Google Director of Energy & Enterprise Partnerships Jeff Hamel joined us to talk about the work Google is doing with Xcel Energy in Denver along with other electric utilities and energy firms in its ongoing efforts to grow into a critical role it can play in the energy industry in enabling the energy future imagined by technologists, regulators, the utility industry, and especially the general public. Google devices already at play in this effort include the Nest Learning Thermostat and devices with the Google Assistant, including Android phones and the the Google Home, Google Mini, and Google Hub devices, but those devices can communicate with an ever larger cadre of smart home technologies that are helping evolve the relationship between people and energy, and utility customers and their energy providers.