Newsletter | July 2016

July 12, 2016

in Newsletters,

Chairman's View |

Syed Mir, Chairman

This month, we continue to see the transition toward a clean energy future that is being assisted and accelerated by the energy industry's move to a more efficient and smarter grid. Momentum and uptake of Green Button technology, which enables open and easy access to standardized electricity, natural gas, and water usage data, continues. In fact, several Green Button initiatives were referenced in a recent U.S. White House Fact Sheet and in Canada, Ontario's Climate Change Action Plan calls for expanding Green Button rollouts province-wide, see below.

Green Button technology's game-changing benefit is that it enables utilities, vendors, and consumers to actively participate in the way resources are consumed─a critical piece in enabling a sustainable, energy-wise future. This month, we feature Chai Energy in our "Member Spotlight." Chai Energy has a Green Button mobile application that receives media attention and customer accolades. Read-on to learn how this multi-functional energy-efficiency and -savings application puts the power to make better energy choices in the palm of your hand.

As the interest and adoption of Green Button technology spreads internationally, the Green Button Alliance has formed its member-led global marketing committee, which is actively working (next meeting on 13 July) to educate existing and emerging markets about the numerous business and consumer benefits enabled by Green Button solutions. Stay tuned for interesting, new collateral, and let us know about your Green Button use cases and customer successes!

And finally, with heavy hearts, we mourn the recent loss of Erich W. Gunther, co-founder, chairman, and CTO of EnerNex, who also served as chairman of the UCAIug, the Green Button Alliance's parent organization. Erich was a smart grid leader who will be greatly missed by the industry and all that knew him.

─ Syed Mir, Chairman

Welcome New Members! |

The Green Button Alliance is proud to welcome Think Energy as a new Participating Member.

"As a national retail energy supplier, Think Energy stands behind our promise of Unsurprise. Buying energy doesn't need to be a bunch of smoke and mirrors. In fact, we think people really dig it when companies are straightforward and transparent about how they operate. We offer easy-to-understand products and services that alleviate the anxiety that comes with choosing an energy company. We think about our customer's whole experience and design transparency into every interaction. Our customer's love that we make it easy for them and that Think Energy is part of ENGIE - one of the largest and most financially secure commercial energy organizations in the world."

Member Spotlight |

Chai Energy is a free mobile app empowering people with the tools to make better energy choices. Chai uses powerful analytics to process a customer's utility's Green Button Data , and delivers energy data directly to a customer's smartphone. Chai helps customers visualize and understand their home's energy usage and makes energy saving recommendations based on actual energy consumption.

This summer

Chai launched "Power Pay Day" this summer: where Chai will pay customers to reduce their energy use during energy peak times! It's really that simple. The app notifies customers when a "Power Pay Day" is approaching and makes suggestions on where the customer can cut down on their energy usage to maximize "Power Pay Day" earnings. Lastly, Chai will calculate a customer's energy savings, send customers a notification with usage details, and reward customers directly through the app. On average, customers save up to $7 to $10 dollars per Power Pay Day event.

For solar customers

Chai not only tracks in-home energy usage, but it will also track solar generation for those who have gone solar. Chai helps customers understand how much energy they use versus how much energy their system is producing. Chai Solar collects solar data, and shows it alongside energy usage and temperature on a comprehensive graph. In addition, Chai will look at solar production over time and compare it to public weather data to determine when panels need to be cleaned, if any strings of panels fail, or to track the natural degradation of panels over time. This helps customers match demand to production, and understand the health of their solar system as well as achieve a maximum return on their solar investment.

The Chai Energy app is available from the App or Google Play Store.

Member News |


	Silver Spring Networks' Ribbon-cutting Ceremony June 23rd

Silver Spring Networks announced it has opened its new headquarters in San Jose, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, and deployed its Internet of Things (IoT) network across the city. Silver Spring executives were joined by local public officials including San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and executives from Silver Spring customers Pacific Gas & Electric and CPS Energy for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tour of the company's new IoT demonstration facility. During the event, Mayor Liccardo highlighted how innovations such as Silver Spring's IoT platform are enabling San Jose's vision of becoming a smart city by 2020. The Green Button Alliance congratulates Silver Spring Networks on its new headquarters and IoT network deployment in San Jose.


Erich W. Gunther

In memoriam:

EnerNex announced Erich W. Gunther , co-founder, chairman, and CTO of EnerNex, passed-away on 18 June 2016. Erich was a leader in the field of smart-grid networks and technologies. He participated as chairman emeritus of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) GridWise Architecture Council (GWAC); served on the IEEE Power and Energy Society Governing Board, and was recognized for his career-long work in the field of electric power quality by being named a IEEE Fellow; was vice chairman of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) board of directors; served as chairman of the Green Button Alliance's parent company, the Utility Communications Architecture International Users Group (UCAIug), and was a Green Button evangelist. We will miss Erich for his vision and his contributions to the energy industry but especially for his personality, the friendships he created, and his willingness to assist anyone that asked.

In the headlines...

In conjunction with the White House Summit on Scaling Renewable Energy and Storage with Smart Markets, which was held at the White House on 16 June 2016 (see below), the White House posted a Fact Sheet referencing several Green Button initiatives. Some of the Green Button initiatives noted included: The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has joined San Diego Gas & Electric's Green Button Connect program; the Green Button Alliance announced its commitment to explore a potential pilot program with PG&E, SCE, SDG&E and London Hydro to provide aggregated and anonymous energy usage information, by customer consent, for research and the public benefit; and EnerNOC committed to piloting Green Button Connect My Data by the end of 2016.

In Canada, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change recently released its Climate Change Action Plan; a five-year plan to fight climate change, reduce greenhouse gas pollution, and transition to a low-carbon economy. Section 7.2 within the plan calls for expanding Green Button rollouts province-wide.

Events & Activities |

The Green Button Community Call #5 , hosted by MaRS Discovery District (MaRSDD), was held 23 June. Sasha Sud of the Advanced Energy Centre at MaRSDD, and a Green Button Alliance board member, provided listeners with a Canadian Green Button initiative update and noted the interest in, and benefits of, Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) for the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) sector and covered a Green Button C&I sector use-case. The Ontario Ministry of Energy addressed Green Button's inclusion in the province's Climate Change Action plan and current activities. The Green Button Alliance's general manager, Jeremy J. Roberts, educated listeners about the powerful, lesser-known capabilities of the Green Button standard and provided an update on the Alliance's international Green Button marketing committees. If you missed the call, you can access the presentation here.


U.S. White House

White House Summit: On behalf of the Green Button Alliance, Jeremy J. Roberts, general manager, participated in the White House Summit on Scaling Renewable Energy and Storage with Smart Markets; held 16 June 2016. The Summit brought-together regulators, utilities, municipalities, and energy companies that are leading efforts to promote smart electricity markets and grid integration of renewable energy and energy storage. Roberts informed attendees about Green Button energy data; the powerful functionality enabled by the standard; customer privacy; and the technology's ability to remove barriers to enable utilities and energy service companies to offer critical access to energy-use data that will drive efficiency and facilitate a modern, data-driven grid.


	GBA at the White House Open Data Roundtable

2016 Open Data Roundtable: On 15 June 2016, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Center for Open Data Enterprise co-hosted the fourth 2016 Open Data Roundtable: Open Data for Public-Private Collaboration. The Roundtable gathered participants from federal agencies, academia, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations to formulate views and suggestions for greater public-private collaboration in the open-data ecosystem. Jeremy J. Roberts, Green Button Alliance, general manager, presented an overview of the Alliance, discussed the success of the Green Button public-to-private transition, and educated attendees on the benefits derived by enabling consumers to have open and easy access to their own electricity-, natural gas-, and water-usage data.

What's next?

Green Button Alliance member the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) will host a webinar "DataGuard - Energy Data Privacy and Security" on 20 July 2016 at 1pm EDT (2016-07-20 T17:00Z). Eric Lightner, director of the Federal Smart Grid Task Force in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will discuss the DataGuard energy-data privacy program and how to ensure consumer energy data are being protected and treated responsibly. Register for the webinar here.

The Internet of Energy Virtual Summit will be held 27 July 2016 and brings together subject matter experts to examine how the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) will impact and empower utility business models, IT and operations going forward. Green Button Alliance members Silver Spring Networks and Energyworx will join other speakers from Accenture Strategy, Pacific Northwest National Lab, S&C, AutoGrid and more to discuss the latest technology advances and IoT business strategies for the energy sector. The online format makes it easy and cost-effective to attend from anywhere in the world, register here to attend.

The Green Button Alliance is a supporter of Smart Cities Week being held 27-29 September 2016 in Washington, D.C. Smart Cities Week delivers solutions to the urgent challenges cities face and showcases the next wave of integrated, innovative technologies that are already helping cities around the world become more compassionate, connected and sustainable. The White House has also recently announced its support of Smart Cities Week. Register to attend Smart Cities Week here .