Sunmetrix Winner of SunShot Catalyst Business Innovation Contest

MONTREAL - Jan. 30, 2015 - PRLog -- We are proud to announce that Sunmetrix is one of seventeen winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Catalyst Business Innovation contest. Working together with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Topcoder.com over the next three months, Sunmetrix will be participating in the prototyping phase of the challenge, with access to $25,000 in software development funds. Results of the prototyping phase will be presented in San Francisco at Demo Day, scheduled for early May. Winners of the prototyping phase will go on to the incubation contest with the chance to access $100,000 in prize money.

Sunmetrix’s winning proposal has as its primary objective to bring top-quality solar information to homeowners, with a "try-before-you-buy" solution for solar energy called Sunmetrix Go. This solution allows homeowners to test-drive solar energy for their home before spending a single dollar, and directly compare their potential electricity generation with their consumption, as determined with Green Button Data. Sunmetrix Track is a follow-on service for homeowners who have taken the plunge and installed solar panels, allowing them to monitor the performance of their system and be sure they are getting the most from their investment.

Sunmetrix, established in Westmount, Quebec, has been helping homeowners since 2012. With Sunmetrix Discover, homeowners anywhere in the world can enter their address or postal code and immediately learn the solar potential of their location, see the dollar value of that energy, and access a solar buy or lease calculator to help them make the best choice for their location.

About the SunShot Initiative: The U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative is a collaborative national effort that aggressively drives innovation to make solar energy fully cost-competitive with traditional energy sources before the end of the decade. Through SunShot, the Energy Department supports efforts by private companies, universities, and national laboratories to drive down the cost of solar electricity to $0.06 per kilowatt-hour. Learn more at energy.gov/sunshot.

About topcoder: The topcoder community gathers the world’s experts in design, development and data science to work on interesting and challenging problems for fun and reward. We want to help topcoder members improve their skills, demonstrate and gain reward for their expertise, and provide the industry with objective insight on new and emerging technologies. https://www.topcoder.com/

About NREL: At NREL, we focus on creative answers to today's energy challenges. From breakthroughs in fundamental science to new clean technologies to integrated energy systems that power our lives, NREL researchers are transforming the way the nation and the world use energy. http://www.nrel.gov/

About Green Button Data: Making metered data available to consumers - all electric users have meters that are used to measure how much energy they use. This metered data has been used by the energy service provider to calculate how much that energy will cost you, the consumer. Green Button is all about making that data available to you - for planning - for analysis - for your benefit! http://www.greenbuttondata.org

Sunmetrix Discover: http://sunmetrix.com/discover/

Sunmetrix Go: http://sunmetrix.com/go/

Sunmetrix Track: http://sunmetrix.com/track/

Facts about solar energy (as provided by the U.S. Department of Energy; current as of 30 September 2014)

A new solar project was installed every four minutes in 2013 in America.

Some of the largest and most successful companies and organizations in the world are deploying solar in a massive scale — including Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, FedEx, GE, GM, Google, IKEA, Macy’s, Target, Walmart, and the U.S. military.

Since the beginning of 2010, the average cost of solar PV panels has dropped more than 60 percent and the cost of a solar electric system has dropped by about 50 percent.

Although the cost of solar energy system hardware (i.e., panels, inverters, etc.) has dropped significantly, the non-hardware “soft” costs of solar – such as permitting, installation, interconnection, and maintenance fees – remain a major barrier to greater deployment.