Start-Up Solutions

Discover ways to save energy — and money — at SXSW Eco's Innovation to Inspiration exhibit

Ever wondered how modern technology can help lower energy consumption in your home? Lucky for you, Bounce Energy’s parent company, Direct Energy, has created the Innovation to Inspiration (iTOi) mobile exhibit to highlight the innovative devices that can do just that.

Since 2014, the energy company has taken its technology and tools on the road with the one-of-a-kind iTOi, which offers a glimpse at the connected living experience. Once inside the interactive exhibit, you can check out cutting-edge devices and appliances to see exactly how they work and whether they might fit into your home or business.

For example, the recently launched Generation 3 Nest Learning Thermostat is an effective way to reduce energy usage and costs. The Nest Learning Thermostat programs itself and automatically helps save energy when you're away — and you can control it using your phone, tablet, or laptop.

Other devices featured in the iTOi mobile exhibit include the following:

Direct Energy Smart Water Heater: Direct Energy partner Sequentric offers a patent smart grid water heater designed to provide grid-interactive services via variable-capacity water heating, allowing grid operators to manage demand response, load leveling, energy storage, and real-time frequency response while still supplying the electricity needed for homeowners to receive uninterrupted hot water.
WeMo Switch: Allows you to turn electronic devices on or off from anywhere, using existing home Wi-Fi networks to provide wireless control of appliances through the WeMo app.
Direct Energy Solar: The largest full-service, residential solar providers in the Eastern United States.
Hue Light Bulbs from Philips: These bulbs merge the energy efficiency of LEDs with cutting-edge connectivity to deliver a new experience in home ambiance. Lights can be turned on and off, change color, set timers and alarms, and used as a method of home security.

The Direct Energy iTOi mobile exhibit will be parked at SXSW Eco, a three-day event taking place in Austin that serves as a space for business leaders, investors, innovators, and designers to advance solutions that drive economic, environmental, and social change. It will be open October 5-7, 9:30 am-6 pm, and you can find it across the street from the Austin Convention Center in the SXSW Eco Outdoor Lounge, 316 E. Cesar Chavez St.

Direct Energy will be raffling off Generation 3 Nest Learning Thermostats, and the winners will be selected at 12:45 pm each day. You can also join them for an Austin-style breakfast on Tuesday, October 6, for another chance to win.

For reminders about Nest drawing times and event happenings, please follow @DirectEnergy on Twitter using #DirectEnergyiTOi, or tune in to Periscope — a live streaming video mobile app — as they’ll be broadcasting live throughout SXSW Eco. If you want to find out more about the innovations featured in the iTOi mobile exhibit but can’t make it to SXSW Eco, check out the details on the Direct Energy website.

SXSW Eco kickoff
The energy provider also is kicking off things at SXSW Eco with Garrett Hester, director of innovation implementation at Direct Energy, who is serving as a judge for the Start-up Showcase at 3:30 pm on Monday, October 5.

At 10 am on October 6, company president and CEO Badar Kahn will serve as a keynote speaker at the New Era of Retail Energy presentation. Liz Maberry, Direct Energy’s senior innovation director, will lead a discussion at Being Bought: A Startup Founder's Guide on Wednesday, October 7, at 11:15 am.

Direct Energy will offset SXSW Eco’s use throughout the event by providing 10,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy certificates (REC). By purchasing RECs, Direct Energy is helping to invest in the U.S. economy and the development of new, renewable electricity generation technologies that could fuel businesses and consumers in the future.

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Promoted articles are produced by CultureMap sponsors and not by the editorial staff.

The Direct Energy Innovation to Inspiration (iTOi) mobile exhibit showcases technology and tools to connect your home.

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2016 Food Trends

Whole Foods Market loves wine in a can and more hot food trends for 2016

Photo courtesy of James Kicinski-McCoy, Bleubird

Let us toast Whole Foods Market's forecast of hot food trends for 2016.

While we've barely begun to reflect on 2015, Whole Foods Market is already thinking about 2016. The grocery chain's product team has pinpointed 10 top food trends to watch in 2016, from fermented foods to wine in a can.

Here are the hot trends for 2016:

Uncommon meat and seafood. Offbeat and lesser-known meat and seafood options are moving from restaurants into the American kitchen. The trend results from a number of factors including concerns over waste and an increase in butchery. New cuts include sirloin top, pork T-bone chop, and Denver steaks. Unfamiliar seafoods include paiche and blue catfish.

Wine in a can. With wine drinkers getting younger and less hidebound, winemakers are offering wine in an aluminum can. One of the first to do it was Francis Ford Coppola's sparkling Sofia, joined more recently by Infinite Monkey Theorem and Presto Sparkling. Single-serve aluminum cans are not only convenient, they're more sustainable.

Plant-based everything. Plants are playing a meatier role in a surprising number of products, not just vegan and vegetarian items, from quinoa protein in hair care products to vitamin-rich veggies in frozen dessert pops.

Fermented foods and probiotics. Fermented foods are recommended for good intestinal health, be it kombucha, yogurt, kimchi, gochujang, and pickled things such as chiogga beet kraut.

Non-GMO. The non-GMO movement continues to grow, even extending to verifying that the food fed to animals (or what Whole Foods delicately calls the "animal protein category") is also non-GMO.

Grass-fed 2.0. Currently common in dairy items such as milk, eggs, yogurt, butter, and cheese, grass-fed is expanding into packaged meat snacks and even protein powders.

Dehydrated foods. Last year, it was kale chips. In 2016, it'll be dehydrated broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and parsnip chips, plus salmon, bison, and chicken jerkies.

Heirloom ingredients. Going beyond the commonly known heirloom tomato, heirloom ingredients are popping up in packaged goods such as popcorn, chocolate made with heirloom cocoa, and even candy such as Seely's Mint Patties made with heirloom peppermint.

Alternative flours. The wheat-haters and gluten-phobes have plenty to choose from with flours made from legumes, ancient grains, teff, amaranth, and nuts. Chickpea flour is a quick riser, while other legume flours are showing up in bean-based pastas and other packaged goods.

Old World flavors. In this case, Whole Foods describes Old World as flavors from Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia, as well as Middle Eastern ingredients.

Predictions came from Whole Foods Market's team that spots trends for the grocer's stores and sources items across the retailer’s cheese, grocery, meat, seafood, prepared foods, produce, and personal care departments.

lists sustainability trends