Green IT

Homes using EcoFactor for controlling their heating and cooling have seen on average a 17 percent reduction in energy use, the company announced Thursday.

In conjunction with local utilities and home service providers, Silicon Valley-based EcoFactor collected data from homes in both pilot and commercial programs using two-way thermostats connected to the company's software platform.

EcoFactor's software collects over 24,000 pieces of data daily to profile a home's thermal characteristics. It monitors things like weather forecasts, and the home's temperature and its HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system, then mathematically analyzes the most opportune … Read more

Oil and gas giant Total is set to buy 60 percent of solar panel maker SunPower on June 14 after the companies received approval from the European Union. The great unknown is whether this combination changes the energy industry or merely gives SunPower some cover as the solar industry enters a rocky period.

The EU approval, announced yesterday, clears the way for Total to close its all-cash offer for 60 percent of SunPower's outstanding shares in a deal valued at $1.4 billion. Given that the two companies received U.S. regulatory clearance already, the deal is set to … Read more

When it comes to energy, Intel's biggest concern is keeping a lid on the power used at giant data centers. But Intel researchers are seriously looking at home energy as well.

During the Research@Intel conference yesterday in Mountain View, Calif., Intel set up a Personal Energy Zone that showcased its efforts to use computing to improve efficiency and boost the use of renewable energy sources.

One demonstration scheduled to go into trials soon is the Wireless Energy Sensing Technology (WEST), a device that plugs into a socket and uses a home wireless network to report power usage of … Read more

Clean-tech start-ups that think they can be nimble and quick to market may be interested in a new incubator from San Francisco.

Greenstart, whose team includes former executives from the Jumpstart Automotive Media Group, is looking to act as an accelerator for start-ups that can essentially be up-and-running in about six months.

Akin to what Y Combinator did for Web and mobile start-ups, Greenstart is looking to offer the same type of services for green-tech start-ups.

The company says it wants to find "fast cleantech" companies, but its application of that term is pretty broad.

"We define … Read more

Fujitsu will cut its power usage by 15 percent this summer in parts of Japan suffering from power shortages caused by the massive March earthquake, the company said today.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has been struggling to deal with nuclear power reactors severely damaged by the quake and resulting tsunami, leading to efforts in Japan to encourage lower electrical power use. Fujitsu said it will cut its own power usage in areas serviced by Tepco and Tohoku Electric Power through a variety of programs, and it's an interesting list for any company worried about power cost and supply … Read more

LED lighting control developer Redwood Systems announced Thursday that Japanese conglomerate Mitsui Group has invested $3.5 million.

Redwood Systems already had venture capital firms U.S. Venture Partners and Battery Ventures as investors.

However, an endorsement from a global company like Mitsui puts an especially big spotlight on the company, and on computerized lighting-control systems in general.

Redwood Systems makes computerized DC (direct current) lighting control systems aimed at improving energy efficiency.

Using sensors or motion detection cameras, the system is capable of gathering data on things like temperature and room occupancy. That data can then be used to … Read more

So, now there's even an app for planning your algae oil production.

The Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M has a free "Algae Production Conversion Calculator" to help with producing algae crops. The app is free via the iTunes app store. There is also a Web-based version that can be used on Android and other devices.

The app converts between grams per liter and grams per square meter. It also calculates the annual algae oil production possible for a given farm or site based on data that includes pond volume per acre feet, … Read more

Consumers should have an easier time comparing the fuel economy of cars and light trucks once new consumer labels unveiled today go into effect.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson unveiled the new set of labels this morning at a live press conference hosted on the Web.

Prior to this, car labels hadn't been updated for 30 years.

Each new label differs slightly depending on the car's drive train or fuel source. (Click for a PDF of all labels.) Labels in the set include those for gas, flex-fuel gas-ethanol blends, … Read more

Boston is now home to the world's largest commercial wind-blade testing site, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Wind Technology Testing Center officially opened yesterday inside what looks like a massive airplane hangar in Boston's port.

The seemingly minor ceremonial event is actually quite significant for the U.S. wind industry and could improve the timeline for wind turbine technology development in the U.S.

In the past, large-scale wind blades under development in the U.S. had to be shipped out of the country for testing, usually to Europe, because the U.S. had … Read more