The following guest post analyzes how recent innovations in home automation could impact us in areas we may not realize.

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Back in 2011 it was 4 months after we covered Google shutting down its PowerMeter service that we first covered the Nest Thermostat.  Now, things have come full circle with Google acquiring Nest and getting back in the home energy game. From the GTM article:

In March we wrote about Cree breaking the $10 barrier in an A19 LED bulb.  Now several other manufacturers are following suite. 

Green Tech Media has a great article on the new LED bulbs from Philips, GE and Wal-Mart that are also right around the $10 mark. From the article:

There are 2 main types of heat pumps: Air source and Ground source.  This article mainly compares and air source heat pump to a natural gas furnace.  We like the EnergySavers.Gov page on how a Heat pump works.  The biggest drawback to heat pumps is that in cold climate they probably will need supplemental heat, because they can't pull any heat from the outside air if it gets too cold.