connects to a home circuit breaker to monitor energy use on each circuit and send real-time information to help homeowners cut their energy costs.
So far Ecodog has been funded entirely by Pitt and Tom Page, the former chairman and CEO of San Diego Gas & Electric and its corporate parent Enova (now Sempra Energy). In a separate conversation, Page told me he views EcoDog as the only smart grid device “that delivers actionable information to the customer. Everything else goes back to the utility. Wouldn’t you really rather have that information [about energy use] go back to the people who can actually do something about it?”
Indeed, EcoDog’s technology was named best in show at the GadgetFest contest that San Diego’s CommNexus industry group held last November at Qualcomm—and one reason I met with Pitt was to get an update on the five-year-old startup.
Pitt has been developing the home energy watchdog since 2005. He previously worked as general manager and chief technical officer for Trace Engineering, a leading supplier of electronics for the solar market. Before that he spent eight years in the uninterruptible power supply industry, where he worked in software development and small systems development.
He told me the company has begun to generate some revenue. The company’s first Fido devices were sold to Brookfield Homes, for installation in the new “eco-savvy” homes of the builder’s Rockrose at the Foothills development. Brookfield plans to hold an official grand opening for the new development on March 27, saying Rockrose is the first new home community in San Diego to offer every new home with an energy efficiency rating that is 35 percent better than the California Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential Construction.
Pitt told me EcoDog also is in the process of moving its headquarters from a 1,500-square-foot office in Vista, CA, into a 7,500-square-foot facility in San Diego’s Sorrento Mesa. He also said the company, which had just two employees a year ago, is now up to 10.
