Topic: Green Button

President Barack Obama issued an executive order on March 19, 2015, focused on federal sustainability and greenhouse gas reductions for the next decade. A central component is the "Green Button Initiative," a White House-backed effort to provide utility customers with secure access to their energy usage data. The initiative aims to standardize data access across 50 utilities to encourage consumer energy efficiency.

The U.S. Department of Energy, under Secretary Steven Chu, launched the "Apps for Energy" challenge offering $100,000 for developers to create tools for the "Green Button" initiative. The program aims to help utility customers manage electricity usage data. The hosts criticize the initiative as a way to distract citizens from rising energy costs.