Building APIs Blog
Standard Energy Efficiency Data APIs For Buildings
Posted on 01-21-2014
The team over at Panoptix turned me on to the the Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) platform being developed over at the Department of Energy, which aims to be an API for collecting, storing and analyzing building energy performance data. It appears that DOE is looking to develop open source software that state and local governments can use to manage energy efficiency across their buildings. I like the approach to develop an open source, API driven platform that can set the tone for how data can be collected, managed, and shared. I think this is a great way to lead in an industry, and bring together not just government entities but other private sector players. SEED is something I’d love to see work, and an API design I’d love to see in the API Commons. If you are part of the SEED project, I’d love to talk more. I pinged...
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JCI & Panoptix APIs: Write APIs Are Much Harder Than Read APIs
Posted on 01-20-2014
When I last talked with the Panoptix API team over at Johnson Controls (JCI), they were working hard on new features, including the possibility of writing data to the building efficiency API(s). A year later, I wanted to see where the team was at with their API efforts and was intrigued to learn that their work to make their API writable hadn’t gone exactly as they had planned. On the surface it sounds like an easy task. You can pull data from an API, now using POST, PUT and DELETE you should be able to write data back into the system. Easier said than done, says John Bernd (@jkbernd) and Simone Vigano (@viganosimone) of the Panoptix API team. First you have all the technical issues around data storage, indexing, accessibility and the usual problems you face with managing lots of data. Working with known data from their own systems and...
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JCI & Panoptix Internal Evangelism: Selling Not Just The API, But The Overall Approach Internally
Posted on 01-17-2014
I just had a great conversion with John Bernd (@jkbernd) and Simone Vigano (@viganosimone) of Johnson Controls (JCI), who lead efforts at the building efficiency API, Panoptix. They shared several great stories with me, I’ll trickle out over the next week, with the first one about internal evangelism. Internal evangelism, whether your API is public or private, is something I’ve advocated for pretty heavily over the last few years. Lack of internal evangelism around an API can be the number on reason you get your API defunded within any size organization. Basically if the rest of the company, included your bosses , don’t know about your API and the success you’ve had, your done. So tell stories about your API. This particular story out of JCI is particularly interesting because it isn’t just about evangelizing your API, its evangelizing your approach to delivering your API. Over the last couple years...
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Building Energy Efficiency at Six Times the Speed : Greentech Media
Posted on 06-30-2013
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Energy efficiency may be the cheapest way for utilities to reduce power demand, and thus avoid building expensive and polluting new power plants.But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to pick and pay for the projects that give them the most bang for the buck.In fact, all the work that goes into doing a commercial building energy retrofit, from the initial customer contact and energy audit and assessment to the design, funding and execution of a project, can serve as a significant bottleneck for utilities seeking to hand out billions of dollars in energy efficiency rebates, incentives, cost-sharing grants and other such efficiency-boosting funds.IT can help smooth that whole process, and unlock some pretty hefty acceleration to market as a result.Take FirstFuel, the Lexington, Mass.
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53 Energy APIs: Genability, 3TIER and EnergyStar
Posted on 05-28-2013
Our API directory now includes 53 energy APIs.The newest is the EcoSCADA API.The most popular, in terms of mashups, is the Genability API.We list 4 Genability mashups.Below you’ll find some more stats from the directory, including the entire list of energy APIs.
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Panoptix APIs: helping to create better building efficiency applications
Posted on 05-23-2013
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Interview with Jim Schwartz, director of strategic marketing for Johnson Controls, which focuses on emerging technologies and cloud based software deployment models.With extensive experience in high-tech marketing, product management and operations, Jim has held senior leadership positions with Microsoft, Cisco and several start-ups.Tell us more about Panoptix
Johnson Controls offers the Panoptix® Building Efficiency Platform to deliver lower energy and operating costs while maintaining occupant confort.The Panoptix solution provides tools to review building and enterprise performance, pinpoint equipment that’s wasting energy, assess the effectiveness of retrofit projects, monitor and report on carbon emissions and much more–through applications developed by Johnson Controls and our partners.What API(s) does Panoptix offer today?
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How Nest and Opower quietly morphed into competitors
Posted on 05-08-2013
Energy startups Nest and Opower are members of an elite club: venture capital-backed companies that have managed to find some success building software and hardware around managing home energy consumption.Several years ago when the companies launched, they focused on very different products and business models.However, over the years the companies have moved ever closer to becoming direct competitors, and now stand in the interesting position of being two of the leading startups competing in a variety of ways to reduce consumers’ home energy use.That Nest and Opower have emerged as the leading companies fighting over this business says something about the small and slow-moving industry.Over the years the market for devices, websites and services that attempt to get consumers to reduce their energy use — a largely unsexy and unappreciated task — has been riddled with struggling startups and failed clunky product launches.
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Smart thermostat maker Nest acquires utility tracker MyEnergy to cozy up to energy providers
Posted on 05-07-2013
Nest, the company behind a smart, internet-connected thermostat, has acquired utility bill tracking service MyEnergy for an undisclosed amount.This news follows the appointment of a new CFO for Nest: Tesla’s Tom vonReichbauer.While the acquisition of MyEnergy will see new talent make its way into the thermostat company, it’s clear that Nest’s motives lie in MyEnergy’s connection to energy providers.Nest details that it believes this acquisition will accelerate “Nest’s services for energy providers, giving them a cost-effective way to share data with their customers.”
In addition, Nest founder and CEO Tony Fadell shares that “bringing MyEnergy into the Nest family” will help the company give “customers more in-depth access and analysis of their energy usage.
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Keen Home Launches Crowdfunding Campaign For Its Connected Central Heating And Cooling Vents
Posted on 04-29-2013
Individual vent covers will cost around $40 per vent, Keen predicts, with a $150 one-time charge for the system in total.There’s also another option, with a recurring fee of $4 per month for access to the cloud-based management platform, which also provides monthly reports, plus a $25 sign up payment.But Fant and Hussain plan to partner with utility companies and homebuilders to try to offer the tech initially at a discount price, perhaps with, say, six months of service rolled into a new construction.It’s the same model that satellite radio provider Sirius/XM uses to sell subscriptions with new cars.Keen Home is launching its Keen Vent product on Indiegogo today, and believes that seeking crowdfunding, as well as traditional investment, will help it get the word out and prove product viability.
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AT&T Releases Connected Home Security System
Posted on 04-25-2013
The security system, called AT&T Digital Life, will allow homeowners to connect appliances like light bulbs, video surveillance cameras and door locks to the Internet and control them remotely with a smartphone app.For the security aspect, the service hooks up to AT&T’s monitoring center, where employees will respond to emergencies and alert the police or the fire department.Customers can choose between a basic and a more advanced package.The basic package includes the home monitoring service, a 24-hour backup battery and an indoor siren, among other features, for $30 a month and $150 for equipment and installation.The advanced package also includes a glass break sensor, a smoke sensor and a motion sensor for $40 a month and $250 for equipment and installation.
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