Meet PanTech Design – Software Development Firm Bringing Home Automation into the Renewable Energy Space

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PanTech Design is a software development firm that specializes in home automation software. Below is our recent interview with Josh Oebel, Marketing at PanTech Design:

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to PanTech Design?

A: We’ve been working in the smart home world for about 15 years. Typically, we program individual, custom systems for high-end residential clients. But we’ve also developed innovative software tools that we license out to other programmers. One of our biggest skillsets is providing a bridge for different electronic devices and systems in the home to communicate. You could say, we’ve been doing IOT since before it was a buzzword. But, our latest foray, and the most exciting, is in the renewable energy space. It’s our new energy management platform, Adapt Energy.

Q: Tell us more about Adapt Energy.

A: So, it all started a couple years ago when a battery company called Sonnen approached us about building software so their energy storage system could communicate with home automation systems. We dug in and learned a lot about this emerging home energy space. It got our attention and we saw an opportunity to leverage our skills and do some things that no one else was doing yet. We developed a robust hardware solution for controlling circuit breakers in a home and software to let homeowners take control of their energy use. It amazes us at what we’ve accomplished and that is affirmed in the ‘wide-eyed wonder’ we see when people experience Adapt Energy for the first time. And it’s gotten the attention of some big players in the space as well.

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Q: So what does Adapt Energy do?

A: It does a lot that’s difficult to relate in a simple bullet list, so let me explain in a real-world scenario. Say, Jane is a homeowner and she has solar panels on her roof and an energy storage system or ‘home battery’. Some severe weather is moving into Jane’s area, so Adapt Energy sends her a text message warning her. Jane jumps into her Adapt Energy app and selects an option to “Protect my home.” Adapt Energy adjusts the thermostat to pre-cool her home and flips off breakers for non-essential electrical loads, which enables her backup battery to charge faster. Then when the grid does go out and her house switches to battery power, Adapt Energy detects the grid loss and immediately shuts off heavy loads to protect the battery from overdraw. Jane gets another text message about the grid loss and gets some options in the app that let Jane choose how much of her home she wants to keep on during the outage. She doesn’t know how long the outage will last so she selects only essential devices like the refrigerator, hallway lights, and internet service. Adapt shuts down the rest. When grid power is restored, Adapt powers everything back on. It does other stuff too, but that’s the general idea.

Q: I read something about your recent partnership with Curb, Inc; could you tell us something more?

A: Yes, we’re really excited about working with Curb. Curb is an amazing company that makes energy monitoring systems for the home. They provide detailed information about energy consumption down to the individual circuit level. And now, thanks to our partnership, Adapt Energy includes the Curb real-time energy monitoring information in our app.

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Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: We’re all in with Adapt Energy. We’re already working on the next generation of the product and we’re continuing to expand our partner relationships and the functionality of the system. We really believe this technology will make a difference in the way people live and consume energy.

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