Press Release | GBA Joins Home Energy Information Accelerator

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2015 – Today the Energy Department announced two new Better Buildings Accelerators, which will convene leaders to focus on key solutions to expanding energy efficiency in the residential sector.  Partners will focus on expanding awareness of homes' energy efficiency and streamlining the processes used to help consumers improve the efficiency of their homes. The Green Button Alliance has joined the Home Energy Information Accelerator, furthering its commitment to increase the awareness and adoption of Green Button standards-based technology that enables residential energy customers to easily view their energy usage data, reduce their own energy consumption, and improve their home's energy efficiency.

The Better Buildings Home Energy Information Accelerator supports the President’s Climate Action Plan with a goal to accelerate investment in home energy efficiency improvement projects across the country.  Today, 32 partners were welcomed by the Energy Department for their commitments to advance home energy efficiency across the country.  The Home Energy Information Accelerator brings together leaders in real estate and energy efficiency to expand the availability and use of reliable home energy information at relevant points in residential real estate transactions—such as Green Button energy usage data being used as additional information in the home-sales process.

"The Green Button Alliance shares the Energy Department’s goal to help consumers improve energy efficiency across homes, buildings and commercial facilities," said Jeremy J. Roberts, general manager, Green Button Alliance.  "As a Home Energy Information Accelerator partner, the Green Button Alliance will continue to educate the market, including electric, gas and water utilities, about the benefits of Green Button, and support the proliferation of a variety of standardized Green Button solutions that remove barriers and help people readily access and share home energy information."

Green Button standards were developed to give homeowners and building managers the ability to view, manage and reduce their own energy usage.  With the click of a simple Green Button on a utility's, or energy service provider's, website, Green Button Download My Data (DMD) enables home owners and property managers to download their energy usage data directly from their provider's website in a standard format.  The customer can view their energy usage to focus on trends, and make informed energy management choices.  Consumers can make energy usage decisions on their own, or use Green Button Connect My Data (CMD) to securely share their information with innovative new Green Button web and mobile apps to determine additional ways to save energy, reduce costs, and improve efficiency.

"By improving the efficiency of buildings across the country, Better Buildings partners are saving money by saving energy, creating more sustainable communities, and helping to protect future generations from the impacts of climate change," said Under Secretary for Science and Energy Franklin Orr.  "Expanding the program to include water savings and the residential sector means that American families can be a part of this successful partnership that cuts costs and pollution."

Better Buildings Accelerators convene leaders across sectors and building types to address persistent barriers that stand in the way of greater efficiency.  As Better Buildings Home Energy Information Accelerator partners share their successes with the market, resources will be posted in the Better Buildings Residential Program Solution Center.  The Solution Center is an online tool designed to help organizations explore the solutions tested and proven by partners.

As a cornerstone of the President's Climate Action Plan, Better Buildings aims to make commercial, public, industrial, and residential buildings 20% more energy efficient over the next decade.  This means saving hundreds of billions of dollars on energy bills, reducing GHG emissions, and creating thousands of jobs.  Through Better Buildings, public and private sector organizations across the country are working together to share and replicate positive gains in energy efficiency.

For a detailed progress report on the Better Buildings Initiative, and for more information on how to join these partners and advance your own energy efficiency work, visit: http://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov.

About Green Button Alliance

The Green Button Alliance (GBA) is a non-profit corporation formed to foster the development, compliance, and wide-spread adoption of the Green Button standard.  The Green Button Alliance advances the Green Button initiative, a White House-inspired challenge to the electric utility industry to give consumers access to their energy usage information in a downloadable, standardized format.  The Green Button initiative was created with the support of the White House, the Department of Energy (DOE), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP).  The Green Button Download My Data (DMD) and Connect My Data (CMD) standards are based on the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) standard.  For more information, or to join the Green Button Alliance, please visit http://www.greenbuttonalliance.org.

###