Earth Networks – WeatherBug Announces Support of the White House’s Green Button Initiative to Bring Deep Weather Insight to Energy Use

Weather is the Single Biggest Factor Driving Energy Use; Company Will Improve Load Management and Save Consumers Money by Integrating its Real-Time Hyper-Local Solar, Wind and Temperature Data with Green Button Data

Germantown, MD – May 2, 2013 – Weather drives 40% to 60% of all energy use, which is why Earth Networks, the owner of the popular WeatherBug brand of consumer weather apps, is announcing its support of the White House’s “Green Button” Initiative. In supporting the Green Button Initiative, the company is integrating its real-time hyper-local solar, wind and temperature data with Green Button Connect My Data functionality to improve load management and save consumers money, in partnership with major utilities and technology providers nationwide.

The Green Button Initiative is an industry-led effort, in response to a White House call-to-action to empower consumers with their own energy usage information. Green Button is based on the common-sense idea that families and businesses should have secure access to their own energy usage information from the website of their utility or electric supplier, in a consumer-friendly and computer-friendly format.

However, while consumers may be able to access their energy data, they need analytics to provide insights to understand what drives energy use and causes bill fluctuations. Weather impacts energy use more than any factor, and Earth Networks – WeatherBug demystifies usage fluctuations – and provides usage forecasts – by  combining sophisticated thermodynamic algorithms with live, quality controlled, hyper-local weather data.

With the benefit of the largest real-time, neighborhood-level weather sensor network, Earth Networks – WeatherBug uniquely possesses the weather intelligence to understand the impact of key weather variables – namely, solar load, wind velocity, and temperature – on how much energy is needed to heat or cool homes to keep consumers comfortable.

The company’s network of 10,000 professional-grade sensors, in addition to data from the National Weather Service and numerous other sources, results in a comprehensive set of high-quality real-time data on current weather conditions and more accurate forecasts. The company’s WeatherBug Home program uses proprietary weather “big data” – combined with Green Button Connect data and a deep set of analytics and algorithms – produces home-specific recommendations for reducing energy bills,and critical load management planning insight for utilities to meet consumer demand.

“The sun beating down on your house in the summer, and the wind and the cold howling outside during the winter directly impact home heating and cooling costs – the single biggest component of consumers’ energy bills,” says Earth Networks Energy Products and Business Development Director Dave Oberholzer. “Your utility provider can tell you how much energy you are using with Green Button Connect, but we can help you understand why and how to lower your energy bill.