I-Corps: Platform that matches users with renewable energy suppliers while providing on-demand energy analytics

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是为向客户提供可再生能源（太阳能和风能）的独立电力生产商开发技术。这些能源生产商需要找到想要他们产品的消费者，这些消费者可能是家庭或商业建筑。迄今为止，生产商在确定客户方面遇到了困难，据认为这是由于获得客户的成本高，加上客户流失率高。能源用户也很难找到可靠和价格有竞争力的可再生能源供应商（特别是在比较不同结构的合同中提出的条款时往往有困难）。这个I-Corps项目的基础是开发一个软件平台，使能源供应商能够获得一份潜在清洁能源消费者名单，其中包括他们的使用特点。 该平台还为消费者提供了一个精心策划的供应商名单，这些供应商可靠，价格具有竞争力，并且能够提供他们所需的服务。底层技术是通过机器学习结合人工智能应用进行数据分析。该技术为能源用户提供了分析其能源消耗和温室气体排放的能力，并将其消耗与其他能源供应商进行基准测试。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology for independent power producers who supply renewable energy (solar and wind energy) to their customers. These energy producers need to find consumers who want their products, which may be households or commercial buildings. To date, producers have experienced difficulty in identifying customers, which is thought to be due to high costs of customer acquisition combined with high rates of customer turnover. Energy users also have difficulty identifying renewable energy suppliers that are reliable and competitively priced (especially as there are often difficulties in comparing terms proposed in differently-structured contracts). This I-Corps project is based on the development of a software platform that gives energy suppliers access to a list of potential clean energy consumers that includes their usage characteristics. The platform also gives the consumers a curated list of suppliers who are reliable, competitively priced, and able to provide the services that they need. The underlying technology is data analysis via machine learning coupled with the application of artificial intelligence. The technology provides energy users with the ability to analyze their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and to benchmark their consumption against other energy suppliers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.