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LAS VEGAS--For General Electric, the energy business is going digital.

The company's booth at the Consumer Electronics Show showcases different home energy products, nearly all of which are connected on a home information network and the Internet.

Using home automation to better manage energy, security, and improve entertainment is a theme here at CES where companies from different areas are touting connected devices beyond just PCs and even TVs.

GE is showing off its smart appliances which use Zigbee to communicate with a smart meter and Nucleus, a phone charger-size gadget which acts as a networking hub for connected … Read more

Some Martha's Vineyard households will soon be receiving smart appliances from General Electric as part of a pilot project, GE announced today.

It's part of mission to promote smart grid and renewable energy use on the island that has been spearheaded by The Vineyard Energy Project (VEP), a nonprofit community energy group started in West Tisbury, Mass., and the island's energy co-op, Vineyard Power.

In December 2010, VEP was granted almost $800,000 toward its goal of deploying smart grid technologies on the island, including smart appliances, via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Several new laptop graphics cards are joining the Nvidia family today, namely the GeForce GT 555M, GeForce GT 550M, GeForce GT 540M, GeForce GT 525M, and GeForce GT 520M. These new GPUs support all the proprietary technologies that Nvidia uses to set itself apart from the competition, including Optimus, PhysX, and 3D Vision.

Optimus is notable because it allows laptops to include both integrated graphics (typically from Intel) and a discrete Nvidia graphics card, then switch between them automatically as needed. Other graphics-switching technologies typically require users to hit a manual or virtual button, or else have very simple commands, such as switching off the discrete graphics when running on battery power.

All of the new Nvidia 500 Series GPUs support Optimus, while the 550M, 500M, and 540M support 3D Vision, Nvidia's self-contained ecosystem of 3D active-shutter glasses, IR emitters, and compatible monitors and GPUs.

Nvidia is also taking advantage of this launch to lob a few attacks at sometimes partner, sometimes rival Intel. The CPU maker is aiming to reduce the need for discrete graphics cards (Nvidia's main business) with its revamped Sandy Bridge integrated graphics, which aim to be good enough so that most mainstream users (such as World of Warcraft players) won't need a discrete GPU. … Read more

Intel and GE joined forces to develop a health care alliance back in April of 2009. Today, they unveiled the name of this venture, Care Innovations, which they say has received final regulatory clearances and is now fully operational.

The Sacramento-based Care Innovations combines teams and assets from Intel's Digital Health Group and GE Healthcare's Home Health division to address issues faced by and because of the growing number of elderly people in the U.S.

"Our vision as we launch this exciting new company is for Care Innovations to positively affect millions of people by providing … Read more

Abound Solar has secured $510 million to ramp up production of its thin-film solar panels and compete in the cut-throat pricing of the global solar photovoltaics industry.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu is scheduled to host a conference call today with Abound Solar CEO Tom Tiller to announce that the Fort Collins, Colo.-based company has finalized a $400 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. It also raised $110 million in equity from existing private investors, one of the requirements for getting the loan.

With the money, Abound Solar can boost production to 200 megawatts a year by 2012 … Read more

General Electric has released an Energy Star-compliant LED light designed as a long-lasting and efficient replacement for a 40-watt incandescent bulb.

The General Electric 9 Watt Energy Smart became available online for $50 earlier this week and will be available through GE's existing retail channel in January, according to the company.

The A19-shape bulb uses 9 watts and is rated to last 25,000 hours, or 22 years at three hours of daily use. It gives off 471 lumens, has a white light at 3,000 Kelvin, and does not contain mercury or lead.

GE said it is the … Read more

When it comes to buses, a group of researchers say two batteries based on different technology are better than one large battery.

The Federal Transit Authority (FTA) Hybrid Transit Bus project team, which GE scientists are a part of, has built a hybrid electric bus by loading it with one high-power lithium battery and one high-energy density sodium battery, GE Global Research, GE's research arm, announced today.

Lithium batteries can provide bursts of power, but don't have much capacity. Sodium batteries, meanwhile, can store more energy, but can't provide those bursts of power necessary to propel something … Read more

General Electric has created a Home Energy Management business in a bid to apply digital technologies to energy efficiency in consumers' homes and the electric grid, the company said today.

The business unit, part of GE Appliances & Lighting, combines "smart" appliances and an Internet-based home energy management system called Nucleus, which is set for release next year.

By making a single business unit for home energy, GE is trying to focus its efforts on consumer interest in smart-grid technologies geared at using energy more efficiently, the company said.

"It makes economic and environmental sense for the … Read more

GE subsidiary GE Energy Financial Services and North Bridge Venture Partners will invest $8 million in a company developing a biofuel production process coupled with the production of biochar.

Cool Planet Biofuels converts cellulosic byproducts like plant waste and woodchips into biofuel that can be used in vehicles.

The company's byproduct from the process is biochar, or manmade coal as some call it, which just like conventional charcoal can be burned for fuel. It's something the company says qualifies its biofuel process as being carbon neutral.

The biochar can also be buried in the ground serving as both … Read more