A new app developed by San Diego State University computer engineering professor Yusuf Ozturk makes it easy to know the best time to plug in.

VCA also says that the project combines Passivhaus principles with renewable energy technologies to reduce energy usage by 50 percent.

Most of the money in commercial and residential goes to energy-efficiency upgrades, but about a quarter of commercial projects are renewable energy projects.

More than 23,000 energy efficiency measures have been installed in rural homes in the UK in the last six months. That’s an almost 3000% increase between April and September this year, according to new statistics from DECC.

At Money Dashboard we're all for finding new ways to help you save money – and if they help out the environment too that can only be a good thing. Here are a few of the best energy-saving tips that won't cost you a penny.

South Africa has a goal of having 18 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030, so projects like this are definitely steps in the right direction. If there's one thing that South Africa has lots of, it's sunlight! 45% of the total project value was spent on "local content" to help increase the positive economic impact on the area.

A new experimental “smart town” based especially around the technologies of solar energy and battery storage is being developed in Japan by Panasonic Corporation (along with other public and private partners), based on recent reports.

The new displays ditch the electrodes, simultaneously making the screen thinner and decreasing its energy requirements.

Building-integrated solar photovoltaic modules are fast catching up in the rapidly evolving construction business where emphasis on energy efficiency and self-reliance are becoming increasingly popular.

The German Government has revealed a new national plan to save more energy for homes and businesses across the country.

The new “energy centre” a building that houses the heating and electricity equipment, will save the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust around £10 million over the next 18 years.

Researchers at Cardiff University are looking into new ways of creating a “super grid” that will allow the EU to share the energy it creates.

To give those customers more options for geeking out on energy use, SolarCity has a new app, MySolarCity, which shows real-time home energy usage and offers basic energy assessments, as well as providing social network via which users can share their solar experiences.

“The introduction of solar as the scheme’s first renewable energy product is a fantastic addition to Warm Up North’s range of energy efficiency solutions that will allow even more households to save energy and money.

The new "L-CSC" supercomputer at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research is ranked as the world's most energy-efficient supercomputer.

The Victorian Labor Party has sought to underline its renewable energy credentials by vowing to help the town of Newstead, near Bendigo, to become 100 per cent renewable energy by 2017, and become the state’s first “solar town”.

Đảng Lao động Victoria, Úc đã tìm cách đề cao vai trò của năng lượng tái tạo trong các tuyên bố của mình bằng dự án giúp Newstead, một thị trấn gần Bendigo trở thành thị trấn sử dụng 100% năng lượng tái tạo vào năm 2017. Đồng thời biến đây trở thành "Đô thị năng lượng mặt trời" đầu tiên trên cả nước Úc.

Amazon has been under pressure for a while to get its act together when it comes to renewable energy (just last week we wrote about how shopping on Amazon is powered by coal).

With the number of Internet connected devices rapidly increasing, researchers from Melbourne are starting a new research program to reduce energy consumption of such devices.

According to Lisa Rathke of the Associated Press, energy-saving program Efficiency Vermont has helped ski resorts all over the state make huge strides, with 2,300 new energy-efficient snowmaking guns replacing older wasteful ones.