
conscious small business to know. The first gallons of water will
be relatively cheap. As you use more, your unit cost for water will
likely grow.
It’s clear that using less water makes economic sense and can help
conserve a limited resource, but how much are we actually with‐
drawing and who’s consuming it? The US Geological Survey estima‐
ted that the United States used about 355 billion gallons of water per
day in 2010. Most of it was freshwater, 86 percent of the total; the
rest was saline water. Also, the majority came from surface water, 78
percent of the total; the remainder came from ground water sources
that we have to drill down to reach. Once withdrawn, most of the
water was consumed for energy and agriculture. Here are the top
five uses: thermoelectric power (45 percent), crop irrigation (32 per‐
cent), public supply for households (7 percent), public supply for
commercial, industrial, and other (5 percent), and self-supplied
industrial (4 percent). The largest percentage, water used to generate
electricity with steam-driven turbine generators, can be set aside as
it has little relevance to small businesses. However, as every family-
owned farm or vineyard can tell you, irrigation is highly relevant to
their business.
Optimizing Irrigation for Healthier Crops
Rain is a major contributor to crop health, but farmers know that it’s
too risky to assume Mother Nature will always deliver just what’s
needed. Most rely on local sources of freshwater to supplement
nature’s bounty from above, along with a system of pumps and other
irrigating equipment to deliver it to their crops. In its 2013 Farm
and Ranch Irrigation Survey, the US Department of Agriculture
found that about three-quarters of the country’s irrigating farms (73
percent) were small to mid-sized. They sold agricultural products
that had a total annual market value of less than $250,000, with the
average farm bringing in roughly $48,000 per year. Each farm in this
category irrigated a mean of 57.5 acres. How much the farm spent
Optimizing Irrigation for Healthier Crops | 37

on irrigation varied depending on where its water was sourced. As
shown in Table 5-1 below, the average total irrigation expenses for
small mid-sized farms nationally ranged from about $8,000 to
$10,000 per year.
Table 5-1. Annual irrigation expenses for US small-to-midsize farms
(derived from USDA 2013 Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey)
National average for small-to-
midsize farms (annual ag products
with market value < $250,000)
National average for all farms
Source of
Irrigation
Percent
of farms
Number
of
irrigated
acres
Total
energy
expenses
for
pumping
per
irrigated
acre
Expenses
for
irrigation
water
from off-
farm
suppliers
Expenses for
scheduled
replacement
or
maintenance
per affected
acre
Average
total
annual
expenses
on
irrigation
Water from
wells
45% 57.5 $54.75 $101.29 $8,972
Surface
water
13% 57.5 $34.18 $101.29 $7,790
Water from
off-farm
42% 57.5 $74.62 $101.29 $10,115
Saving 10–30 percent on the cost of pumping water and maintaining
an irrigation system can make a significant difference to a farm’s
bottom line. That’s why more and more farmers are finding it help‐
ful to have an eye in the sky and sensors in the soil. Through the use
of an aerial drone or soil moisture probes, these small business own‐
ers are gaining a competitive edge. They no longer to have to rely
solely on regular, in-person visits to the field during the growing
season to check on crop health and ground conditions. Now, they
can gather deeper insights in ways that save time, reduce the labor
costs, and minimize expenses for inputs like water and nitrogen for
irrigation and fertilization.
Take the field’s moisture conditions, for instance. To determine how
much water a crop currently needs, a farmer might traditionally
drive to spots throughout the field to check, or hire others to scout
the crops. Once there, the scout could see firsthand whether the
plants are showing stress from lack of water and whether the soil is
wet or dry. If the soil looked dry, kicking the ground or scooping up

a handful of soil to squeeze could reveal how saturated it is just
under the surface. But inspecting a field this way takes lot of time
that could be spent in other ways. It also does nothing to reveal
what’s going on more than a few inches underground. That’s where
an IoT-enabled solution like the EnviroSCAN Probe from Sentek,
represented in Figure 5-1 can help a farmer reclaim that time and
gain actionable insights.
Figure 5-1. Dashboard for Sentek’s EnviroSCAN Probe
The EnviroSCAN probe is shaped like a rod. It fits inside a plastic
access pipe that gets drilled into the ground. The probe comes in
lengths ranging from about 1.5 to 6.5 feet. The longer the probe, the
more sensors it can accommodate—essentially five sensors every
foot and a half, with a maximum of 16 total. These water sensors
emit a high-frequency, electrical field that extends through the
access pipe into the soil. By measuring the change in the electrical
field (its capacitance), the sensor determines the soil’s moisture level.
Water, which has a higher polarity than soil, decreases the electric
field between the charge points. So, the more water that’s present,
the greater the change in the field.
Each sensor measures moisture at a depth the user assigns. It can
range from less than four inches to more than 130 feet. Multiple
sensors enable the probe to track trends as water levels recede or
grow through different depths. The data logged by each Enviro‐
SCAN probe can be transmitted using a mobile broadband radio
and connectivity provided by a wireless carrier. The destination can
be Sentek’s cloud-based platform or a range of similar third-party
applications that enable users to view and analyze the data and gen‐
erate reports from a web-based portal accessible by computer or
smartphone.
For example, Verizon Wireless teamed up with Sentek in the US. In
the fall of 2015, the carrier piloted a precision agriculture project for
Hahn Family Wines. Among other goals, it sought to conserve water
by placing an EnviroSCAN probe in each of five, six-acre tracts of
land selected in the vineyard. Based on early estimates, data collec‐

ted from the probes and analyzed via Verizon’s self-service, cloud-
based portal was expected to help Hahn Family Wines increase crop
yield while reducing water used for irrigation by 30 percent.
An EnviroSCAN solution with a wireless radio transceiver costs
about $2,000 per probe. Keeping that in mind, how many probes
would be appropriate for a small-to-midsize farm? The answer
depends on how many soil types it has. As George Vellidis, a Uni‐
versity of Georgia precision farming specialist, explained in an arti‐
cle for Successful Farming Magazine, a 100-acre field with the same
soil could fare well with two probes. However, if a field has three
main soil types, he recommends two probes for each soil type (or six
in a field). The second probe for each soil type offers redundancy
and helps balance variability.
Since the average small-to-midsize farm has 57.5 acres, the two to
six probes described in this scenario would be apropos. Total cost
would be approximately $4,000 – 12,000. Assuming that this netted
a 30 percent reduction in the annual cost of irrigation and mainte‐
nance ($2,400 – 3,000 = 30% × $8,000 – 10,000), the payback period
on the solution would range from 1.3 to 5 years. Add the value of
time regained and an increase in crop yield, and the payback comes
even faster.
What if a farmer wants to assess her entire crop? Water moisture
probes can provide valuable insights in spots, but they are currently
too expensive to deploy throughout the field in great density. For a
growing number of farmers, the answer lies in using unmanned aer‐
ial vehicles. Commonly called UAVs or drones, the term used in this
report, these remote-controlled aircrafts usually take two forms—
fixed-wing or multirotor.
Fixed-wing drones look like miniature airplanes. Typically less than
10 pounds with a wingspan of about five feet, these drones are faster,
fly longer on a single battery charge, and cover more territory, mak‐
ing them ideal for large farms. The second type of craft is the multi‐
rotor drone. Operating on the same principle as a helicopter, these
drones are lifted and propelled using multiple-winged rotors on a
frame that can range from about two to five feet across when its
arms are fully extended, depending on the model. While slower than
fixed-wing drones with a shorter flight time in between charging,
the multirotor drone is less expensive to buy and much more
maneuverable for tasks like surveying fence lines at near eye-level,

tracking livestock, or other remote dispatches around the farm. The
range, cost, and versatility of this solution is well-suited to a small-
to-midsize farm.
PrecisionHawk is a provider of aerial analytics in the precision agri‐
culture business. They have teamed up with DJI, a leading manufac‐
turer of multirotor drones, to offer a solution called the Smarter
Farming Package (represented in Figure 5-2. The package includes
the buyer’s choice of a ready-to-fly, multirotor drone—either DJI’s
Matrice 100 or Matrice 600 model. The 100 model, which holds two
batteries, is just right for the small-to-midsize farm. It has a remote
control range of two kilometers and can easily cover up to 250 acres
in a single flight. At about half the price of the package with the 600
model, it’s also the more affordable option. In addition to the
Matrice 100, the package comes with this DJI hardware—one visual
and one multispectral sensor (each is essentially a camera with a
gimbal that attaches to the drone), extra batteries, and a professional
travel case for all the equipment.
Figure 5-2. Dashboard for PrecisionHawk’s Smarter Farming Package
The package also includes the following software and cloud-based
services from PrecisionHawk:
• A mobile app that helps users plan, map, and safely control the
drone’s flight path for capturing data
• Desktop software that enables the user to see captured data
from the drone in the field from a laptop before uploading it to
the cloud
• A one-year subscription to DataMapper, a cloud-based, analytic
platform that contains a library of on-demand tools for visualiz‐
ing the data
Using the drone to scout crops and assess their health is relatively
simple. A farmer starts by attaching the appropriate visual sensor to
the drone and then selecting the area for the drone to survey using
an aerial view on the mobile app. With that done, the drone can be
sent on its flight to collect the data. After the drone has landed and

the mission is complete, the captured data can be transferred to the
farmer’s laptop or PC by connecting a USB cable to the drone’s cam‐
era data port. Another option is to remove the camera’s Micro SD
card and insert it into a computer. From there, an Internet connec‐
tion is required to upload the data to PrecisionHawk’s DataMapper.
The DataMapper solution provides precise insights on where addi‐
tional inputs like irrigation, fertilizer, and weed control can be
applied to improve the health of crops.
The drone’s multispectral sensor can help assess whether crops are
stressed. It uses light in the visible spectrum and near-infrared light
to gauge plant health. Here’s how. Chlorophyll in the plant’s leaves
absorbs visible light to aid in photosynthesis. However, near-
infrared light cannot be processed for photosynthesis. Absorbing its
substantial yet unused energy could also damage the plant. That’s
why the leaves’ cell structure has evolved to reflect near-infrared
light. It’s the contrast between the reflection level of these two differ‐
ent types of light that provides an indication of vegetative vigor.
Healthy, green leaves show low reflectance of light in the visible
spectrum and very high reflectance of near-infrared light. As crops
become stressed from lack of water or nutrients, photosynthesis
begins to wane and reflectance of visible light increases. In addition,
the leaf cell structures begin to collapse, decreasing the reflectance of
near infrared light. The DataMapper platform offers users various
algorithms, like the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI),
that can contrast these reflectance levels captured by the multispec‐
tral sensor. The result of the analysis is a visual representation of
areas of concern in the field.
“Most of our users are seeing the highest return on investment by
charting plant health and progress throughout the season, but there
are other applications for irrigation, too,” says Lia Reich, senior mar‐
keting and communications director for PrecisionHawk. “With the
multispectral sensor, there are a couple of use cases we see. For
example, in the off-season, you can use it to determine whether
what you are spraying or watering stays in the field and whether it’s
channeling/pooling into a single area rather than being evenly dis‐
tributed. It also can identify water pooling in season, which will help
to expose water or runoff inefficiencies. We recently launched the
water pooling algorithm within DataMapper for this purpose.”

Together, the whole solution can help users deploy valuable inputs
like water, nitrogen, and weed/pest control more efficiently. At a
price of $8,300, this Smarter Farming Package pays for itself in short
order. Assuming a 20 percent reduction in the annual cost of irriga‐
tion and maintenance for the average small-to-midsize farm of 57.5
acres ($1,600 – 2,000 = 20% × $8,000 – 10,000), the payback on this
aspect alone would be 4–5 years. That timeframe decreases quickly
when you include the savings on fertilizer and other applications. To
get a more accurate estimate for your farm that includes increased
crop yield, check out the ROI Calculator. Developed by American
Farm Bureau and Measure, it quantifies the benefits of using drones
in precision agriculture for purposes like crop scouting.
Reducing Water Use in Commercial
Applications
Per the US Geological Survey data cited earlier in this chapter, more
than three-quarters of the water used nationwide each year goes to
generate thermoelectric power and irrigate crops. In comparison,
the public supply of water for commercial, industrial, and other uses
represents only five percent of total consumption. That still accounts
for a lot of water, though—nearly 6.5 trillion gallons annually. That’s
the equivalent of a river nearly 600 feet wide and 100 feet deep
stretching from New York to Los Angeles. Visualizing it at that scale,
it’s easy to comprehend why this portion merits conservation and
the opportunity it represents for cost savings.
If a small business wants to conserve water and cut costs, where
does it start? The company’s monthly utility bill can provide a great
springboard for this effort. It will likely state how much water is
being used overall. Records on the utility’s website may also provide
seasonal trends for the company’s account. Yet even with these
insights, it’s unlikely that details will emerge showing how much
water is being used for specific purposes. To begin breaking it down,
a small business could refer to research in its industry. This might
illuminate what drives water consumption in similar businesses and
benchmarks for the most efficient use. The company could then lev‐
erage IoT-enabled solutions to help track and measure specific uses
in its own business for comparison and future action.
One study that looked at a range of businesses is the Commercial
and Institutional End Uses of Water. It was commissioned by the
Reducing Water Use in Commercial Applications | 43

1 Plumbing includes lavatory faucets, toilets, urinals, and showerheads.
American Water Works Association Research Foundation and
remains a seminal study cited by the EPA’s WaterSense program
today. A variety of site types were examined, including restaurants,
office buildings, and hotels.
Notice in Figure 5-3 how different businesses tend to use water in
different ways. The chart highlights the percentage of total con‐
sumption each end use represents for each business type (e.g., as a
weighted average, plumbing equals 31 percent of total water use for
the restaurants audited in the survey). An overview of the findings
for each business type is summarized after the chart.
Figure 5-3. Weighted average of water end use by building type1
(source: EPA WaterSense; Water Efficiency in the Commercial and
Institutional Sector, Appendix B)
Restaurants
The median restaurant in the study was 4,825 square feet, had
149 seats, and served an average of 700 meals per day. When
looking at all of the restaurants that were audited, 80 percent of
their water was used by the kitchen (e.g., meals/preparation,
drinks, dishwashing, ice making) and plumbing (e.g., lavatory
faucets, toilets, urinals, etc.). Restaurants consumed less water

than the office buildings in the study—a weighted average of
6,773 gallons per day. Yet, restaurants are more water-intensive.
Even the most efficient restaurants, the top quartile for water
conservation, used 130–331 gallons of water per square foot
annually. That breaks down to 6–9 gallons of water per meal
served. Those are the targets for which restaurateurs will want
to strive.
Office buildings
Median areas for building space and irrigated landscape for offi‐
ces in the study were 57,785 square feet and 4,000 square feet,
respectively. Overall, the top three end uses of water in the
office buildings examined were: plumbing (37 percent), cooling
(33 percent), and landscaping (20 percent). The amount of
water used by the office buildings in the study, a weighted aver‐
age of 139,150 gallons per day, was significantly higher than res‐
taurants. However, the most efficient office buildings, the top
quartile for water conservation, had a much lower intensity
rate—26 to 35 gallons of water per square foot annually for all
use, including irrigation. For a small businesses operating in an
office setting, that’s the target to pursue.
Hotels
The median hotel in the study had 168 rooms and 5,510 square
feet of irrigated landscape. The drivers of water use were more
varied for hotels than restaurants or office buildings. Based on
all of the hotels audited, the top five end uses of water were:
plumbing (24 percent—e.g., lavatory faucets, toilets, urinals,
and showerheads), landscape (22 percent), kitchen (13 percent),
laundry (12 percent), and sanitation (12 percent). Like the office
buildings, the hotels in this study used a lot of water—a weigh‐
ted average of 131,390 gallons per day. For hoteliers who want
to be on par with the most efficient hotels, the top quartile for
water conservation, the sweet spot to achieve is 39,490–53,960
gallons per occupied room per year.
Once a small business has identified standard uses of water in its
industry and attainable targets for efficiency, the next step is getting
better acquainted with water use in its own business. IoT-enabled
solutions can provide those insights, right down to a specific fixture
or appliance. For instance, here are two affordable, up-and-coming
solutions offered by the same team of entrepreneurs: Fluid (shown
in Figure 5-4) and Water Meter Solutions. Both can help businesses

remotely monitor water flow, isolate it to specific end uses, track
trends to encourage continuous improvement, and alert designated
personnel if leaks are detected.
Figure 5-4. Dashboard for Fluid
Fluid, which was developed primarily as a residential solution, can
also be used in light commercial settings like a small office, restau‐
rant, retail shop, or convenience store. Described as a learning water
meter, Fluid can do something pretty amazing. It can identify how,
and how much, water is being used in a small business just by secur‐
ing a single meter around the main water pipe servicing its facility.
The Fluid meter is about the size of a paperback book and uses
ultrasonic waves to measure water flow. It clamps snugly onto a
three-quarter-inch water pipe, much like the Panoramic Power
wireless sensors covered earlier in this report snap and fit around an
electrical wire. Here’s the difference, though. Where a Panoramic
Power sensor needs to be attached to each dedicated wire in order to
monitor the electricity use of specific applications, you only need to
install one Fluid meter on the main pipe to monitor water flow. It
then uses algorithms to disaggregate all the data it senses and logs. It
essentially learns the signatures of various water-using fixtures and
appliances based on their flow profile and assigns usage accordingly.
Let’s bring it to life with an example. A restaurateur decides to use
the Fluid meter to get more insights on water use in her eatery.
Installation is as simple as clamping it onto the main water pipe,
plugging it in, and connecting it to the restaurant’s WiFi network. It
uses this Internet connection to transmit recorded data to Fluid’s
cloud-based, analytics platform. Once installed, the user can help
the meter recognize what water use looks like for each appliance or
fixture in the establishment. Whether it’s the kitchen sink, the dish‐
washer, an ice machine, service at the bar, flushing a toilet, or irri‐
gating a small garden outside, a signature profile for each can be
built on Fluid’s web-based portal, which is accessible through any
connected device.

Using the portal, the restaurateur will prep Fluid’s meter to antici‐
pate an appliance or fixture’s specific signature, then begin using
it (e.g., running the dishwasher, flushing a toilet, etc.). The meter lis‐
tens to the water-flow pattern and run cycle to establish the profile.
After signatures have been created for all of the appliances and fix‐
tures, Fluid will continue to refine its understanding. For instance, if
multiple signatures happen at once, Fluid will guess what’s going
on, pose a question to the user (e.g., are the dishwasher and the
kitchen sink both running?) and give her the opportunity to con‐
firm or clarify what’s actually taking place. Our restaurateur can see
the results of her response in real time through the portal, along
with the way that water usage is distributed across her business and
when it occurred. She also can set goals for conservation through
the portal and compare future water usage and costs against those
targets.
Lastly, Fluid can help her to avoid one of the most expensive water
scenarios a business can encounter—leaks. The meter can sense the
persistent loss of water associated with a leaky faucet or toilet. It can
also sense a major change in water flow that happens suddenly and
continues due to a failed valve or a burst pipe. Costs from the first
scenario can add up. In one year, a restaurant in the study cited pre‐
viously paid for 200,000 extra gallons of water due to a malfunction‐
ing toilet flapper and a kitchen faucet that would not completely
shut off. Even so, it’s the latter scenario that can cause the most dam‐
age to property, inventory, and records if not immediately
addressed. If a leak is detected, major or minor, Fluid will send an
alert to designated personnel so action can be taken quickly to rem‐
edy the situation.
The Fluid solution will be available in the fall of 2016 for a price of
$259. Given the insights it can yield and the substantial cost it can
help a small business avoid via leak detection, this is an easy invest‐
ment to justify.
Some businesses may find it helpful to receive even more granular
information on their water use. Fluid can tell you how much water
was used by toilets, based on their general signature. However, it will
be unable to pinpoint the specific toilet that may be leaking. That’s
okay if you only have two lavatories in your restaurant. For a pro‐
prietor of a hotel or motel, who runs an establishment with more
than 50 rooms, it’s a different matter. A solution that can identify the

exact location of the leak is more fitting. That’s where Water Meter
Solutions, represented in Figure 5-5, comes in.
Figure 5-5. Dashboard for Water Meter Solutions
The same team that developed Fluid is partnering with Logic PD to
bring Water Meter Solutions to the market in early 2017. These are
wireless, water-flow meters that get installed at the point of use.
About the size of a tube of toothpaste, the meter simply connects
between a fixture or appliance (e.g., showerhead, sink, toilet, etc.)
and the water supply line. Each meter is individually barcoded and
labeled so it can be mapped to specific locations for ease of tracking.
It also requires no batteries or electricity. Water flowing through the
meter will generate enough power to record and wirelessly relay
water usage data to a gateway located on site. The gateway (or
router), which can connect to the Internet through the facility’s
WiFi or ethernet network, sends data from the flow meters to a
cloud-based platform where users can monitor and analyze water
use throughout the facility. The platform will also be able to generate
performance reports and send leak alerts, which users can receive
on their mobile device as a text message, email, or in-app notifica‐
tion.
Meters like these offer several benefits. The first is leak detection. All
of the hotels audited in the aforementioned survey were found to
have leaks ranging from 439 to 8,007 gallons of water wasted per
room per year. The leaks were primarily due to stuck or poorly
functioning flaps in toilets that went unnoticed or unreported. Being
able to learn of a leak, zero in on its location, and quickly fix it can
help a user hold on to valuable dollars.
A hotelier can also use the data to learn more about room-level
water use—seeing what the average usage is and what the outliers
are. The hotel may already be in league with the most efficient
industry benchmarks. If not, these meters can provide a “call to
action” to pursue greater water conservation through behavioral
and/or physical changes. For instance, one behavioral concept might
be rewarding guests who are water-conscious during their stay.

Those who achieve a target level of water use—say better than aver‐
age—could be given a discount good toward their next stay. This
could be supported with promotional materials during check-in at
the front desk and water-saving tips posted in each of the rooms.
Physical changes would involve upgrading fixtures and appliances
or adding water-saving technology to existing infrastructure.
Water Meter Solutions evaluation kits will be available in early 2017.
The kit sells for $4,250 and includes 25 self-powered, water-flow
meters, a smartphone app to access the cloud-based analytics plat‐
form, and one wireless gateway. Factor in another $20 per month=
for every gateway purchased to cover the wireless data fees that
enable the meters to communicate with these routers.
Is it worth it? The leak detection and alert feature alone can save
thousands of gallons of water a year and help prevent significant
property damage from broken pipes or overflowing sinks and tubs.
Also, a solution like this can motivate users to pursue water-
efficiency in ways they may not have considered before, such as buy‐
ing and installing water-saving products like those found on the
EPA’s WaterSense website. Products with the WaterSense label are
independently tested and certified to meet the EPA’s high standards
for water efficiency and performance. The survey of restaurants,
offices, and hotels cited previously in this section found the follow‐
ing: when implementing many of the same type of solutions found
on the WaterSense site (e.g., faucets with aerators and automatic
shut-off features, low-flow showerheads, ultra-low-flow toilets,
smart irrigation controls, and more), these businesses generated an
average water savings of 19–29 percent annually for their facilities.
On average, they also experienced a payback period of within 0.4–
2.0 years.
So, yes. Flow metering, monitoring, and alert systems can identify
opportunities for cost savings and more than pay for themselves as
users act on those opportunities. What’s even more empowering are
systems that allow for direct, intelligent control. One of those tech‐
nologies is smart irrigation. As the chart in Figure 5-3 illustrated,
landscape is a major driver of water use for offices and hotels. While
it may only be mildly relevant for restaurants, other small businesses
ranging from golf courses to apartment complexes, can certainly
benefit from more efficient irrigation. All you have to do is think
about the last time you saw sprinklers watering a commercial lawn

in the rain or water cascading into the street from a broken sprinkler
head to recognize the opportunity to reduce waste.
Weathermatic (referenced in Figure 5-6) and its portfolio of IoT-
enabled products are an excellent example of the intelligent irriga‐
tion sensors and controls on the market today. These solutions help
companies irrigate with precision and conserve a substantial
amount of water in the process. For instance, in Weathermatic’s
experience monitoring hundreds of sites, it’s found that water
consumption in traditional irrigation on many commercial proper‐
ties can be reduced by 50–70 percent. The keys to reduction are pri‐
marily:
Timing
Whether it’s understanding how much water different plant
types need, what the soil’s absorption capacity is, or what’s hap‐
pening with the weather, all of these impact when to deliver
water and for how long.
Remote access
Most traditional irrigation systems aren’t accessible remotely.
This makes them time-consuming for staff to program in per‐
son, so they’re often left on standard settings that don’t address
changing conditions.
Alerts
Without real-time notification of broken main lines, lateral
lines, and sprinkler heads, these problems often go unnoticed,
wasting large volumes of water until someone reports it or the
staff observes it while making the rounds.
Figure 5-6. Dashboard for Weathermatic
The SmartLine controller is at the heart of Weathermatic’s smart
irrigation package. Like traditional controllers, it enables the user to
manage water valves and run times for irrigating various zones of
landscape. Each zone is an area serviced by a set of sprinklers that
are well-suited to the type of plants (e.g., turf, shrubs, flower beds),
the type of light (e.g., sun, shade, mixed), the soil, and other factors

that define its water needs. Unlike traditional controllers, SmartLine
goes a step further by enabling users to input the following informa‐
tion for each zone to help prevent overwatering: geography (zip
code or latitude/longitude), sprinkler type, plant type, and soil type.
Its built-in, wireless aircard also establishes an Internet connection
to Weathermatic’s cloud-based platform, enabling users to enter this
information remotely from a web portal using their computer, tab‐
let, or smartphone.
In addition, the aircard establishes a communication link with a
weather station—the other main element of the irrigation package.
This sensory device has a wireless range of 1,500 feet, comes equip‐
ped with a 10-year battery, and provides extra input that helps the
controller automatically adjust to the microclimate of the landsca‐
ped property. The weather station has a thermometer that takes
temperature readings every eight seconds. It processes all of this
data nightly, incorporating key points (e.g., the daily high, daily low,
and relative humidity) into an algorithm used by the controller’s
irrigation scheduling engine. The station also senses rain and freez‐
ing weather. In these conditions, the controller is notified to stop
watering. Irrigation during rainfall will cease when water accumu‐
lates between one-eighth and three-quarters of an inch, depending
the level programmed by the user.
Weathermatic offers this package in two ways. It can be purchased
upfront or paid for over time using their service plan—an option
that many small businesses may find appealing. The package price is
based on how many zones need to be controlled. To compare, let’s
look at the base package for a property that has 24 landscaped zones.
This would be fairly common for a small-to-midsize commercial
office or hotel. At the time this report was published, the one-year
purchase option was $2,300. This included equipment (i.e., the
SmartLine controller, weather station, and aircard), installation, pro‐
gramming, online setup, and initial inspection. For another $200,
Weathermatic’s staff would remotely monitor the equipment and
water use during that year to ensure everything is working properly.
The same package through the one-year service plan costs $140 per
month. Another $17 per month covers a year of monitoring, as well.
However the package is acquired, its ability to reduce water use
for irrigation up to 50 percent makes it investment well worth con‐
sidering.

Whether it’s a smart irrigation system for an office property, preci‐
sion agriculture tools for a farm, or a water-flow monitoring system
for a local restaurant or hotel, all of these IoT-enabled solutions help
empower small businesses. They remotely reveal insights that help
users understand how to optimize water use and quickly address
leaks that could result in significant property damage and stunning
utility bills. With the price of fresh water continuing to rise, these
solutions also provide valuable cost savings that benefit a business’s
bottom line today and in the years to come.

CHAPTER 6
Competitive Differentiation
Leveraging the Internet of Things in daily operations can help your
small business become more sustainable and gain an edge on the
competition. The remote sensing capabilities associated with many
IoT-based solutions can help pinpoint when, where, and how
resources are being consumed. Cloud-based analytics associated
with those solutions can help managers and business owners to con‐
textualize that data and make better decisions on resource deploy‐
ment. Many of these solutions even come with controls to help
management remotely optimize operations. Altogether, these solu‐
tions can help a small business save time, labor, and resources and
become more resilient—especially as shortages in the market
increase the price and scarcity of these key business inputs.
The result is an improved operating margin, which can give you the
upper hand. In this enviable position, you can lower prices on your
offerings to make them more competitive, or you can reinvest the
savings in ways that help your small business gain or maintain an
edge in the marketplace. Most companies would love to be in that
position. Let’s take it a step further, though. What if you could put
your customers in the same position?
Giving Products an Edge with IoT
How might you incorporate IoT into your products or services to
offer customers a more unique, sustainable, and financially reward‐
ing experience? Could you develop Internet-enabled features that
give them unprecedented visibility into their use of resources, help
53

them understand the data in a way that promotes more informed
decision making and optimal use, enable them to conserve time and
money, and reduce their environmental impact? If consumers are
the lifeblood of your business, this could significantly increase their
satisfaction with your offerings and generate more affinity for your
company. If you sell to organizations, your newly enhanced solu‐
tions could help them to operate more efficiently and gain a com‐
petitive edge as well. In either scenario, making smart, IoT-based
enhancements to products and services can differentiate your busi‐
ness in the marketplace and make your offerings more attractive to
new and existing customers.
Before you write off the idea and begin to think this type of
endeavor can only be pursued effectively by a large enterprise com‐
pany, know that the odds are in your favor. Small businesses are
inherently better at identifying market needs and driving innova‐
tion. In part, this comes from being closer to the customer. Without
layers of bureaucracy, small business owners and their employees
are more likely to have a direct relationship with customers and bet‐
ter understand their pain points. As a rule of thumb, small busi‐
nesses can also more quickly enhance their products or business
models to transform a customer’s pain into delight. These decisions
can be made by a small group of individuals with a variety of exper‐
tise who are not encumbered by functional silos, committees, and
lengthy processes. Typically, they also have a more entrepreneurial
perspective and a higher tolerance for risk than their larger enter‐
prise cousins.
In his Harvard Business Review article, "Why Big Companies Can’t
Innovate,” venture capitalist Maxwell Wessel reminds us how this is
right in line with a corporation’s typical life cycle. “In its infancy, it’s
designed to bring innovation to the market. A start-up’s success is
not gauged by earnings or quarterly reports; it’s measured by how
well it identifies a problem in the market and matches it to a solu‐
tion.” Wessel goes on to state, “That’s not what life is like within a
mature organization. When corporations reach maturity, the meas‐
ure of success is very different: it’s profit. Once a business figures out
how to solve its customer’s problems, organization structures and
processes emerge to guide the company toward efficient operation.
Seasoned managers steer their employees from pursuing the art of
discovery and towards engaging in the science of delivery.”
54 | Chapter 6: Competitive Differentiation

In this chapter, you’ll learn about two small businesses that pursued
innovation. Each recognized opportunities to leverage IoT technol‐
ogy for their customers’ benefit, and developed inventive products
and services to capitalize on them. They also secured a competitive
edge for themselves. The first, PlotWatt, is a cloud-based software
company. They provide a service that helps homeowners and busi‐
nesses reign in their electrical use. The second, Big Ass Solutions, is
taking air circulation to the next level. Businesses and consumers
alike are experiencing greater comfort and savings with their smart,
reimagined ceiling fans. I hope that both will inspire you to consider
how incorporating IoT into your offerings could help create a dis‐
tinct market advantage for your small business.
PlotWatt: Mining IoT Data for Actionable
Insights
According to a 2014 report from analyst firm IDC, there are 29 mil‐
lion workers in the world who are skilled in information and com‐
munications technology (ICT). Twenty-two percent of these
software developers and professionals in IT operations and manage‐
ment are based in the US. Most, if not all, have likely entertained the
idea of starting their own business. These ventures might be based
on problems they know how to solve or opportunities they have
noticed that the rest of the market has overlooked. Following is the
journey of one entrepreneur, Luke Fishback, who did just that.
Luke is an alumnus of Dartmouth College. The degrees he earned
there at the Thayer School of Engineering served him well. They
helped him land a prestigious job after he graduated with Lockheed
Martin Space Systems where he rotated through their Engineering
Leadership Development Program. Through this experience, Luke
had the opportunity to design rocket components, manage IT, and
develop real-time monitoring systems for missiles and satellites.
This was an amazing skill set to hone at the office every day, but
interestingly, he soon found that this newly acquired know-how was
applicable at home, too.
After purchasing his first house, Luke began noticing the unpredict‐
able size of the electric bill and wanted to see what he could do to
trim those monthly payments. His first instinct, which arose natu‐
rally from his experience in the lab, was to build a monitoring sys‐
tem. Luke created a way to take photos of his home’s electricity
PlotWatt: Mining IoT Data for Actionable Insights | 55

meter every 30 seconds. He would then download and review the
digital images to determine how much electricity was being used
throughout the day and at what times. Using analysis and assump‐
tions, he was able to deduce which appliances and systems in the
house were using the most energy. He then made adjustments or
enhancements as needed to reduce their electricity consumption.
Luke enjoyed this newfound insight and control, yet felt he was only
scratching the surface of potential savings.
He reached out to John Cunningham, a friend and mathematician
who was finishing his PhD in Electrical Engineering at Stanford.
Luke convinced John that there was a lot more information to
be drawn from the meter readings in these images, if only there were
a more efficient way to tease out the data. Together, they began
working on algorithms that could isolate individual patterns in the
combined electricity load being read by the meter. They started by
identifying the unique way each system and appliance in the home
used electricity. Once those “energy signatures” were defined, that
single stream of data from the electric meter could be broken down
into an itemized list showing how much electricity the air condi‐
tioner, refrigerator, stove, lights, and other items in the home were
using.
Within three years, they had developed a set of algorithms that
could identify these sources with more than 90 percent accuracy.
Luke and John cofounded PlotWatt along the way, establishing it in
2008, to market this service to homeowners and businesses. Today,
PlotWatt employs a team of mathematicians, scientists, and software
developers that continues to refine the solution. The company offers
an affordable, cloud-based software solution that requires no hard‐
ware other than a smart meter—an IoT-enabled device that senses
and records how much electricity a customer’s building uses and
then relays the data to the electric utility and/or an energy manage‐
ment system provider.
PlotWatt’s solution utilizes that data feed. It monitors electricity
loads in intervals of 60 minutes or less, depending on the nature of
the smart meter being monitored. In general, the more data, the bet‐
ter. Its solution then uses the algorithms to parse out the patterns of
energy use for each electrical system or piece of equipment. Because
there is no need to deploy sensors throughout the facility, this
approach is light on hardware and the pocketbook.

“Technology firms tend to look beyond small businesses, because
their solutions often come with heavy upfront costs,” says Will
Duckett, director of business development for PlotWatt. This is evi‐
dent in PlotWatt’s upfront cost, which is zero in places where utilit‐
ies have already provided customers with smart meters. In places
without existing hardware, the solution can be installed for roughly
one-tenth of the typical fee associated with other energy manage‐
ment systems, according to Duckett.
PlotWatt’s standard package includes the installation of a simple
smart meter on the main distribution panel. The smart meter meas‐
ures and records the electricity load, then sends the data in batches
to PlotWatt’s cloud-based analytics platform using an Internet con‐
nection. As part of the ongoing service, customers receive regular
reports on energy performance, targeted tips for savings, coaching
on employee behavior changes that can drive further savings, and
alerts when equipment is broken.
Although PlotWatt does not include remote controls for systems
and equipment like other solutions covered in this report, like Grid‐
Point, it has another differentiator: the ability to deliver emails with
tips and just-in-time alerts to key personnel so they can take action
to improve energy performance. For example, the manager of a res‐
taurant with peak energy demand in the morning might receive a
message saying, “We’ve noticed your store powers up equipment on
a shifting schedule, sometimes causing high demand peaks. Over
the next few days, try to work on making your power-up process
more consistent.” Or if overall energy use during closed hours seems
higher than necessary, the message might say, “Overnight energy
usage costs this store about $144 per month more than similar
stores in electricity costs. Let’s work on ways to lower those costs by
focusing on a more efficient shut-down.”
Whether it’s adjusting start-up and shut-down schedules for equip‐
ment, resetting timers for outdoor lighting as the seasons change, or
learning that a walk-in freezer was turned off during restocking and
has yet to be turned on again, these insights and coachable moments
can lead to significant savings. PlotWatt finds that it can regularly
help business customers shave 10–15 percent from their electric bill,
and in some cases, much more. Many deploy the solution just for
the savings. Although, as PlotWatt cofounder and CEO Luke Fish‐
back notes, “They’re still helping the environment.”
PlotWatt: Mining IoT Data for Actionable Insights | 57

Do you have an IT or engineering background like Luke? Are you a
mathematician like his partner, John? Maybe you’re an enterprising
software developer. If so, consider this: PlotWatt thrives on mining
data and converting it into actionable intelligence for customers. As
the Internet of Things grow, it’s going to continue generating data at
an exponential rate. This data can lead to powerful insights, but it’s
only as good as what you do with it. This presents a lucrative oppor‐
tunity for entrepreneurs who are ready to step in and develop ana‐
lytic tools and platforms that can help customers leverage this data
for greater sustainability and financial success. As you ponder your
next venture or plan add to another solution to your portfolio, con‐
sider how to plumb the depths of the ever-increasing, IoT-generated
data around us and find novel ways to convert it into useful infor‐
mation. If you can generate insights and intelligence that helps cus‐
tomers easily and affordably use less, save more, and reduce their
environmental impact while still accomplishing their goals, there’s
money to be made.
Big Ass Solutions: Enhancing Products
Sensibly with IoT
While the developers of innovative algorithms and cloud-based soft‐
ware solutions stand to prosper as the Internet of Things continues
to flourish, so do manufacturers. Are you in the business of design‐
ing and building products? Consider how adding Internet-enabled
features to your products might solve additional challenges your
customers are experiencing. There are plenty of industries out there
that have been manufacturing products in essentially the same way
for decades. If change has happened, it’s been incremental at best.
They’re ripe for disruption.
Consider the household thermostat. Growing up, most of us proba‐
bly remember the round device on the wall. You’d rotate its face to
adjust the indoor temperature to a set point. When it was time to
change, you’d manually adjust it again. Minneapolis-Honeywell Reg‐
ulator Co. (a predecessor to Honeywell) introduced this iconic T-86
model back in 1953. Not much changed in the household thermo‐
stat industry until Nest commercially launched its first learning
thermostat in 2011, more than 50 years later. This IoT-enabled
product, which was highlighted earlier in this report, automates and
optimizes indoor temperatures by learning and anticipating the

homeowner’s preferences. With that disruptive move, the market is
booming again with residential upgrades to “smart” thermostats,
and Nest owns an enviable share.
View Inc., which we covered in Chapter 3, is leveraging IoT to chal‐
lenge the status quo in the window industry and bring its customers
even more valuable solutions. Many other manufacturers featured in
this report are doing the same thing in their own pond. However,
none may be doing it with the same flair as a Lexington, Kentucky
business that has grown from just under 300 employees in 2012 to
more than 1,000 today. Big Ass Solutions, run by Carey Smith, is
propelling the ceiling fan industry into new territory. With aerody‐
namic designs worthy of the aviation industry, highly energy-
efficient motors, quality craftsmanship, and built-in intelligence that
syncs the fan’s operation with its environment, the company’s pri‐
mary products—Big Ass Fans and Haiku Fans—provide excellent
comfort and energy savings.
Big Ass Solutions believes its fans optimize indoor airflow so well, it
has been pushing for greater transparency in its industry so product
performance can be compared head-on. It’s a leading advocate for
implementing new federal energy conservation standards and
updating test procedures for ceiling fans to measure energy effi‐
ciency and estimated annual operating cost. This scrappy style of
business and the company’s pioneering spirit stem from Smith.
From his original insight, which led to the formation of the com‐
pany, to his unwavering focus on customers and bringing them ever
more value through product enhancements, Smith has set the tone
for this manufacturer and its role as an industry disruptor.
The idea that sparked Smith’s venture into the ceiling fan business
came as he was leading his first company, Sprinkool. The company
provided roof sprinklers to help cool industrial buildings. As the
water evaporated, it would absorb and take with it large quantities of
heat. Smith began thinking about it on a more personal scale. He
realized that the same principle applied to cooling people, especially
when the right airflow was applied.
“When water changes from liquid to gas, it wicks away heat. The
easiest and least expensive means to affect the human body that way
indoors is with fans,” says Smith. He explains that it doesn’t take
much to create this effect. “One 24-foot fan with a three-horsepower
motor spinning at one to two miles per hour can achieve the same
Big Ass Solutions: Enhancing Products Sensibly with IoT | 59

comfort level in a 20,000-square-foot industrial space as 100
standard-sized fans. It creates just enough breeze to evaporate per‐
spiration and help you maintain an acceptable core temperature.
The body feels three to four degrees cooler, thanks to a process that
uses a low amount of energy and doesn’t require cooling the air.”
With that in mind, Smith eventually sought out and established a
partnership with a manufacturer of high-volume, low-speed fans.
The new venture, named HVLS Fans Co., was established in 1999.
However, the company later adopted a new name with a bit more
cheek. Following the lead of its industrial and warehouse customers,
who would constantly inquire about “the big-ass fans” it produced,
Big Ass Fans was born. Those customers continued to be a mainstay
for the company, but others were interested, as well. The company
started receiving requests for models more suitable for light com‐
mercial and residential facilities. In response, it launched the Isis
line in 2010. These fans had a smaller diameter of 8–10 feet and
operated more quietly. Smith followed this by acquiring a startup in
2011. This venture had invented a highly efficient fan motor, which
became the basis for Haiku—a new line of fans launched under the
Big Ass Solutions banner that have 4–7 diameters and silently, stably
move lots of air in smaller spaces.
Over the years, these moves have enabled Big Ass Solutions to meet
the cooling needs of a wide range of customers, from homeowners
to industrial plants. There was a recognition that more could be
accomplished by developing a symbiosis with another system their
customers may already have in place. “Although we make fans, we
are very engaged in heating and air conditioning,” states Smith. “The
movement of air can aid HVAC systems, if there’s a way to take the
system’s operation and its heat load into consideration when adjust‐
ing air speed.” This desire to enable these two solutions, which were
working separately, to begin operating in unison for greater effect is
what led Smith’s team to pursue IoT enhancements for their fans.
Landon Borders, director of connected devices for Big Ass Solu‐
tions, puts it this way: “We see things in terms of ecosystems. Your
fans and HVAC systems could be working together to keep people
more comfortable and save you some money.” By enabling their fans
to network with heating and air conditioning systems, Borders men‐
tioned that they could help customers trim up to 40 percent off
HVAC energy use in winter months, and save as much as 15 percent
in the summer months. He further notes, “For every degree you

change the thermostat in the right direction, you could save up to
five percent.”
To understand how this works, take a closer look at Haiku fans in
action. The product, frequently purchased for homes, does a nice
job of creating a consistent temperature throughout the house. As
Borders says, “The built environment is not a homogeneous struc‐
ture. You have hot rooms and cold rooms. For example, a breakfast
nook with three walls of windows will get warmer on a sunny day
than a basement with no windows.” Haiku fans can achieve an equi‐
librium in temperature throughout your home because they can be
networked together from the moment they are installed.
Here’s how it works. After users download the Haiku Home mobile
app to their smartphone, they set up each Haiku fan on their home
WiFi network. They specify the room in which each unit is located
and enter an ideal comfort level based on their preference for tem‐
perature and fan speed. The fans’ built-in sensors monitor tempera‐
ture, humidity, and occupant motion in each room. When the
networked system is set to Smart Mode, the microprocessor on
board each fan reads the data it has collected, compares it with the
data from the other connected fans, and uses embedded algorithms
and predictive learning to achieve optimal comfort throughout
the home.
By connecting and coordinating with each other, the fans can create
a consistently comfortable environment throughout the house. It’s
the Haiku Home network’s ability to coordinate with the Nest
Learning Thermostat that may be most appealing, though. Pairing
the two can generate the type of savings Borders alluded to earlier.
With the Haiku Home app, users can increase the set point on their
Nest thermostat during summer months. The system will automati‐
cally adjust the speed of each fan to make occupants feel cooler and
more comfortable even though the actual indoor temperature is
higher. During winter months, the set point on their Nest thermo‐
stat can be set a few degrees lower without sacrificing comfort. The
Haiku Home system compensates by increasing fan speeds in unoc‐
cupied rooms to circulate the heat that’s trapped near ceilings more
efficiently throughout the house. The fan’s speed then transitions
smoothly to a gentle breeze whenever its motion sensor detects
someone entering the room.
Big Ass Solutions: Enhancing Products Sensibly with IoT | 61

For Big Ass Solutions, this use of IoT is just a natural extension of
the product and its end purpose. By networking sensors, algorithms,
microcontrollers, and a mobile app with complementary products
like Nest, its Haiku Fans have been able to maximize comfort and
savings for customers. When asked what advice Smith would offer
small businesses that are considering IoT enhancements to their
own products, here’s what he said: “Think about what the object is
before you build it in. Intelligence has to be a derivative of the prod‐
uct. The objective is to solve problems for customers, and IoT is just
another tool to get that done.”
Smith shared one other key for competitive differentiation. It cap‐
tures his disdain for the status quo and reinforces his role as a dis‐
ruptor in an industry where ceiling fans had not changed
substantially in more than 100 years. “Don’t be limited by your
father’s imagination!”

CHAPTER 7
Resources for Success
You’re poised and ready for action. Having read what this report has
to offer, you understand that your small business, like most, could
be more lean. It’s probably consuming more electricity, natural gas,
fuel, and water than needed to get the job done. There’s an opportu‐
nity to use these resources more efficiently, and hold on to more of
your hard-earned money, if you can find an easy way to monitor
and manage them. IoT-enabled solutions can provide you with that
insight and often the means for control. You’ve read about several
viable solutions in this report and even considered how you might
incorporate IoT capabilities into your own products and services to
help others become lean and green. The challenge is figuring out
which next steps will serve you best.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed thinking about the range of options
available to you. The goal of this final chapter is to present resources
that will help you to:
• Assess and prioritize which actions will be most impactful for
your business.
• Obtain funding or help financing the solution you choose to
implement.
• Maintain your focus on achieving savings and sustainability
over time.
63

Assessing Your Priorities
You’re interested in conserving resources and cash and helping your
customers do the same, but which actions will be most meaningful
for your business? Which low-tech and Internet-enabled solutions
do you implement? As a rule of thumb, it’s best to begin this journey
close to home. Start by examining your operations and deploying
solutions for your own business before delving into product devel‐
opment. You can then draw from this firsthand experience and
translate it more easily into solutions you create for customers in
the future.
The easiest way to begin examining resource use in your operations
is by digging out your utility bills and receipts for fuel. Look at the
total expense for electricity, natural gas, water, and fuel on an annual
basis. Then consider each of these expenses relative to your compa‐
ny’s profit margin. What you’re looking for is materiality—a means
to determine which are worth your time and effort to pursue. In
accounting parlance, materiality is an action or event that would
cause your net income to fluctuate by more than 5 percent. While
this term is often used to describe investor motivation, in this
instance we’re going to use it as the first cut in your decision-making
process for investing time and resources in your own business.
For the average small business, odds are high that combined expen‐
ses for electricity and natural gas exceed 5 percent of net income.
With that in mind, it is an easy call to begin investing your efforts
here. The materiality of fuel and water are more dependent on the
type of business you operate. If you rely on a fleet of vehicles, it’s
highly likely that fuel expenses will be material. Or if you run a busi‐
ness that’s highly dependent on irrigation, water expenses will likely
be material. For instance, according to Golf Course Industry’s 2015
State of the Industry Report, privately owned golf courses in the US
budgeted $28,600 on average for water in 2015. Given that 62 per‐
cent of those courses either broke even or lost money the year
before, it’s safe to say any savings on water conservation would be
material to their bottom line.
What if you find that some of these expenses are not financially
material? If that’s the case, they should definitely be assigned a lower
status priority. Before removing them from your list of priorities
altogether, it would be ideal to apply a few other lenses:
64 | Chapter 7: Resources for Success

Regulation
Is conserving these resources regulatorily required? If the
answer is yes, it’s a no-brainer. Complying should be a high pri‐
ority. In addition to the ethical reasons, it enables your business
to avoid fines and other penalties.
Risk
Does a high level of dependence on these resources put your
operations at risk when shortages occur? How likely is it that
your business will experience a disruption in supply? The
greater the likelihood of each, the higher the priority conserving
these resources should be.
Reputation
Consumer perception is powerful. If your brand is built on high
ethical standards or your customers care deeply about a compa‐
ny’s actions and its role in the community, conserving these
resources should be a high priority. Otherwise, your actions will
run counter to expectations, damaging your reputation.
ROI
While your expenses for these resources may not be considered
material, it may be worth giving their conservation a higher pri‐
ority if there’s a relatively short payback period on the solution.
For instance, a return on investment (ROI) of 18 months or less
may be swift enough for many small businesses to take depend‐
ing on the cash outlay upfront.
Affordable solutions are desired by any size business, but even more
so by small businesses that are cash-strapped. When a free solution
comes along that can deliver real value, there’s reason to celebrate.
The Green Impact Campaign offers just such a solution. This
national organization pairs aspiring young professionals who are
prepared to volunteer their time in exchange for experience and
making a positive impact in their community with small businesses
that are interested in better understanding their energy use and
reining it in.
“Green Impact Campaign is a nonprofit that is working to better
equip our next generation of climate changemakers while reducing
the environmental impact of small businesses,” explains cofounder
and president Daniel Hill. “We do this by providing university stu‐
dents across the country with cloud-based tools and training to go
and conduct free energy assessments for small businesses in their
Assessing Your Priorities | 65

community. Our mission is to help students learn about energy
while helping small businesses save energy.”
Here’s what you can expect from GIC’s service. Volunteers are
crowdsourced, so coverage can change from semester to semester.
To date, students have completed assessments in over 30 states
across the country—the largest participation has been in DC, Cali‐
fornia, Texas, Maryland, New York, and Utah. When you register
your business with GIC, you are paired with a local student volun‐
teer, if one is available. He or she will schedule a convenient time to
visit your place of business. Once there, this trained student will
conduct an audit, which will likely take less than 30 minutes. The
goal is to identify opportunities for energy efficiency based on gen‐
eral use, lighting, plug loads, HVAC systems and your building’s
envelope; water efficiency; and recycling. After these observations
have been entered into GIC’s cloud-based analytics tool, you’ll
receive an assessment that can help you prioritize which energy-
saving measures to pursue on your own.
“After seeing the results of their assessment, small business owners
generally say they figured they had some opportunities to cut energy
costs, but didn’t realize how much all of those small opportunities
added up and how much they could really be saving,” notes Hill,
whose organization identifies an average of 25 percent in energy
savings for businesses with each assessment. “We’ve found the big‐
gest opportunities for most small businesses are with lighting,
including using occupancy sensors in common areas, installing LED
exit signs, and reducing after-hours lighting. Beyond lighting, we’ve
seen a high frequency of small businesses that could be purchasing
ENERGY STAR qualified appliances, better insulating around doors
and windows, and installing a programmable thermostat. Nearly all
of these opportunities tend to have a payback period of a year
or less.”
“On a personal level, I’m excited about the potential for small busi‐
ness owners to have better control over energy-using devices thanks
to IoT solutions,” continued Hill. “With greater adoption, I think
we’ll start to see more business owners being able to control things
like their thermostats and lighting. So when someone leaves lights
on after hours, the owner could check from their phone and turn off
lights they don’t need to have on after hours.” As this report high‐
lights, many IoT-based solutions are ready for your small business to

pursue today. The key is determining which ones are most relevant
for your operations.
Interested in signing up for an assessment with the Green Impact
Campaign to determine the biggest opportunities for energy savings
in your small business? Register here.
Funding Your Endeavors
As you would expect, most solutions that can help your small busi‐
ness become more lean and green are not free. But you may be
pleasantly surprised by how many sources of funding, financing,
and rebates are available to help you shoulder the expense of those
endeavors. Society and suppliers incur a significant cost as they
strive to keep pace with the ever-growing demand for energy, fuel,
and water. Providing financial incentives to use these resources
more efficiently benefits everyone involved.
To start with, consider your local utility. It’s providing resources
to customers every day within the bounds of its existing infrastruc‐
ture—a baseline delivery system and often an auxiliary system that
can be tapped when there is an overflow of demand. The problem
for most is that demand continues to climb. This is a constant pres‐
sure that arises from growing populations and expanding economies
that are increasingly hungry for the resources utilities provide. In
response, utilities can incur the expense of building new infrastruc‐
ture (e.g., power plants and lines) or securing new sources of supply
(e.g., striking an agreement to transport water from a neighboring
aquifer across state lines), or they can delay that action as long as
possible by promoting conservation. In most cases, promoting con‐
servation costs significantly less than major additional investments
in infrastructure.
That’s good news for your small business. It means your utility is
likely prepared to reward you for making operational investments
that increase resource efficiency. The best place to check for these
rebates is on your utility’s website. There are also some sites that
strive to provide a national database for this information in addition
to grants and other incentives offered at the state and local level.
Through Energy.gov, the US Department of Energy provides a
quick and easy way to search tax credits, rebates, and other incen‐
tives that support energy efficiency across the country. DSIRE is
another site focused on energy efficiency. Operated by the NC Clean
Funding Your Endeavors | 67

Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University, it
enables users to search for incentives at a zip-code level. For invest‐
ments in water efficiency, the EPA’s WaterSense site is highly recom‐
mended. It offers one of the most comprehensive databases of
rebates available nationwide.
Rebates and savings can make it easier to implement an energy effi‐
ciency project. But for some small businesses, that’s not enough. It’s
often difficult to front the money for an investment like this on their
own. Creative options for financing these projects would be a wel‐
come addition to a traditional bank loan. That’s why solutions like
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing are growing in
popularity. PACE financing offers commercial property owners 100
percent funding upfront, with no money out of pocket, for qualified
property-improvement projects focused on energy efficiency and/or
the deployment of renewable energy. The loans have a relatively
low interest rate and can be spread out over as many as 20 years,
making it easier to cover the cost improvements through the savings
generated.
Money for PACE financing comes primarily from local and state
governments that are interested in promoting clean and reduced
energy use. They fund the programs and then either manage the
financing themselves or select lending institutions to administer the
programs for them (i.e., qualifying and approving applicants, dis‐
persing funds, tracking that status of loan repayments, and provid‐
ing customer service, among other things). Lenders incur less risk
for this type of financing because the PACE loan is added to the tax
roll for the improved property. Repayments are made right along
with the property taxes and are subject to the same methods of col‐
lection. If the property is sold, any remaining PACE repayments
seamlessly transfer to the new owner as part of the taxes, as well as
the savings from the energy project.
According to PACENation, an national initiative to build the PACE
marketplace, $250 million in PACE financing has been loaned for
energy upgrades to more than 750 commercial buildings across the
US from 2009 through June 2016. Roughly half of it was dispersed
within the last 18 months, illustrating the exponential growth of this
offering. Overall, 30 percent of the financing has been allocated to
small projects—less than $75,000 in size.

Want to explore whether PACE financing is available to assist your
small business? Visit PACENation’s interactive map. If supportive
legislation has been passed in your state, it should be able to help
you find a commercial PACE program near you.
Other forms of financial assistance abound as well. Following are a
few additional sites worth reviewing. They can help you identify
sources of financial assistance for making environmental improve‐
ments to your facilities, and developing and marketing innovative
IoT-based products that enable your customers to be lean and green:
SBA
The US Small Business Administration (SBA) devotes an entire
page on its site to environmental grants and loans. On it, you’ll
find links to financial resources that can assist with energy-
efficiency upgrades and even finance your business’s innovative
environmental products and technologies.
Kickstarter
A lot of players are in the crowdfunding space, but Kickstarter
continues to lead the way. From 2010 to 2015, its total funding
volume for campaigns in the US exceeded $1 billion, more than
four times the funding level of its nearest competitor, Indiegogo.
If you’re developing a new product, consider running a cam‐
paign on Kickstarter to help fund its development. The team
that developed FLUID, the learning water meter highlighted
earlier in this report, did. They successfully raised $116,381 with
the help of 595 backers to cover final non-recurring engineer‐
ing, tooling, and manufacturing costs.
DIME
Once you’ve developed a product and certified it with ENERGY
STAR, like the Haiku fan line produced by Big Ass Solutions,
the Database for Incentives and Joint Marketing Exchange (or
DIME) can be a valuable tool. You can use it to identify incen‐
tive and marketing opportunities for promoting your ENERGY-
STAR-certified product. It also enables you to find the
appropriate contact at other ENERGY STAR partner organiza‐
tions to coordinate promotional opportunities with them.
Funding Your Endeavors | 69

Maintaining Momentum
Your first step toward greater sustainability can be an empowering
experience. If you choose to implement a solution like one show‐
cased in this report, it can come with quick gratification. You’ll see
the kilowatt hours drop on your next electric bill. You’ll notice that
the next invoice for your company’s fuel card is much lower. You’ll
revel in the fact that your irrigation sprinklers aren’t running during
the next rainfall. All of this will generate a new sense of awareness,
confidence, and a desire for more. You’ll begin viewing the business
through a new lens—noticing other areas of waste and seeing them
as opportunities for continuous improvement. You’ve whet your
appetite with one success. Now you’re ready for another.
Here’s a solid way to maintain that momentum. Surround yourself
with like-minded professionals and mentors. Finding and joining a
community of businesses that are also focused on the triple-bottom
line will help sustain your interest and fuel your progress. A network
like this enables you to exchange ideas, share best practices, and
attract experts who can help all of the members map out a strategy
for greater sustainability, savings, and marketing appeal.
Many small businesses throughout California and the Midwest have
found this type of peer support and coaching in REV Sustainability
Circles. The program, which is subsidized by local utilities, brings
together small but diverse groups for a six-month experience. Each
Sustainability Circle has 10 member organizations (e.g., local busi‐
nesses, municipalities, schools, and other institutions). At least two
staff members from each organization participate in the sessions.
The Sustainability Circles meet for a full day once a month. Over the
course of the experience, members learn about energy efficiency,
water conservation, waste reduction, sustainability marketing, and
more from coaches, experts, and each other. The Sustainability Cir‐
cle coach also provides individualized consulting for each member,
helping participants build a five-year action plan for their organiza‐
tion. The final plan will typically outline a range of initiatives. All of
them include details on the investment required and the expected
return on investment, payback period, financial savings, and envi‐
ronmental benefits.
Bridging the Gap, a nonprofit focused on sustainable community
development in Kansas City, piloted a Sustainability Circle in 2015

with funding and support from local utility, Kansas City Power and
Light. “After the circle, members complete their sustainability action
plans, REV re-engages each company at 6, 12, and 24 months to
check on their progress,” said Bridging the Gap Executive Director
Kristin Riott. “In April 2016, REV reported the results for our cir‐
cle’s first, six-month check-in. The group had completed over half of
its initial goals and saved more than $100,000 on average per com‐
pany!”
While this solution is only available in select areas of the country
today and is most effective when subsidized by community partners,
like utilities, Riott offers other alternatives to consider. “Bridging the
Gap has provided low-cost networking and educational opportuni‐
ties for local businesses since 1999. We’re not alone, though. There
are local organizations like ours all across the country. They’re
actively reaching out to businesses, large and small, in their commu‐
nity and offering to help them grow as sustainable companies. Many
of these organizations are affiliated with the Green Business Engage‐
ment National Network,” says Riott.
“You’ll also find Green Drinks in a lot of cities. These are informal
meetups where groups of people who are interested in sustainability
gather over dinner and drinks. They come together to network with
each other and share ideas. If there’s not one in your area, start one.
It just takes a few people get one going, and there’s an easy template
to follow,” notes Riott. Additional resources she recommends
include:
City hall
City governments are often carrying the torch for sustainability
in communities across the country. Contacting city hall could
be a quick way to learn what opportunities exist for environ‐
mental networking locally.
Chamber of commerce
Many chambers have established sustainability committees that
educate members about the benefits of taking sustainable action
in their business and offer opportunities to meet green business
experts.
Industry associations
Today, local chapters of national associations for manufacturers,
retailers, and more are likely to offer a library of industry-
specific, best practices for sustainability. They may even have a
Maintaining Momentum | 71

group of members that meet regularly to discuss green opportu‐
nities at work.
Final Thoughts
If you’re keeping score, this would be the perfect time to add it all
up. With more innovative IoT-based solutions coming to market
every day, the financial assistance that’s available, and all of the com‐
munity resources at your disposal, it’s a great time to become a more
sustainable, small business.
Embracing this trifecta can give you a leg up on many of your peers.
You’ll be able to make more insightful and prudent decisions on the
energy, fuel, and water your business uses. In the process, you’ll be
building a financial cushion with the savings. Pass the savings along
to your customers, reinvest it in your business, or pocket it. Any way
you slice it, you’ll be in an enviable position that competitors with
smaller profit margins will find it tough to match. You’ll have gained
a competitive edge.

About the Author
Darren Beck writes about green practices in IoT for O’Reilly Media
and has a knack for finding the sweet spot between financial success
and a positive return for our world.
Darren helped establish one of the country’s premier corporate sus‐
tainability programs as the Director of Environmental Initiatives for
Sprint. As a consultant, speaker, and author, he has helped hundreds
of companies realize how leveraging sustainability can reduce their
risk, boost their bottom line, and enhance their reputation.
His insights come from more than 25 years of experience in strategy,
business development, environmental stewardship, and social
impact. Underpinning it all is his MBA from the University of Kan‐
sas and a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication and Business
from Baker University.
Follow him on Twitter @DarrenBeck for the latest news on sustaina‐
bility, technology, and ideas for making the world a better place.

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