Green Button Alliance Announces Results of 2021 Board of Directors Election

The Green Button Alliance concluded its sixth annual Board of Directors election and is pleased to announce the addition of its new board members:

• James “Jay” Lewis, CEO, Big Data Energy Services was elected to serve in a two-year seat;
• Jeff Hendler, CEO, Logical Buildings was elected to a one-year seat and
• John Anderson, Director of Energy Markets, OhmConnect was re-elected to another one-year term.

In addition, on 12 January, Officers of the board…

• Syed Mir, London Hydro (GBA Chair),
• Daniel Roesler, UtilityAPI (GBA Vice-Chair), and
• John Anderson, OhmConnect (GBA Secretary)

…were reaffirmed by the board to continue in their current Officer positions. Joining the board leadership and newly affirmed in the Treasurer position is Travis Arnce, ENGIE Resources, who assumes the role which was previously held by Cengizhan Yenerim, ENGIE. The GBA welcomes its new directors who commenced their positions on GBA’s Board of Directors on 01 January 2021.

13 January: "ENGIE North America Adds Nearly 2 GW of Renewable Energy in the U.S. in 2020," ENGIE North America press release.

13 January: "CTA Announces 2021 Smart Home Division Mark of Excellence Award Winners," CE Pro. “Energy Efficiency Product of the Year” - Logical Buildings, GridRewards.

08 January: "New Jersey Approves PSE&G's $778 Smart Meter Rollout," Greentech Media. Approval comes with regulator demand for energy data sharing.

31 December: "Top 10 Utility Regulation Trends of 2020," Greentech Media. #10 [Energy] Data Platforms Take Shape.

16 December: "Energy Department Announces $45 Million in Funding for Solar Technologies," U.S. Department of Energy post.

16 December: "Op-Ed: Smart Energy is Smart Policy," NJ Spotlight News.

14 December: "S&P Global Platts Names ENGIE 'Energy Company of the Year'," ENGIE Resources blog post.

07 December: "Companies Announce New Residential VPP for California," Power Magazine, OhmConnect.

03 December: "Fort Collins Utilities Launches MyData, Powered By UtilityAPI," UtilityAPI blog post.

02 December: "PUC Approves CUBs Petition for Open Data Access Standards," Minnesota Citizens Utility Board (CUB) blog post.

10 November: "Techstars Alabama EnergyTech Startup Spotlight: Virimodo," Alabama NewsCenter, Virimodo.

27 October: "London Hydro Builds on Past Success to Launch New Pilot," London Hydro Press Release.

09 September: "EnerWisely Confirms Energy Star Partnership for Energy Efficiency," EnerWisely press release.

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.

19 December: "Beyond the Customer's Meter: Part 1," T&D World. Green Button functionality and benefits included.
12 December: "The Top Grid Modernization and Policy Trends of 2019," T&D World.
04 December: "Exelon Appoints Calvin G. Butler Jr. as Senior EVP of Exelon and as CEO of Exelon Utilities; Names Carim Khouzami as CEO of Baltimore Gas & Electric," Exelon press release.
03 December: "Is Big Data Big Brother?," T&D World. Green Button security and customer control noted.
21 November: "Like Restaurants, Buildings Will Get Grades (D's for Energy Guzzlers)," New York Times. Logical Buildings quoted.
13 November: "Bridging Grid Edge with Building Edge: Making Grids More Flexible, Reliable," T&D World. Green Button energy data benefits included.
25 October: "Engaging Residential Customers with DR on 15 Minutes' Notice: Exclusive Interview with Carlos Lopez of London Hydro," Energy Central. Results of real-time pilot project leveraging Green Button platform noted.
16 October: "Accelerated Innovations Announces a New Partnership with Snohomish County Public Utility District 1," Accelerated Innovations press release.
16 October: "Silicon Valley Clean Energy Launches Flagship Pilot with UtilityAPI," SVCE and UtilityAPI press release.
October 2019: "The 50 States of Grid Modernization: Q3 2019 Quarterly Report Executive Summary," North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center.
08 October: "Navigant and eIQ Mobility Offer Turnkey Electric Fleet Deployments to Utilities and Corporations," Navigant Consulting and eIQ Mobility press release.
24 September: "OhmConnect Names New CEO After Hitting Major Milestones," OhmConnect press release.
24 September: "Grading Buildings On Energy Consumption," Commercial Observer. Logical Buildings quoted.

13 September: "Pason Power, Energy Toolbase Merge to Create Comprehensive Energy Storage Platform," Solar Power World.
11 September: "EPA Recognizes Green Energy Solutions for Leading Green Power Use," Green Energy Solutions press release.
04 September: "London Hydro Sees Revenue Promise in Data-Crunching," London Free Press.
16 August: "BGE Named Among Nation's Utilities Most Trusted by Business Customers," Energy Central.
06 August: "NYSERDA, Con Edison to Launch Program to Award Providers for Energy Efficiency Upgrades," Daily Energy Insider.
06 August: "CUB Petitions PUC to Unleash Consumer Energy Data in Public Interest," CUB Minnesota Blog.
25 July: "NCS Pushes the Envelope with UtilityAPI Partnership," NCS press release.
10 July: "Demand Response is Dead. Long Live Flexiwatts!" OhmConnect Opinion article, Utility Dive.
03 June: "KERI Invites Japan's Power-Related Institutions to Seek Bilateral Cooperation," Korea IT Times.

19 June: "Dispatches from Grid Edge innovation Summit," Greentech Media. UtilityAPI quoted.
17 June: "Bill Awaiting Sunuhu's Signature Would Create Statewide Database on Consumer Energy Use," New Hampshire Union Leader.
14 June: "Union Gas Merger with Enbridge Inc. Made Official in Chatham-Kent," BlackburnNews.com.
13 June: "Mega Summer Aims to Mobilize Californians in Energy Savings Program," Valley News. OhmConnect program featured.
11 June: "Chris Crane Elected EEI Chairman; Ben Fowke and Gerry Anderson Elected Vice Chairmen," Edison Electric Institute press release.
07 May: "States Look to Boost Access to Energy Usage Data," American Public Power Association.
06 May: "Commissioner McAllister talks About Importance of Energy Data Use and Accessibility," California Energy Commission blog.
03 May: "50 States of Grid Modernization: Q1 2019 Quarterly Report, May 2019," by North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center.
02 May: "Simplifying the Process of Retrieving Usage Data," by EnergyToolbase and UtilityAPI.

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.

The Green Button Alliance & the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative jointly hosted a webinar explaining the DataGuard Energy Data Privacy Program of the U.S. Department of Energy, with the leader of the program as a speaker and UtilityAPI explaining what their adoption of the program has meant to them.  View the recorded webinar to learn more. 

"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.

GBA member Silver Spring Networks announced it will combine with Itron to accelerate smart grid and smart city innovation and growth. See the announcement here.

GBA member the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative announced at its recent Annual Members Meeting and Fall Workshop that it has changed its name to the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) to reflect its expanded mission. Read more here. 

GBA member Energy Toolbase launched a powerful software update that enables developers to model, optimize, and propose the economics of any type of behind-the-meter energy storage project providing benefits to both residential and commercial project developers. Learn more here. GBA members Energy Toolbase and UtilityAPI will also present at the 4th Annual DR & DER World Forum on 11-12 October in Costa Mesa, California.

The Green Button Alliance (GBA) announced the results of its first annual board of directors election. Cengizhan Yenerim, Director, Demand Risk Management, Think Energy (ENGIE Resources) was elected to serve in a two-year seat and Elena Lucas, CEO of UtilityAPI will serve in a one-year seat.  Yenerim and Lucas join the Green Button Alliance’s visionary board in guiding the Alliance in its mission to accelerate the delivery of standardized Green Button technologies to the market that empower residential and commercial customers around the world to access and share their energy and water usage data to manage resource consumption. 

The GBA fosters the development, compliance, and wide-spread adoption of the Green Button electricity, natural gas, and water data-sharing standard. 

Read the press release here.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has been a pioneer of the Green Button initiative since its inception and is a founding member of the Green Button Alliance.  SDG&E recently enhanced its Green Button Connect platform with added functionalities to offer greater convenience and higher analytical value for customers; these functionalities include cost data, "Quality of Reading" indicator in the Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) file - whether the data is "revenue quality" - gas usage in the ESPI file and full OAuth integration to support real time APIs. SDG&E is committed to finding new and improved ways to serve our customers and to support the advancement of the Green Button ecosystem. Today, SDG&E customers have the ability to access their energy usage and select from nearly 29 applications, covering a wide variety of activities, to help them efficiently manage their energy consumption.

Solar Analytics, in the midst of appearing at several consecutive solar and energy events in both the U.S. and Australia─including at Solar Power International 2016 (SPI) in Las Vegas 12-15 September and All-Energy Australia in Melbourne 4-5 October─has also closed a $4.4 million Series A funding round from existing seed investor AGL Energy and private investors from the renewable energy sector. Solar Analytics is the innovator of intelligent Solar and Energy Smart Monitors and Service which gives users real-time data on their solar system's performance and home energy usage to help ensure efficient production and consumption. Solar Analytics now monitors over 10,000 energy systems in Australia, and having recently opened an office in San Francisco is rapidly growing their solar installer resellers in the USA. The Green Button Alliance congratulates Solar Analytics!

Energy Toolbase is an industry leading software platform for modeling and proposing the economics of solar and energy storage projects. Their software-as-a-service (SaaS) product is used by hundreds of leading distributed energy organizations across the U.S.  In September, Energy Toolbase released its latest version which enables users to model Net Energy Metering (NEM) 2.0 projects to analyze any scenario where kilowatt-hour solar exports are valued at less than the retail rate; create fully customized and interactive proposals; and leverage API integrations to interact with leading third party service providers including UtilityAPI. Via Energy Toolbase's integration with UtilityAPI, users can seamlessly import interval meter data from UtilityAPI, to precisely re-create a customer's utility bill and then optimize their solar or storage system size for dollar savings. To see a demo or sign-up for a free-trial, visit www.energytoolbase.com.

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 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.

Chai Energy's mobile app for iOS collects Green Button energy usage data directly from a customer's utility and informs them of how much electricity they're using, how much it'll cost, and provides a full range of personalized energy conservation and efficiency tips. Chai Energy recently announced the Chai Solar feature that analyzes a customer's energy usage and local weather patterns to determine if installing solar panels will save customers additional money. Chai users can also upgrade to the Chai Energy Pro, an energy gateway that collects real-time utility data from a user's smart meter. Chai recently opened a public pilot program in California.

UtilityAPI, a enterprise software company that provides solar, storage, and energy management professionals with simple access to energy usage data, has adopted the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) DataGuard Energy Data Privacy Program. DataGuard, a voluntary code of conduct, establishes a framework for common practices that protect the access, use, and sharing of customer data; and provides residential and commercial consumers with assurance their energy data are being protected and treated responsibly. UtilityAPI and the Green Button Alliance are proud supporters of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's (MassCEC) 5th Annual Boston Cleanweb Hackathon to be held April 1-3, 2016.

WattzOn, based in Mountain View, California, provides utility data connections, energy analytics, and web and mobile tools that enable people and communities across the U.S.─in all 50 states─to save energy and money. WattzOn's cloud-based brand-customizable platform provides automated access to utility data for more than 200 electric and gas utilities nationwide, helping communities to serve their residents and business partners to provide a single user experience in multiple locations. WattzOn is an early adopter of the Department of Energy's (DOE) DataGuard Energy Data Privacy Protection Program.

The Green Button Alliance welcomes new member the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). Jonathan Booe, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of NAESB will serve on the Green Button Alliance's board of directors. The Green Button Download My Data (DMD) and Connect My Data (CMD) standards are based on NAESB's Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) standard (REQ. 21). The GBA's executive and technical staff is working closely with NAESB to publish the next version of the standard.

The Green Button Alliance welcomes the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), a leading international organization that promotes advanced technologies in homes and buildings as an Affiliate Member. In a reciprocal membership agreement, the GBA has also joined CABA. As a member of CABA, the GBA will work to promote the adoption of the Green Button standard in integrated home systems and the building automation industry.

UtilityAPI, an enterprise software company that provides solar, storage and energy management professionals with simple access to energy usage data, has been selected to receive a $760,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative. UtilityAPI will use the capital to build more data connections to utilities and further expand the geographical footprint of the company's API service.

On November 16th, at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator's (LACI) new La Kretz Innovation Center, representatives from green technology companies, including Chai Energy's CTO Ka Suen, were part of a roundtable discussion with Vice President Joe Biden and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The group discussed building a more sustainable future, and Suen noted how Chai Energy empowers customers to save energy: “Here at Chai Energy we are trying to change how people view their electricity bills, what we provide is a real-time data stream that homeowners can directly access on their phone anytime, anywhere and view exactly how much energy they are using and when they are using it,” said Suen.

The Advanced Energy Centre (AEC) at MaRS Discovery District (MaRSDD) announced it has joined the Green Button Alliance and Sasha Sud, senior manager, Smart Grid & Energy Data, has been elected to GBA's Board of Directors. The AEC, MaRSDD, and the Ministry of Energy have actively been facilitating the adoption of Green Button standards in Ontario and have supported the creation of 41 customer-facing applications. The AEC will provide strategic insights to GBA as we work to expand the Green Button ecosystem internationally.

Chai Energy provides an innovative new mobile app that collects Green Button energy data and shows users how much energy they use, its costs, offers customized energy savings tips, and alerts users when additional opportunities for savings emerge--it even analyzes energy use and local weather to see if solar is an option. The Chai Energy app can be paired with a customized solar system from Solplicity to help users become even more energy-efficient.

The Enel Group announced that it is the first European utility to join the Green Button Alliance, and Livio Gallo, Enel's Head of Global Infrastructure and Networks was elected to GBA's Board of Directors. Enel will make Green Button Download My Data and Green Button Connect My Data available to selected customers in Italy via Enel's Energy Management System (EMS).

Energyworx exhibited at European Utility Week 2015 this week from November 3-5 in Vienna. The company presented four of its most-popular use cases in the exhibition hall: Meter Data Management, Social Energy, The Solar Connected Home, and Energy Balancing for Smart Grids. See the full program here. Congratulations to the Energyworx team on a great event!

UtilityAPI is an enterprise software company that provides solar, storage and energy management professionals with simple access to energy usage data. UtilityAPI has also worked with utilities to implement Green Button standards and also recently announced compatibility with EnergyToolbase, a leading software platform that leverages Green Button energy data for third-party cost analysis of Solar PV and advanced energy storage projects. UtilityAPI CEO, Elena Lucas, recently presented at the White House about the company's experience with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) SunShot Catalyst program.

Chai Energy launched its mobile app that shows customers their energy use in real-time, includes a new Demand Response (DR) feature that notifies users of a DR event in their area, provides customized energy-saving tips, and estimates how much users will save on their bill and receive in DR incentives--it can even tell if solar energy is an option for them! Chai Energy's mobile app is now available in SCE, SDG&E and PG&E service territories.

Energyworx offers a big-data aggregation and analytics cloud-software service for the energy and utilities industry. I t's powerful platform which supports open standards including Green Button, was stress tested on the Google Cloud Platform, and was proven to scale to handle millions of meters and billions of values! Register now to attend Energyworx' Webinar on Sept. 30th: "Enabling the Energy Evolution, Changing the Way the Energy Sector Understands Data Through Real Time Insights".

In August, Alliance founding member London Hydro formalized its partnership with MaRS Advanced Energy Centre (AEC)—one of the newest members of GBA—to help advance the Green Button platform with utilities and customers.

UtilityAPI, a winner of DOE's SunShot Catalyst Demo Day, is a software service provider that downloads bill and interval data for solar and energy efficiency companies, and also offers a secure hosting service for utilities. UtilityAPI's hosted service provides compatibility with various Green Button utility interface implementations and it is currently available at PG&E and SDG&E.