Obama Administration Announces Green Button Program: Makes Energy Use Transparent, Forges Cleantech Business Innovation

03/22/2012
SustainableBusiness.com News

This is a good one - it will bring energy efficiency further into peoples' homes and businesses, and it will spark innovation in cleantech companies who are developing products and services around it.

The Obama administration announced an agreement today with nine major utilities to give customers access to data about their energy use, with a simple click of an online "Green Button."

The utilities that signed on supply electricity to over 27 million households.

Inspired by a White House call to action, Green Button is an industry-led effort that allows electricity customers to download their household or building energy-use data in an easy-to-use online format.

The data has the potential to not only help businesses and households understand how they are using energy, and thus gain greater control over how much they use, but it also opens the door for third-party technology companies to develop interactive applications and "smart" appliances that empower people to make wiser energy decisions.

Opens the Door to Company Innovation

Utilities have agreed to base their Green Buttons on a common technical standard developed in collaboration with a public-private partnership supported by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Adoption of this standard by utilities across the US gives software developers and other entrepreneurs a sufficiently large market to support the creation of innovative applications that can help people make the most of their energy information.
Companies that have agreed to support utility deployment of Green Button include Itron, OPower, Oracle, Silver Spring Networks, Aclara and Tendril.

Green-Button-enabled web and smartphone applications promise to help people choose the most economical rate plan based on their energy use patterns; provide customized energy efficiency tips; provide easy-to-use tools to size and finance rooftop solar panels; and deliver virtual energy audit software that cuts costs for building owners and gets retrofits started sooner.

Companies that are developing applications or services for businesses and individuals using this industry data standard include: Belkin, Efficiency 2.0, EnergySavvy, FirstFuel, Honest Buildings, Lucid, Plotwatt, Schneider-Electric, Simple Energy, and Sunrun.

Could Spread Nationwide

In the previous Congress, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) authored legislation called e-KNOW (Electricity Consumers Right to Know Act) that would require all electricity providers to make this data available to their customers.

"I applaud the President for his leadership in getting utility companies to agree to share energy data with their customers. From cars to cornflakes, people make better decisions when they have facts and data. It's time we empower electricity consumers with information as well," says Rep. Markey, the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee.

"But energy information shouldn't be something that only a small portion of American households have access to. All Americans should have the right to access their energy data so that they can better reduce energy waste and shrink their bills. That's why I will soon be introducing legislation that would require all electricity companies to make this information available to their customers."

Participating utilities are:

• American Electric Power: 5.3 million customers in 11 states (Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia);
  
• Austin Energy: 400,000 customers in Texas;
  
• Baltimore Gas and Electric: 1.2 million customers in Maryland;
  
• CenterPoint Energy: 1.8 million households in Texas;
  
• Commonwealth Edison: 3.4 million households in Illinois;
  
• NSTAR: 1.1 million households in Massachusetts;
  
• PECO: 1.4 million households in Pennsylvania;
  
• Reliant: 500,000 households in Texas;
  
• Virginia Dominion Power: 2.4 million customers in Virginia and North Carolina;
  

• Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Southern California Edison, Oncor, Pepco Holdings Inc., Glendale Water and Power, San Diego Gas & Electric: 12 million customers in Calfornia.

How the Fed is Encouraging Innovation

The Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced today:

• Apps for Energy Contest to Spur Development of New Online and Mobile Tools - With initial co-sponsorship from the Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Itron, DOE announced an Apps for Energy contest to spur development of energy-related software applications, based on the Green Button standard, that will help consumers gain new insights, take action, and save on utility bills.
  
  The contest complements a recently closed $8 million grant funding opportunity to help people better manage their energy consumption from new smart grid technologies.
  
• Providing Transparency to Consumers - DOE launched an online map today that enables utilities across the country to display their progress towards providing their customers access to their own energy data in consumer-friendly and computer-friendly formats.
  
• Technical Assistance to Industry - The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, a public-private partnership supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, announced today a new initiative to facilitate Green Button implementation for the electric industry.

Here's how the Administration says it's been working to shrink peoples' energy bills.

• Reducing Energy Bills for Low Income Americans: Since October 2009, DOE and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have completed energy upgrades in more than one million homes, saving families over $400 on heating and cooling bills in the first year alone.
  
• Lowering Energy Costs for Renters and New Homeowners: Through housing assistance programs, HUD has completed over 9,500 ENERGY STAR installations and performed over 17,500 efficient energy modifications that are helping low and moderate income families save money on their energy bills.
  
• Setting New Standards for Residential and Commercial Appliances: In August 2011, DOE issued energy efficiency standards for home refrigerators and freezers that will raise efficiency by 25% by 2014, saving over $200 on utility bills.
  

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