Home energy

A home full of "smart" devices that can communicate still needs apps to give people a reason to use them.

Grid upstart Tendril today opened up a developer site to encourage the creation of applications that do something interesting with energy-related information. Tendril had already published some of the APIs for its cloud-based platform in a closed beta, but it is now opening up the service to more developers and adding documentation.

The Tendril Connect platform provides some of the plumbing to collect energy consumption data and present it back to consumers on different devices, such as computers, … Read more

Here's an intriguing design concept that's been stirring the currents of the blogosphere lately: an electrical wall socket that unplugs plugs as a way of saving power.

That's right--if your toaster sits idle for too long, the "PumPing Tap" lets you know it's time to toast or get out of the slot. It detects the drop in current and fires a spring-loaded mechanism that in turn fires the toaster's plug across the kitchen (or at least onto the counter--and hopefully not into the butter dish).… Read more

It's hard to get excited about a thermostat, but we may be warming to one in particular. Its creators have set out to create a simple, elegant, and intelligent thermostat.

At Nest Labs, former Apple product engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers have molded their thermostat with many of the design and technology characteristics of Apple products like the iPod and iPhone. SmartPlanet's Sumi Das visits the startup to see what they've been up to and finds out what Fadell--who oversaw the design and production of the iPod--learned from Steve Jobs.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet … Read more

As much as 10 percent of your electricity bill is simply being sucked away for no useful purpose. Blame standby, or vampire, power.

Belkin this month released perhaps the simplest way to cut that standby power with its Conserve Power Switch. The small gadget is just a switch in a handy format that cuts the flow of power to anything that plugs into it.

There's not much to this device, but that's its appeal. The Power Switch, which costs $6.99, plugs into a regular outlet and you plug a device into that. When you want to use … Read more

Maybe Best Buy can make sense of the smart grid for consumers.

The electronics retailer today is launching a push into home energy management products through dedicated zones at three stores and an online home energy "learning center." The company will announce the plan at the BSR conference on corporate sustainability and begin product demos in stores Sunday.

Customers in Chicago, Houston, and San Carlos, Calif., will be able to see the latest in home energy gadgets, a class of products geared toward saving energy and remotely controlling thermostat, lights, and appliances.

At its stores, Best Buy will … Read more

Nest Labs says it has sold out of its thermostats.

In response to the demand, Nest Labs has temporarily shut down the online store on Nest.com and plans to reopen it in early 2012, Erik Charlton, vice president of sales and marketing at Nest Labs, announced yesterday via the company's blog.

Those who've preordered a thermostat via Nest Labs have nothing to worry about--the company says it will still be able to honor all original shipping dates on confirmation e-mails. Those who've only received a reservation number for a Nest Labs thermostat will now have to … Read more

Energy monitoring company Powerhouse Dynamics said it raised funding to expand into the commercial market, an area considered far easier to crack than residential customers.

The Boston-based company today said it raised a $3 million series A from SosVentures to build a sales network for its recently introduced C-series eMonitor. The company had raised about $2.5 million in angel funding, the CEO said earlier this year.

Powerhouse Dynamics said that its relatively light-weight energy monitoring system will give small retailers, restaurants, and the like a way to cut about 20 percent of their electricity use with a centralized monitoring … Read more

news analysis The launch of Nest Labs and its sleek thermostat marks an important transition from green tech that only a scientist could love to something that everyday consumers may actually desire.

The company came out of stealth mode today, telling the story of how two consumer electronics mavens, including the "father of the iPod," decided to take on the unlikely quest of making a better thermostat.

The product is just a programmable thermostat. But the genius of Nest Labs is that it decided to make the iPhone of thermostats--a device that looks cool and is smart enough … Read more

It's hard to imagine making thermostats sexy, but if anyone could do it, it would be the "father of the iPod."

In 2008, amid renewed concerns about Steve Jobs' health, Fortune ranked the probable candidates to someday replace the famed Apple CEO. The first choice? Then COO and eventual successor Tim Cook. The second? Tony Fadell, chief of the iPod division and the man credited with the ideas that resulted in the creation of the iPod and its marriage with the iTunes Music Store.

Around that time, Fadell left Apple, his next move unknown, and since then, … Read more