Statements of Support for Green Button Initiative
Below please see statements of support for the Green Button Initiative. For more information, see the press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 22, 2012
Utilities / Electricity Suppliers
American Electric Power “The Green Button initiative is a natural evolution of
Baltimore Gas and ElectricCompany “BGE is pleased to be a part of this important initiative, which is a natural fit with our ongoing efforts to provide our customers with the information and tools they are demanding in order to become more energy efficient,” said BGE President KenDeFontes. “With our smart grid initiative launching this spring, BGE’s customers will be the beneficiaries of this technology that, for the first time, will allow customers in near real time, to connect their energy use with their energy spend, resulting in energy savings and efficiency.”
Commonwealth Edison “The opportunity to join the Green Button Initiative comes at a perfect time as we prepare to roll out smart meters later this year,” said Anne Pramaggiore, president and CEO, ComEd. “Green Button will reinforce our efforts to educate customers and help them take full advantage of the benefits and added value that Smart Grid technology will deliver.”
NSTAR “It’s well-known in the industry that knowledge is power when it comes to helping customers make substantive changes in how they use energy,” said Tom May, NSTAR Chairman, President and CEO. “By adding the one-click ease of Green Button to our website, NSTAR is making it even simpler for our customers to access the information they need to take control of their energy use and reduce their carbon footprint.”
Pacific Gas & Electric Company "There is incredible power and potential in providing our customers with new visibility into their energy use, with information that's clear accurate, timely, and easy to use," said Tony Earley, PG&E Corporation’s Chairman, CEO and President. "Today's announcement shows PG&E’s commitment to stimulating growth and innovation in the developer community. When it comes to energy management, we are driven to help transform the way our customers manage energy in their home."
PECO “We plan to launch this new consumer-friendly feature on our website in 2013, providing customers with access to important energy consumption data,” said PECO President and CEO Craig L. Adams. “We will add this energy efficiency tool to our PECO Smart Ideas toolbox, which empowers customers to better understand how to manage and save both energy and money.”
Reliant “More than 600,000 customers today are using Reliant’s smart energy solutions to conserve energy and make cost-saving decisions that positively impact their pocketbooks and the environment. Green Button is another way that Reliant customers can learn about how they use electricity and continue to make smart energy choices that work for them,” said Bill Harmon, the Reliant vice president who leads the company’s smart energy innovation effort. “With Green Button and Reliant’s innovative tools, customers have more options and ways to track and manage their electricity usage.”
Technology Companies
Belkin “At Belkin, we believe in the potential of technology to empower consumers. Knowledge is power. When consumers have access to their energy data, it enables them to make behavioral changes that can add up to significant savings in both energy usage and monthly bills,” said Chet Pipkin, founder and CEO of Belkin. “We are excited by the growing success of the Green Button initiative and look forward to working with the standard in Belkin products in the near future. It’s a win-win for all parties.”
EcoDog EcoDog CEO Ron Pitt commented, “We’re pleased that President Obama has recognized the importance of giving consumers better access to their energy information and applaud San Diego Gas & Electric for being one of the first utilities in the nation to provide customers with easy access to their detailed energy usage data. With their new Green Button tool, customers can download this data in a format that can be used for energy evaluation and analysis. To support their efforts, our team of software engineers has deployed a small subset of our sophisticated energy analytics software to enable SDG&E customers to get a better understanding of their energy use.”
Efficiency 2.0 “The Green Button signals the future of open source energy data innovation. It puts the power of energy information into the hands of the consumer, providing them a safe, secure way to understand their energy use and to shrink utility bills,” said Tom Scaramellino, CEO of Efficiency 2.0. “Integrating our software platform with the Green Button data standard is just another way we are building the most effective tools for utility customer engagement.”
EnergySavvy “Green Button has the potential to become an open standard that unleashes private sector innovation and growth – not unlike the role of open standards and the internet. We’re excited about this effort – it will help accelerate our ability to serve customers nationwide and further invest in our rapidly growing team,” said Aaron Goldfeder, CEO, EnergySavvy
First Fuel “Commercial buildings are most significant energy efficiency savings opportunity in the United States. To achieve these savings at scale, our industry must maximize our use of the data and information available,” said Swapnil Shah, co-founder and CEO of FirstFuel Software. “The Green Button initiative underscores this notion that data is the key to unlocking the trillion dollar energy efficiency savings potential in the US. FirstFuel supports the initiative and is committed to helping utilities realize these tremendous savings opportunities across their commercial building portfolios.”
Honest Buildings “Adding the Green Button is an easy decision for us,” said Riggs Kubiak, CEO of Honest Buildings. “It makes it easier and faster for owners to obtain the information they need to make smart decisions about how to reduce their energy consumption and add to their bottom line.”
Honeywell “As a company with half of its product and technology portfolio tied to energy efficiency, Honeywell supports the Green Button initiative’s efforts to open up energy-use data. It’s good for consumers, who benefit from hassle-free access to information that will empower them to make smart energy decisions. While making home energy use data available is an important first step, the second step is to help consumers take action on it, and in the process, help their homes become smarter.” -- Dan Sheflin, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions; Chairman of the Smart Grid Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Itron “Itron is deeply committed to changing the way energy is managed by providing tools to empower consumers who want to control their energy usage and costs,” said LeRoy Nosbaum, Itron president and chief executive officer. “With a modernized grid and engaged consumers, we aim to achieve broad societal, environmental and financial benefits and help build a sustainable future.”
Lucid “Before the Green Button, businesses investing in energy efficiency had to buy their consumption data twice – first from their utility, and again with monitoring hardware at their own expense. This diverts resources from the real activities that save energy and reduce costs. For those customers with the Green Button, many efficiency services can be provided electronically at the push of a button,” said Lucid’s CEO, Michael Murray.
Opower "We're excited about the emerging conversation around Green Button because at its core it is about the promise of energy information," said Dan Yates, Opower's CEO. "And, for five years, Opower has been working with utilities to make that promise real and deliver energy insighs to millions of American families."
Oracle “Today, Utilities have a major focus on enhancing their customer service experience,” said Linda Jackman, Group Vice President, Oracle Utilities. “The Green Button Initiative gives customers access to their energy usage data online, in a user-friendly, standard format, encouraging awareness of energy consumption as well as empowering consumers to be more energy efficient. Encouraging the value of smart grid initiatives is a primary focus for Oracle and we’re committed to supporting utilities that participate in the Green Button Initiative.”
PlotWatt “Green Button is a huge leap toward empowering residential and small business utility customers. Most people don’t know the difference between a kilowatt and a kilowatt-hour, nor should they have to. With Green Button, anyone can share their smart meter data with PlotWatt and we’ll figure out the meaningful insights that people do care about, namely how to make their electricity bill smaller” said Luke Fishback, CEO and founder of PlotWatt.
Schneider-Electric “Historically, utilities and ratepayers could operate independently of each other as long as the lights stayed on, “ said Chris Curtis, CEO, North America, Schneider Electric. “With the smart grid’s two-way communication we have an opportunity to shift that model, increasing reliability and efficiency of the entire system. If electricity customers can get secure access to their own energy data in standard formats, they can take advantage of a growing ecosystem of energy management tools and services.”
Siemens “We see the Green Button as a powerful element of the industry’s Energy Service Provider Interface standard for driving innovation and consumer benefits. For that reason, we have been active in developing the standard and have established it on our product roadmap.” - Thierry Godart, president Siemens Smart Grid division.
Silver Spring Networks “Our support of Green Button continues Silver Spring commitment to open, standards based networking and innovation to enable a dynamic and thriving smart grid ecosystem,” said Anil Gadre, Executive Vice President, Products at Silver Spring. “We are pleased to support the nationwide initiative which will empower consumers to make more informed decisions about their energy use.”
Simple Energy “Data standardization coupled with robust infrastructure is an essential element for creating customer empowerment and engagement opportunities,” concluded the authors of the white paper, Justin Segall of Simple Energy and Chris King of eMeter. “The Green Button Initiative is an example of data standards delivering customer value. By utilizing smart grid and meter data management infrastructure to enable customer access to their energy usage data, the Green Button initiative is a great first step down the path of data access and standardization.”
Sunrun “The uniform availability of consumption data allows homeowners to easily assess the value of going solar,” said Sunrun Director of Business Development Ethan Sprague. “Similar to the way we can see how many cellphone minutes we’ve used at any given time to choose an appropriate phone plan, Green Button lets families see what the right solar plan is for them and how much value they’ll get out of it…Green Button will let homeowners understand their consumption patterns and make more informed choices about their source of energy based on both cost and environmental impact.”
TechNet New England “Industry-led programs that enable customers to monitor their energy usage like NSTAR’s ‘Green Button’ is how technology and entrepreneurs can support private-sector jobs and modernize America’s infrastructure,” said Angela O’Connor, Executive Director, New England, TechNet. “TechNet supports the implementation of the ‘Green Button’ initiative, as it represents an important first step to answer the White House’s call to provide consumers with access to detailed energy usage information that will enable them to reduce costs and their carbon footprint.”
Tendril “We applaud the Administration's Green Button initiative. Our platform was designed from the beginning to connect utilities and energy service providers, consumers and app developers to achieve smarter energy usage. The advent of the Green Button data means that now, our platform can be leveraged by each of these groups and ultimately, help foster the creation of an energy app marketplace that will drive continued innovation, job growth and cleaner energy.” -- Adrian Tuck, CEO, Tendril
Other
Future of Privacy Forum “Offering consumers access to their data provides the kind of transparency that enhances privacy,” said Jules Polonetsky, Director of the Future of Privacy Forum. “By showing consumers the details of energy usage data, utilities are taking an important step to ensure that smart meters are a key benefit intended to help consumers be smarter about energy use. With appropriate privacy programs in place, access to data will increasingly empower consumers to use their data to manage smart home devices that will advance innovation and consumer control.”
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) “Providing electricity consumers with quick and easy access to information regarding their own energy usage will empower them to make better decisions and become more energy efficient. NARUC has been a consistent supporter of these kinds of programs that give consumers up-to-date and timely access to their energy usage data because it enables them to make more informed decisions about energy usage, especially in a time of increasing prices. Voluntary efforts like the Green Button Initiative will have a positive impact on both our electricity prices and the environment, and we salute the States and utilities who are pursuing these developments.”
--Charles Gray, Executive Director, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) NASUCA applauds the Administration for its "Green Button" initiative, and applauds utilities that are adopting the Green Button to enable consumers to securely download their own energy data. Consumer Advocates across the nation strongly support voluntary efforts such as "Green Button" that provide consumers with the necessary tools to make wise energy choices to conserve energy and save money.
U.S. Green Building Council “USGBC shares the goals of the initiative, which are to promote consumer control over energy use and provide opportunities to cut waste and save money,” said Chris Pyke, vice president of research at USGBC. “By providing easy access to data on building energy usage, the Green Button initiative can support consumer decision making, enable benchmarking, and inform energy efficiency investments.”
Utilities Telecom Council “The Green Button Initiative will help consumers monitor and manage their energy consumption. We believe that engaging consumers as a crucial stakeholder in the process will help us achieve national energy policy goals, deliver important societal benefits, and, realize important advancements in the utility value chain,” said Connie Durcsak, UTC President and CEO.
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