efficiency

OPower, a company that offers home energy efficiency recommendations to consumers through utilities, has brought in $50 million in venture capital.

The Arlington, Va.-based company said yesterday that the round was led by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Accel Partners, with existing investor New Enterprise Associates also participating. Since its founding in 2007, OPower has raised $65.5 million.

With the money, OPower plans to hire more people and build out its Web-based software system to introduce more features to consumers and utilities next year, said CEO Dan Yates.

There have been dozens of companies trying to build … Read more

BMW announced today that it's sending the Vision EfficientDynamics plug-in sports car to production.

The plug-in diesel concept coupe was revealed at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show and won the manufacturer several awards for its innovative design and clean technology. The Vision EfficientDynamics uses three power plants to propel the winged 2+2: a three-cylinder turbo diesel engine along with electric motors at each axle. The exotic can operate using its electric motors, diesel engine, or a combination of the two. Full throttle, the trio produces a total of of 328 horsepower and has a 0-60 mph time of … Read more

Since so many of us spend so much time on our computers now, it makes sense to have a quick and easy way to take notes there, whether we're recording a great idea or just a reminder to buy milk. Efficient Notes Free gives peoplea way to write themselves notes, but it's not as useful as some similar programs we've seen.

The program's interface reminds us very much of Microsoft Outlook. The screen is split horizontally into two panes, with the top pane displaying each note's title and the bottom pane displaying the selected note'… Read more

We review a lot of free software, and most of it, though decent, isn't really anything to write home about. But every now and then we come across a program like EfficientPIM Free. Even though the word "free" is in the program's name, we actually had to go back and make sure that the program really didn't cost anything. We found it hard to believe that such a feature-packed program could really be had gratis.

The program's interface is attractive and intuitive, with a variety of color schemes to choose from. EfficientPIM's layout … Read more

Some people can get by with writing notes to themselves on scraps of paper, but others need a way of keeping track of their to-do lists that offers a little more organization and structure. Efficient To-Do List Free is a simple, attractive way to stay on top of all of your tasks, from appointments and meetings to long-term projects.

The program's interface is attractive and well-designed, reminding us a lot of newer versions of Microsoft Outlook. It's easy to create new tasks, and users can specify start dates, due dates, priority levels, and recurrence. For tasks that are … Read more

If all the commercial buildings in the U.S. that exist as of 2010 were retrofitted to be more energy efficient, the country as a whole would save over $41.1 billion a year in energy bills.

That's according to the report "Energy Efficiency Retrofits for Commercial and Public Buildings" released Thursday by Pike Research.

Of course, in order to get to that $41.1 billion per year in savings, the owners of commercial properties would have to invest in the initial retrofit adaptations and construction upgrades. So how much is that going cost? Well, as it … Read more

A thermostat technology that's intended to significantly reduce energy bills is about to become available for use in actual homes.

EcoFactor, the developer of a software platform for a two-way "smart" thermostat, announced Thursday its dynamic system for regulating home heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems will be offered through a pilot project in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, metro area.

In addition to turning heat or air conditioning on and off at set times or specified temperatures, the system monitors the thermal behavior of the home, as well as daily outdoor temperatures and weather forecasts. It … Read more

Post and results updated October 21st with results from Samsung PN50C8000 and Panasonic TC-P50GT25.

Initial testing of 3D-compatible HDTVs has revealed that, in the default picture settings, displaying 3D images can indeed draw more power than in standard 2D mode, especially on plasma models.

We tested five plasma televisions as well as three LED-based LCD models, and the results generally show that more power is consumed to produce images in 3D mode as opposed to 2D. The plasmas were particularly power-hungry in 3D, averaging about double the power used in 2D. The only TV that didn't increase its power consumption in 3D was a Sony LCD--a discrepancy we chalk up to its dimmer 3D picture setting. See the full results after the break.

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More than just building supplies, your local Lowe's hardware store may offer services to make your home more energy efficient.

The home improvement giant on Wednesday said it has invested in San Francisco-based Recurve, which provides software and services for auditing and retrofitting homes to be more efficient. Lowe's was the lead investor in the series B $8 million round, which brought participation from existing investors Shasta Ventures and RockPort Capital Partners.

Lowe's stores in the San Francisco Bay Area now have displays offering the home retrofit services of Recurve, formerly known as Sustainable Spaces, Recurve CEO … Read more