April 3, 2012 09:18 pm EDT

Facebook inks partnership with Opower, looks to socially compare home energy usage

Google passed, and Microsoft reckoned it had better things to do, but Zuckerberg's Castle is seemingly willing to pick up where those two left off. In what may go down as the strangest Facebook decision since the rejection of Valentina Monetta's video as best in the whole wide world, the company is launching a new social energy app that'll tap into technology from the National Resources Defense Council and Opower. Initially, the app will reach some 20 million households, and it's designed to help eco-curious Earthlings compile and benchmark usage data to see how their home stacks up against others. Within territories with utility participation, people can connect their utility account directly to the app to track progress and share energy saving accomplishments with friends. Unfortunately, the whole process looks rather manual for now, and privacy overlords will no doubt question the motives for requesting even more information from Facebook users; that said, it's totally possible to engage in the Opower tracking sans a Facebook account. To get going, give those source links a look.

Facebook inks partnership with Opower, looks to socially compare home energy usage originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Facebook, Opower ||Comments

Original Link: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/facebook-opower-social-energy-tracking-project/

View Full Article

Engadget

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics. Engadget was launched in March of 2004 in partnership with the Weblogs, Inc. Network (WI

More About this Source Visit Engadget