Selected Datasets & Tools

Energy Data JamJuly 9, 2012

The Energy Data Initiative

Table of Contents

Purpose of this presentation is to provide a quick-reference to high-value sets of Open Data and related tools:

1. Buildings Performance Database

2. Solar geospatial information and tools

3. Green Button

Slides 2-6 Slides 7-11 Slides 12-17

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1. Buildings Performance Database• Background• Technical Details• Data Available

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• The DOE Buildings Performance Database (BPD) is a database of building characteristics and energy consumption.

• BPD enables engineering and financial practitioners to evaluate energy efficiency products and services in commercial and residential buildings.

• The initial tool set includes:• Energy Performance Forecasting Tool that uses an actuarial

based methodology to develop energy savings distributions• Financial Forecasting Tool that forecasts cash flows from those

energy savings distributions.• Available at eere.energy.gov/buildings/buildingsperformance

What is the BPD?

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• Common taxonomy: a standardized “data model” to organize energy use and building characteristic data

• Applications: web-enabled tools that leverage data to forecast energy savings and related cash flows. As more use-cases are identified, additional tools will be created and released to the market

Energy Performance Forecasting Tool

External Data Sources

Financial Risk Management Tool

Data Management

Cleansing, Validation, and Ingestion Processes

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API

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Third Party Tools

BPD: A National Standard

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• Types of Data Included:– Building Type

• Office, Retail, Education, etc.– Location and Organization Type

• State, Ownership Category– Building Floor Area

• Square Footage, Number of Floors– Equipment Inventory

• HVAC, Lighting, Hot Water, Appliance, etc.– Exterior Building Characteristics

• Window and Door Characteristics, etc.– Commercial Energy System Configuration

• On Site Generation, etc.– Residential Characteristics

• Number of Rooms, Room Types and Features, etc.– Energy Consumption

• Electric and Gas; Annual, Monthly or Interval Data

• A non-proprietary subset of BPD for Dayton and Gainesville areas are provided as an example of the database information– Sample formatted as CSV (future development includes API)

– Available data fields limited by original use; new datasets should have additional fields as defined by BPD taxonomy

Data Available

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BPD Use Case

Commercial Cooling Retrofit• At input screens (left) the

location, building type, and type of retrofit (in this case, an air handling project)

• The output (below) shows annual electricity savings for the retrofit, including a probability distribution

2. Solar Data and Tools• Solar Resource Data• OpenEI Solar Gateway• NREL Solar Tools

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• NREL compiles solar irradiance data from a variety of sources– Data varies by scope, time frame, and collection method– Data is available as maps or in tabular or spatial data– Accessed at nrel.gov/rredc/solar_data.html – Similar tools are available for wind, geothermal and

biomass resources– Format varies by dataset

• National Solar Radiance Database provides nationwide hourly solar radiation data– Available in RDF and

XML formats– Accessed at

en.openei.org/datasets/node/39

Solar Irradiance Data

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• NREL’s PV Watts platform allows users to calculate estimates of PV cost and energy output– Users enter location

information about system size and orientation

– Model produces estimate of system energy output with, including hourly data

– Available at www.nrel.gov/rredc/pvwatts

• In My Backyard (IMBY) builds upon the PV Watts platform– Adds a more user-friendly

platform and spatial interface– Available at www.nrel.gov/eis/imby

PVWatts/IMBY

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• Public/private collaboration that compiles existing solar installations to track the deployment of solar infrastructure

– Dataset is open to industry professionals and individuals to upload additional information

– Dataset includes an ongoing validation process to ensure data quality and consolidate duplicate records

• Users able to access aggregate or non-identifiable information about PV projects

– A variety of data visualizations are also available

• Database includes over 160thousand projects, with an installed capacity of over 2,500 MW

• Available at openpv.nrel.gov

Open PV

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• Cost of Renewable Energy Spreadsheet Tool (CREST)– Excel-based planning model that estimates project cash flow, levelized

cost, and other financial and production metrics• Useful in setting incentive levels

– Inputs include project finances and energy production data– Available at financere.nrel.gov/finance/content/crest-cost-energy-models

• System Advisor Model (SAM)– Sophisticated standalone model

of financial and performance metrics of proposed renewable energy incentive programs, including solar

– Model allows for detailed inputs regarding system characteristics, program finances, and incentive policies

– Users can conduct sensitivity analysis and optimize program inputs

– Available at sam.nrel.gov

Financial and Decision Tools

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3. Green Button• Background• Technical Details• Growing Utility Participation• Private Sector Innovation

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What is Green Button?

Green Button is the common-sense idea that electricity customers should be able to download their own energy usage information in a consumer- and computer-friendly format

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• Green Button is an industry-consensus data standard allowing utility customers to download their own detailed energy data– 22 utilities committed so far, serving 31 million customers– 13 million customers with access today

• Available for electric customers and some gas customers; expanding into more gas services and water

• Works with both AMI and AMR meters• Can be uploaded to third-party apps to provide innovative

services– Over 80 apps already available or under development

• Data transfer– Green Button Download My Data: data transferred from the

utility to the customer– Green Button Connect My Data: automated data transfer from

the utility to a third party with customer authorization

• Output: Time Interval, Energy Consumption• Data Format: XML• Website: www.greenbuttondata.org

Green Button Facts

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Growing Industry Momentum

Map of Green Button Commitments

• In September 2011, the Administration challenged the energy industry to adopt a common standard to give customers their own energy data– First utilities launched Green Button in January 2012

• To date, 22 utilities and electric suppliers have committed to providing Green Button capabilities to over 31 million homes and businesses

• 13 million customersalready have accessto Green Button

Insight: entrepreneur-created web portals analyze energy usage and provide actionable tips;

Heating and Cooling: customized heating and cooling activities for savings and comfort;

Education: community and student energy efficiency competitions;

Retrofits: improved decision-support tools to facilitate energy efficiency retrofits;

Verification: measurement of energy efficiency investments;

Real Estate: provide energy costs for tenants and/or new home purchasers; and

Solar: optimize the size and cost-effectiveness of rooftop solar panels.

openei.org

appsforenergy.challenge.gov

Green Button Apps!

Green Button Potential

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Private-sector companies are already creating innovative services using Green Button data:• FirstFuel will combine Green Button data from commercial

buildings with weather and GIS data to create “zero-touch” virtual energy audits

• EnerNOC is using Green Button to streamline customer qualification and on-boarding in its Energy Management Application Platform

• Belkin, a manufacturer of hardware connectivity devices and accessories – including its Conserve line of energy-oriented products like surge protectors and energy monitors – is looking into using Green Button data in future products

• SunRun intends to use Green Button data to optimize the size of residential solar installations, dramatically shortening the time it takes to install solar panels and reducing consumers’ solar “hassle factor”

• Leafully and Wotz, winners from DOE’s Apps for Energy contest, make energy data more accessible and engaging to consumers by converting their consumption into more tangible metrics (like trees) and offering creative visualizations of their energy load

Examples of Current/Planned Uses

18Note: All company references from public web sites