For the third installment of our “Where Are They Now?” series, Red Canary is going green. We’re checking in with two of the green energy companies we profiled back in 2009 to see what they are up to today. Ecobee and Bullfrog Power were both making headlines by conserving energy, but were their businesses as sustainable as their products? Read and see!
Jump to the bottom of the article for links to the other ‘Where are they now?’ posts
Ecobee
Where they were:
Red Canary first heard about ecobee and their futuristic Smart Thermostat back in 2009.
Founders Stuart Lombard and Mark Malchiondo had created innovative solutions to simplify the programmable thermostat – an already frustrating system, with cutting-edge technology. The pair connected heating and cooling systems to the Internet taking the guesswork out of climate control. In its beta stage the product already had the media buzzing. The Smart Thermostat did more than provide digital control it automated energy conservation.
Convenient, green, and economical? Sounded like a winning combination to us! Read the ecobee article we wrote in 2009 here.
Where are they now?
Things over at ecobee are going great. Press releases from the past two years indicate that the Smart Thermostat has been very successful with developers and retailers like CGNA in the U.S. While we don’t have access to the company’s financial statements, they are still receiving a lot of media attention that lets us know they are still thriving.
The company was recently awarded the prestigious Deloitte Technology Green 15™ Award for the third year in a row. The award acknowledges Canadian companies making major breakthroughs in the field of green technology. They went live last year with a new website, web portal and app interface with rave reviews. The redesign could be an attempt to keep up with new competitors in the digital thermostat market. A similar product recently released by Nest Smart Thermostats is already being referred to as the “iPod of thermostats” and is backordered till next year. It seems no one is safe from the threat of Apple domination!
Take a look at the Nest Smart Thermostat here.
Bullfrog Power
Where they were:
We profiled Bullfrog Power when they were five years to market with their water- powered energy. It was the first 100% green energy retailer of its kind. Founders Tom Heintzman and Greg Kiessling had taken on the challenge of convincing the public that environmentally friendly electricity was worth the extra cost. They had already won over 4,000 residential homes in Ontario and had won over corporate giants like Walmart. Bullfrog was well on their way to taking green to the masses.
Read the Bullfrog Power article here.
Where are they now?
2011 was a big year for Bullfrog Power. The company signed major deals with corporate giants Unilever and Kraft Foods. Bullfrog also announced that they would now be providing a new green natural gas product to power the Kraft kitchens. Companies have been catching on to the positive impact that going green has on consumers and Bullfrog is benefiting. Like Ecobee, the company is a privately traded company so we don’t have financial statements to gauge their growth. It’s safe to say that Bullfrog is leaping ahead of the competition (sorry, I couldn’t resist!).
Previous posts
- Where are they now? Part II (BlueCat Networks vs. Strangeloop Networks)
- Where are they now? (Cherry Chula vs. ChickAdvisor)
