Earth Hour Tonight - 8:30

Earth Hour is annual call for people across the world to gather their community around the simple act of turning off the lights for one hour. It began a 2007 in Sydney, Australia and it has become a world wide sensation. Each year the event has grown larger and more MWs of electricity have been turned off in display reaffirming to notion that lots of small actions can have a tremendous impact. Tonight it continues at 8:30 PM local time.

Here's a quote from Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on being a state sponsor:

By turning out our lights for an hour on March 27, the people of Illinois will show our commitment to fighting light pollution. Earth Hour highlights the importance of conserving energy and protecting our environment for future generations.

To watch a slideshow of images taken March 27 at 8:30 PM from around the world click here.

Check out the 2010 Earth Hour video below:

New Cell Phone Charger gets "Smart" Label

Whatever you call it, most people have begun to realize that our electronics are costing us more and more dollars on utility bills. Each new gadget comes with a new charger and they all stay plugged into the wall sipping precious nickels and dimes 24 hours a day. As consumer awareness grows, so does the demand for a product to let will us plug in and forget it.

First to the party is AT&T who is introducing a new cell phone charger in May called the AT&T Zero. The phone charger has the ability to sense when a phone is plugged into it. So when the phone gets unplugged it can stop drawing power from the wall. Keep in mind that it will be sold separately for around the same price as a traditional charger. It would probably be difficult to realize any savings if you purchased a new charger, but if you happen to misplace your old one you should look for this innovate, first-of-its-kind wonder device (I tried to use as many buzz words as possible).

Up to now all chargers (phone or otherwise) continue to draw electricity as long as its plugged into the wall. The amount of electricity it takes drops when a phone gets unplugged, but you might as well being paying rent  on that real estate in the wall.

To learn more about the AT&T Zero, here's an article from the New York Times Gadget blog.

Calling on Developers

Keeping track of your home's energy usage is something all Power Smart Pricing customers understand the value in. Lowering your consumption as the price goes up provides a unique money saving opportunity. A lot of big companies see the demand for this type of information on the horizon. In preparation, the software giants of the day, Microsoft and Google are making sure they're prepared.

Microsoft's Hohm and Google's PowerMeter represent two exciting entrants into energy management software. Over a period of a couple weeks both companies opened their programs to a trusted group of software developers to create applications and enhance their energy saving techniques.

It will take a long series of trial and error to really measure the effectiveness of these devices. In fact, the it is almost entirely up in the air as to where this software will be used. Ultimately the industry is getting flushed with tons of new data and this new data represents another way to make money (and save money for the consumer... for a price).

To learn more about Microsoft and Google's recent announcements, click here.