US CTO Aneesh Chopra, Champion of Consumer Energy Awareness, Resigns

A smart grid-savvy government lead technologist departs his post.

Aneesh Chopra, the nation's first Chief Technology Officer, resigned his office today. 

Chopra was a champion of merging America's IT prowess with the health care and energy sector. He also brought a focus on the cybersecurity sector.

He had spoken about accelerating the smart grid through innovation enabled by open standards. His office was "extraordinarily concerned about cybersecurity in the grid." He was also savvy about demand-response issues. 

 

Recently the office of Health and Human Services announced the creation of bluebuttondata.org, which is working toward giving consumers the option to download their personal health data and share it with trusted health providers and caregivers. The idea was originally launched by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs with the idea that citizens should be able to access their own health information. 

In a White House blog post, Chopra asked, "Why can’t the same common-sense concept be applied to the energy industry with a 'Green Button'?  Consumers should have access to their energy usage information. It should be easily downloadable and in an easy-to-read format offered by their utility or retail energy service provider."

At last year's GridWeek, Chopra "challenged the smart grid ecosystem to deliver on the vision of Green Button and provide customers access to their energy usage information electronically. With this information at their fingertips, consumers would be enabled to make more informed decisions about their energy use and, when coupled with opportunities to take action, empowered to actively manage their energy use."

And just recently, as Jeff St. John reported, California's largest utilities have risen to the occasion to work on safe, secure ways to share their customers' energy data.

No successor to Chopra has yet been chosen.