It is not news that consumer spending is decreasing.  The combined forces of accumulated debt (mortgage, home equities, and credit cards) with the decline of value of assets (house and stocks) are going to change the attitudes of consumers for the next several years.

Another hot button is the environment.  As a society, we are becoming much more conscious of the impact our actions have on the world around us.  And beyond that, war and terrorism has reinforced that oil makes our world spin and it will not be around forever.  Oil equals power and nations will continually use their military might to preserve their supply.

While I am glad to see much being invested today in the research and development of alternative energy sources, this is a long term play.  We are years from alternative sources making economic sense.  In the intermediate, we should employ technology to make smarter use of the energy we consume. 

So, at the intersection of consumer belt tightening and making smart energy decisions is a company called EnerNOC.  EnerNOC provides demand response services to businesses – and someday soon consumers. 

Demand response is the manipulation of electricity consumption.  Power operators use their least expensive means of creating power first, but when demand rises, they are forced to use much more expensive means of creating power.  This increases the overall price of electricity – which is passed to customers as peak usage. 

EnerNOC gives electricity customers the knowledge of when these peaks occur, so they can take action to decrease their consumption.  Power companies influence this behavior by giving them decreased power bills or rebates.  This results in cheaper power bills because the utility can continue using their less expensive power creation means.  By sharing knowledge between producer and consumer, a win-win situation is made.

This simple idea of giving people the information they need to make smart decisions about their own consumption is our intermediate solution to satisfying environmental consciousness and economic responsibility.