CNET News is reporting that General Electric plans to use software from smart-grid startup Tendril to make its appliances more energy efficient. The software will allow you to control your GE appliances from several different locations, including an in-home display, over the Internet or even through your iPhone (is there anything you CAN’T do with an iPhone these days?). The system will be in a testing phase starting in the 4th quarter of 2009. Tendril’s CEO, Adrian Tuck, believes that it could reduce energy use by about 30 percent for each appliance on the network. So the savings for consumers could be pretty substantive, especially if utilities also begin to offer incentives for efficiency.

>>>