I think Nest is really nailing a pain point for traditional utilities providers and probably can be a great business model for a couple of decades, but to me th

I think Nest is really nailing a pain point for traditional utilities providers and probably can be a great business model for a couple of decades, but to me the future is going to be decentralized. I say this because the electrical grid in the US is very old and dilapidated and is a constant drain on capital just so that the electricity that is mostly generated by the increasing costs of coal and petro derivatives can flow through it; in the long run, the margins are shrinking (Nest/Google can help slow this rate down). On the other side, there are multitude of solar alternatives (Micro CSP, photovoltaic, etc) that are powering places now in the US that wouldn't be worth the cost to put on the grid; in the long run, the margins are growing.