16 April: "In New York, A New Way for Stay-at-Home Customers to Get Paid for Shaving Peak Energy," Greentech Media. Logical Buildings; Green Button Connect My Data.
13 April: "'Data Hive' Opens for Solar, Battery Vendors in Silicon Valley," Greentech Media. UtilityAPI, Green Button Connect My Data.
13 April: "How to Match Your Electricity Rate with Facility Usage," facilitiesnet. Green Button Download My Data.
02 April: "States Take the Lead by Requiring Utilities to Increase Energy Efficiency," buildee blog post.
19 March: "PSC Expands Access to Data Needed to Meet State's Clean Energy Goals; New Policies will Establish Privacy and Cybersecurity Requirements for Access to Energy Related Data," New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) press release.
20 February: "Mission:data Collaborates with North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein on State-of-the-Art Data Portability and Privacy Rule," Mission:data post.
18 February: "Accelerated Innovations and MyMeter® Continue to Grow Worldwide with Empresa Electrica de Guatemala (EEGSA)," Accelerated Innovations press release.
10 February: "Ohio's Final Workgroup Report on Smart Meter Data Access: Are We There Yet? Not Quite, Kids..." The DW Energy Blog. Update on Green Button Connect My Data in Ohio.
February 2020: "NAESB ESPI and Green Button," page 4, North American Energy Standards Board Bulletin.
21 January: "Smart Buildings Market to Reach USD 109.48 Billion by 2026; Rising Environmental Concerns to Contribute Healthy Growth, States Fortune Business Insights™," Fortune Business Insights press release.
14 January: "Blockchain Project to help JPMorgan Reach 100% Renewable Energy Goal," S&P Global Platts. JPMorgan partners with swytchX.

NAESB Ratifies Standard for Green Button

On 8 April, the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB), a member of the Green Button Alliance, ratified the latest revision of the NAESB Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) Retail Energy Quadrant Book 21 (REQ.21) standard, commonly known as the Green Button standard. Updates and enhancements to the standard were submitted to NAESB by the OpenADE Task Force, hosted by the Green Button Alliance, which included:

• Replaced OAuth 1.0 with OAuth 2.0 for “Confidential Clients”
• Updated security requirements to TLS 1.2 as a minimum
• Revised the Energy Usage Information (EUI) data structure and definitions
• Created the Retail Customer (PII) data structure and definitions
• Deprecated original Use Cases that do not meet OAuth 2.0 data security requirements
• Added Use Case for Download My Data (DMD)
• Simplified Use Case 2: “Customer Authorization process”
• Documented Standard ESPI Application Program Interface (API) formats

The current standard is now available for purchase from NAESB for $250.00 USD as the Final Action R13001 – Request for Corrections and Enhancements to the NAESB REQ.21 Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI).

OpenADE Task Force: 

The GBA hosts the OpenADE Task Force technical meetings every Tuesday at 3:00pm ET, both GBA members and non-members are invited to attend.  See the GBA calendar for logistics.

UtilityAPI Gains Green Button CMD and DMD Certifications!

Green Button Alliance member UtilityAPI is the first U.S. company to achieve Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) certification through the GBA's recently launched CMD testing program.

UtilityAPI also received certification for Green Button Download My Data (DMD).  UtilityAPI's EE/DER Engagement Platform now features its newly certified Data Exchange Platform that leverages Green Button data and CMD protocols to offer third-party access and secure sharing of data with complete customer authorization and control.

Through the Green Button Alliance's testing program, UL confirmed UtilityAPI's platform meets both the Green Button CMD and DMD Certification requirements.  UtilityAPI is now assured its "Green Button Certified CMD" utility platform will seamlessly and securely provide access to customer energy-usage data; with solutions that are positioned to work with third-party offerings supporting the Green Button data and protocol format.

Do You Know?:

Green Button "Usage Summary" Capability Enables Utilities to Provide Non-energy Billing-statement Information and All Utility Billing Categories

Do you know the Green Button “Usage Summary” capability enables utilities to provide non-energy billing-statement information and contains all billing categories including:

• Payments; generation and distribution charges; tariff name; demand charges; third-party charges; administrative adjustments; etc.
• Green Button Usage Summary enables utilities to provide billing consumption for energy units, including cost, enabling energy managers to easily capture data from multiple locations to significantly simplify energy reporting.
• Green Button Usage Summary enables third-party applications to provide customers with a finer-breakdown of their monthly energy usage.

Primer:  
Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) is an open-data standard designed to unlock access to utility interval-usage and billing data and to provide seamless access for software applications. The protocol enables customers of energy or water utilities to authorize third-party solutions to quickly and securely obtain interval-meter data and it enables an accurate and detailed level of analysis.

GBA Launches Green Button Connect My Data Certification Program

The Green Button Alliance announced the launch of its Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) Certification Program for electricity, natural gas, and water utilities (data custodians).

The availability of the Green Button CMD Certification Program comes at a key time for the industry as utilities look to provide proven, standards-based solutions for secure customer data-access and sharing. Green Button CMD certification will assure utilities their implementations are Green Button standards-compliant and will ensure customer privacy and the seamless and secure transmission of data to third-party solutions.

A GBA-founding member, UL Verification Services (UL), is a GBA-authorized test laboratory and conducts the ANSI-audited Green Button Certified CMD testing process. London Hydro's cloud-based energy service platform is the first utility implementation (.PDF) to be certified Green Button CMD standards-compliant by UL. The "Green Button Certified CMD" mark on London Hydro's site now assures the utility, its customers, and third-party solution providers, that London Hydro's implementation is standards-compliant and new data-driven services and applications will seamlessly and securely work-together, while ensuring customer privacy. Learn more about the Green Button Connect My Data standard and the Certification program and the benefits to utilities here (.PDF).

Utilities that have Green Button Connect My Data implementations, or are in process of developing CMD offerings, can apply for certification here.

Did You Know?

The Green Button Standard Ensures Customer Privacy & Secure Transmission of Energy Data

The Green Button standard is designed to enable utility customers to easily access and securely share their electricity, natural gas, and water-usage information in a consistent format. The standard also ensures the energy-usage information data stream does not contain any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and must be transmitted using a secure-transmission process thus paving the way for utilities to meet requirements for customer privacy set forth in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the European Union as well as the principles outlined in the U.S. Department of Energy's voluntary DataGuard Energy Data Privacy Program.

• The Green Button standard’s Retail Customer schema function requires utilities to transmit PII in a separate, secured transmission apart from the data stream used to transmit a customer’s energy-usage information and it requires the receiving application to logically connect the two, separate data streams.
• The Retail Customer data stream transmission also must be authorized by the utility’s customer.
• Green Button’s Retail Customer schema enables utilities to protect customers’ PII while allowing them to meet regulators’ and third party non-energy information requirements.

"Texas Smart Meter Settlement Could Grow Market for Energy Products," by Robert Walton, Utility Dive, notes that Texas regulators have approved recommendations to improve and streamline the state's smart meter data portal, including standardizing data transfers to be more in line with the Green Button Connect My Data standard.  Recommended reading: "Texas Decision Enhances Customer Choice of Enhanced Energy Providers" by Michael Murray, Mission:data Coalition.

"Survey: Solar Companies Want Software to Speed Growth, Manage Utility Rates," by Julia Pyper, Greentech Media.  Survey finds access to standardized Green Button energy usage data is a priority for solar software market and and also notes GBA members Energy Toolbase and UtilityAPI as popular software platforms.

"KWHCoin Aims to Build an Advanced Energy Economy that Connects Us All," by Tech Company News.  Interview with GBA member Girard Newkirk, CEO of GBA Member company: KWHCoin, regarding KWHCoin technology, partnerships and vision.

"NEM's 21st Annual Restructuring Conference Focuses on Next Phase of Consumer Choice Innovation and Opportunities in Energy Markets," Jeff Hendler, CEO of GBA member company: ETS - Energy Technology Savings, spoke at the Washington D.C. conference and discussed the importance of consumer access to consumption and demand data to enable consumer decisions to reduce energy costs and achieve clean energy goals.

"Snugg Home's Snugg Pro Adds Support for Green Button," discusses benefits of standardized Green Button energy data and how it speeds the home energy auditing process, with a two-minute demo.

ProgrammableWeb, a widely known source of news and information for Internet-based application programming interfaces (APIs), just published a series in their API University section written by Dr. Martin J. Burns, with an introduction by Dr. David A. Wollman, both of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on Green Button and its use of OAuth: 

• Intro:  Understanding the Green Button API Initiative and Why It Matters
• Part 1:  Getting To Know The Primary Use Cases of The Green Button API initiative
• Part 2:  Understanding The Requirements and Standards Behind The Green Button API Initiative
• Part 3:  How Green Button Ingeniously Extended The OAuth Standard Without Forking It
• Part 4:  How The Green Button API Initiative Takes Advantage of OAuth's Scope Parameter
• Part 5:  How Green Button Made The "Pull-Only" OAuth Standard Support Push APIs Too
• Conclusion:  How Can Other API Implementations Benefit From Green Button's OAuth Inventions?

http://www.programmableweb.com/api-university/how-green-button-initiative-secured-its-apis-oauth

The Green Button Alliance hosted a webinar, "Green Button 101", on 13 October 2016 to educate the industry and consumers on the many powerful capabilities of the Green Button data-access standard, as well as communicate real-world benefits from a leading U.S. utility and application-provider perspective.  GBA general manager Jeremy J. Roberts, Paul Monette of founding member Southern California Edison (SCE) and Elena Lucas of member UtilityAPI presented. The webinar featured a lively Q&A session enabling the presenters to answer questions from  attendees. In case you missed it, access the Q&A here.

The Green Button UsagePoint metering capability allows energy managers to link multiple-meter energy usage with locations and identify individual buildings. Its Summary Billing schema enables utilities to provide billing consumption for energy units, as well as cost, in a manner that enables energy managers to easily capture it from multiple points serviced by a single energy-service provider or across multiple utilities; significantly simplifying energy reporting for multiple consumption points.

The Green Button UsageSummary capability enables utilities to provide non-energy billing-statement information, including: Payments, Generation & Distribution charges, Third Party fees, Administrative adjustments, etc. It has been designed with the flexibility to support all utility billing categories. This allows Third Party applications to present customers with a finer-breakdown of their monthly energy usage.

The Green Button standard requires that the energy-usage information data stream cannot contain any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and must be transmitted using a secure-transmission process; thus protecting the customer’s privacy and energy-usage information.

However, some energy-usage applications require access to a customer's location or multiple meter locations. To address this requirement, the OpenADE Task Force, a committee of the UCAIug, has defined a Green Button Retail Customer Schema that provides this information to enable utilities to protect customers’ PII while allowing them to meet regulators’ and Third Party non-energy information requirements. The Retail Customer Schema requires utilities to transmit the PII in a separate, secured transmission apart from the data stream used to transmit a customer’s energy-usage information and it requires the receiving application to logically connect the two, separate data streams. Additionally, the Retail Customer data stream transmission must be authorized by the utility’s customer.

The Green Button standard enables utility customers to easily access and share their electricity-, natural gas-, and water-usage information in a consistent format; while ensuring customer privacy and transmission security of energy information. Comma Separated Values (CSV) and Electronic Data Exchange (EDI) files fail to provide consistent formats, do not ensure privacy of customer information, are not required to ensure transmission security, and do not support complex data structures. The Green Button standard utilizes a combination of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Atom Syndication Format, which enables it to support complex data structures that allow for richer expression of data.

A common misunderstanding in the industry is that “smart meters are required for utilities to leverage the Green Button standard.”  That’s not true.

The flexible Green Button standard is designed to enable utilities to provide usage data regardless of their currently deployed metering system. Smart meters can simplify the energy usage retrieval process, however, Green Button enables utilities to report energy-usage information from whatever means it is collected and allows utilities to report energy-usage information in whatever interval the utility chooses. Although the Green Button standard mandates the presence of interval data it does not mandate the interval frequency.

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), in partnership with Greentown Labs, hosted the 5th Annual Boston Cleanweb Hackathon from April 1-3, 2016. The two-day technology challenge invited participants to compete to create user-friendly web and mobile applications designed to help consumers and businesses use energy and natural resources more efficiently. Cash and prizes were awarded to the winners.

The Green Button Alliance and member UtilityAPI were supporters of the event. UtilityAPI was a data sponsor for the event and was on-site to answer questions. The GBA and UtilityAPI congratulate the hackathon’s 80 participants for creating 11 energy efficiency applications in just 30 hours. EnergyBee, the hackathon’s first place winner, created an app that enables consumers to set and track energy use goals and spending, as well as compete against friends to save energy. EnergyBee used data provided by UtilityAPI.

London Hydro announced it is the industry's first utility to complete the Green Button Alliance's Download My Data (DMD) Testing and Certification process for electricity, natural gas and water usage data. The utility will now be able to provide this information to its customers enabling them to easily access and efficiently manage their own resource consumption while opening opportunities for application vendors.

The Alliance's technical staff worked with London Hydro during the certification test preparation, and Alliance founding member UL, a global leader in testing and certification services, conducted the Green Button DMD certification of London Hydro's implementation. Utilities and energy service providers who have existing Green Button DMD implementations, or who are in the process of developing Green Button DMD offerings, can apply for Green Button DMD certification here.

Read about how London Hydro is empowering its Ontario-based customers with access to their Green Button energy usage data and enabling them to manage their consumption with innovative applications such as Bidgely's HomeBeat in this recent London Free Press article: "Riding Herd on the Energy Hogs." For more information on London Hydro's Green Button initiative, and a complete listing of its third-party Connect My Data (CMD) applications, click here.

In September, the U.S. Department of Commerce presented Martin J. Burns, John A. Teeter, and David A. Wollman of the Smart Grid and Cyber-Physical Systems Program at NIST, with the Silver Medal award for leadership in the White House Green Button initiative, giving consumers the vital information they need to manage their own energy usage. Working closely with industry and other agencies, the team led the development of the technology foundation for Green Button, including standards, testing and technical support for implementers. The GBA congratulates them on this well-deserved recognition, and thanks them for their continued work on the Green Button initiative.

The GBA administers a testing and certification program to make it easier for an energy provider to ensure its Green Button implementation complies to the Green Button standard, while also assuring developers they can write a single application that can work across many utilities. If your company is in the process of developing a Green Button Download My Data (DMD) solution to provide Green Button energy data to your customers, or already has a DMD implementation, you can apply for Green Button DMD Certification here.

For utilities interested in learning about how an open-platform-based utility service could increase revenues through a combination of service-provider and customer engagement, see the Rocky Mountain Institute's insightful article: "How Open Platforms with Demand Flexibility offer Utilities New Revenue Opportunities," which notes Green Button data as part of an open Data-as-a-Service platform.

Green Button DMD Certifications

The GBA is now accepting applications for certification of Green Button Download My Data (DMD) implementations. If you are developing, or have already implemented, a DMD solution, you can apply for certification here.

Testing your DMD files takes only a few minutes and a "Green Button Certified DMD" logo on your DMD page assures customers and app developers that your solution provides consistent Green Button data and will interoperate with other certified Green Button products and services. Your DMD solution will also be listed on the GBA's Green Button Certified Solutions page on our forthcoming new website.

Want to help shape the future of the standard?

The Green Button standard is currently being enhanced and the GBA is on the forefront of the development. Please feel free to participate in our working group calls:

• Weekly OpenADE Meetings: Open Automated Data Exchange (ADE) meetings are currently focused on defining specific implementation details of the Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) standard. Meetings take place every Tuesday from 3-4pm ET.
    
• Monthly EnergyOS OpenESPI Meetings: Meetings take place the first Monday of each month at 12-1pm ET.

Meeting details for both working groups can be found here. 

For app developers looking for a great overview on how to leverage Green Button data for energy consumption apps, see ProgrammableWeb's excellent new article.