Panasonic Corp., the world’s largest plasma-television manufacturer, has revealed that it plans on investing $1 billion by 2012 in a shift to make its primary business equipping buildings with solar power and other "green" technologies.
The shift in emphasis comes in the wake of Panasonic’s purchase of Sanyo Electric Co., which has already invested heavily in energy storage and solar technologies, and will be combined with systems that Panasonic has already invented.
Sanyo is currently offering electric homes that contain solar panels and lithium-ion batteries for the provision of backup power on the Japanese market. Panasonic envisions new technology that will let consumers monitor their electricity use in the home via a data display on their television sets. The system would be able to connect and monitor all of the appliances in a home. The company feels that these technologies should be able to reduce energy consumption in the home by 30 - 50%.
