Energy efficiency

When it comes to making the electric grid smarter, utilities are sometimes on the sidelines.

Home security company Vivint today announced a deal with Tendril to fill out its home security offering with enhanced energy-management features. The deal shows how home automation systems can be expanded through cloud-based smart-grid services.

Vivint earlier this year rebranded itself (it was called APX Alarms) and launched an energy-management package to complement its home monitoring service. For $57.99 per month--an additional $8 a month over the security service--a customer gets a wireless thermostat, a smart plug to control lights or small appliances, and … Read more

PlotWatt's software doesn't just read electricity meter information and post it online. It takes a building's energy pulse to find out what's going on inside.

Like many other building energy start-ups, the North Carolina-based company is developing a system to provide recommendations on how to improve efficiency based on meter information. To build a profile of a building's energy use, PlotWatt's cloud-based software parses a home's power signal to tell consumers where most of their energy goes.

The software detects differences in power consumption patterns to isolate large appliances, such as air conditioners … Read more

Bridgelux expects to begin making LED chips on silicon wafers in about two years, a technology transition which promises to slash LED lighting costs.

The company today announced it has met performance targets for the new process which it projects could lower the cost of end-user lighting products by roughly 20 percent to 30 percent.

Bridgelux manufactures LED light sources, or chips, which are fitted into lamps and fixtures made by lighting companies. LEDs are more energy efficient and last longer than other lighting technologies, but the higher cost remains a barrier to mass adoption, particularly in the consumer market. … Read more

Philips recently released its Ambient LED 17/75-watt-equivalent retailing for $39.97. As it indicates, the bulb gives off roughly the equivalent light of a 75-watt incandescent bulb, but uses only 17 watts of power to do it.

Many sites have been doing head-to-head tests of various LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs coming on the market. However, I'm often asked where someone can find just a "regular person review" on how LEDs stack up against CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) and the soon-to-be-phased-out incandescents without getting too buried in stats on lumens, kelvins, wattage, and the rest of the … Read more

Philips has won the equivalent of grueling car rally race for lighting.

The Department of Energy today awarded Philips' 60-watt equivalent LED bulb with the first L Prize for energy-efficiency lighting. Philips wins a $10 million cash prize. The product could be in stores as soon as early 2012, according to the DOE.

To win, the bulb needed to generate as much light as a 60-watt incandescent at 900 lumens but consume less than 10 watts. Its life has to be rated at over 25,000 hours, or 17 years of using a bulb four hours a day.

The bulb, … Read more

Could window and insulation installation specialists be the next plumbers in terms of steady work and good pay?

It's a question triggered by "Opening the Thermal Envelope: Emerging Innovation in Dynamic Windows and Advanced Insulation," a recent report from Lux Research on the green tech construction sector.

Green tech is currently the largest growth sector in the construction industry, according to Lux research.

But the research analyst's latest report focuses on the fact that the emerging technologies involving smart glass and innovative insulation materials are now expected to see the largest growth within green construction.

As … Read more

Cree has made an LED light bulb designed to show the industry what can be done in the pursuit of energy-efficient lighting.

The company yesterday unveiled a demonstration LED bulb that meets the stringent efficiency requirements of the L Prize, a Department of Energy-sponsored contest. Cree, which makes LED light sources used in bulbs and light fixtures, doesn't plan to release the prototype as a product.

The bulb, which Cree is calling the 21st Century Lamp, gives off more than 1,300 lumens, or more than a 75-watt incandescent light, and consumes 8.7 watts. It's shaped to … Read more

EnergyHub is making smart thermostats smarter by hitching them to a large database.

The residential energy company today announced a software system that works with connected thermostats in people's homes to optimize settings for energy savings. Called Mercury, the software is aimed at broadband providers, utilities, and thermostat manufacturers, which will offer the service to consumers.

Programmable thermostats are one of the most effective ways to lower energy consumption, but many consumers don't own them or don't take the trouble to program them. With EnergyHub's software, people will be able to program HVAC systems through a … Read more

General Electric plans to double down on LED home lighting over the next 16 months.

In November, GE plans to start selling a 13-watt LED lightbulb that matches the light emission of a 60-watt incandescent bulb. That option will be followed by 75- and 100-watt-equivalent LED bulbs by fall 2012, the company said. The bulbs can deliver light "for over two decades" if consumers use them for no more than three hours each day, GE claims.

LED lightbulbs are widely considered the next big thing in home lighting. And for good reason. Aside from lasting an extraordinarily long … Read more