U.S. President Barrack Obama will soon outline specific details about the efficient energy rebate program, the Home Star Program, which he has recently been promoting.

Under the program, people who renovate their homes with approved energy efficient equipment would be eligible for a rebate of up to $1,500. Eligible renovations include insulation, heaters, new windows, roofing, doors, among other renovations and equipment. Consumers would receive the rebates immediately from vendors, who would later be reimbursement by the government. Special financing for projects will also be offered through the program to help consumers complete more expensive projects.

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New Apple U.S. patent applications suggest the Cupertino-based company is developing software and hardware to regulate electricity to devices around your home to help you better manage and lower your monthly hydro bill.

The Intelligent Power Monitoring patent would allow you to allocate electricity to connected devices on your computer such as printers, your iPhone, BlackBerry, and other mobile devices and peripherals that charge. According to the patent application, users would also be able to schedule power-charging times and automatically set the more energy-intensive devices to hibernate to conserve energy. The energy allocation would be handled by the Intelligent Power Communications Port (patent no. 20100007473).

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ExxonMobil today has announced a massive $600 million partnership with Synthetic Genomics Corp to explore alternative energy.

More specifically, Exxon is looking at developing fuel with second-generation photosynthetic algae, a good clean and sustainable alternative that even consumes carbon dioxide.

ExxonMobil VP of Research told the AP today, “This is not going to be easy, and there are no guarantees of success,”

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The world’s largest software-maker, Microsoft Corp., has launched Hohm, an online web-based service that lets consumers monitor their home energy consumption and rates in real-time and get related energy information.

Users who do not power their homes with a supported company can still use the service to get information about estimated total monthly energy costs for their homes, a breakdown of cost allocation, followed by a recommendations report, by simply answering a series of questions.

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Russian Prime Minister Putin has just threatened to cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine and Europe if Ukraine does not pay outstanding payments to Russia by Saturday. The threat was made during a television cabinet meeting. Russia has been in a long-standing dispute with Ukraine, alleging the country owes Russia millions.

Ukraine says it is unable to make payments after Gazprom, the Russian owned energy company, doubled the price to Ukraine over 2008 and 2007 to about $100 per 1,000 cubic meters of energy. Russia subsequently blocked gas supplies to the country and parts of Europe during the cold January winter.

Canadian energy company ShawCor has announced [PDF] strong Q4 results. The company said it earned a massive $57.3 million ($0.81 per share) Q4 profit, up from a $3.8 million ($0.06 per share) profit in Q4 2007. Q4 revenue was also up from $285.4 million to $433.9 million. ShawCor says a weaker Canadian dollar, on average 27.6% weaker, contributed to a $49 million boost in total revenue. The company finished 2008 with a net profit of $87.4 million from $149.7 million in total revenue in 2008.

Russia and china have just inked an energy deal in Beijing. Under the plan, Russia will provide 300,000 barrels of oil per day for the next 20 years to China. China in return will provide loans to two Russian companies. Russian oil producer Rosneft will get $15 billion in loans, while the Russian energy company Transneft will get $10 billion in capital. Both of the Russian companies have been struggling to gain access to capital and continue to underperform from slumping prices.

Calgary based Husky Energy, joint venture with BP Ohio, has announced Q4 2008 earnings. Operating revenue, net of royalties, were $4.7 billion in Q4, down from $4.8 billion YoY Q4. Husky earned a $232 million net profit in Q4, down materially from $1.1 billion a year before in the same period, promoting the company to cut its dividend. Production was 358,400 barrels of oil per day in Q4, down again from 367,600 in 2007 in the same period. Natural gas production was slightly down in 2008 to 263,200 daily barrels. President and CEO John Lau said 2009 will be challenging, and the company will spend less to curve costs. Husky only plans to spend about $65 million in oil sands projects in 2009 compared to $300 million in 2008.

BlackLight Inc. is a relatively new company that has invented a process that uses water to generate energy. It is based on a new chemical process of releasing the latent energy of the hydrogen atom, the BlackLight Process. The invention has enormous potential, including financial and environmental benefits as it emits no carbon emissions. The cost of 1 Kilowatt of electricity is only about $0.03, compared to about $0.06 to $0.09 for traditional energy sources. BlackLight Inc. has now announced [link is a Word document] it has licensed its patented process to Estacado Energey Services Inc. which is owned by Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative and based in New Mexico. Estacado may produce gross thermal power up to a maximum continuous capacity of 250 MW or convert this thermal power to corresponding electricity. This is definitely a company to look out for, including for an initial offering, assuming the process continues to work well on a wider scale.

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Calgary global energy oil and gas producer Nexen Inc. has just announced its 2009 budget. The company is also feeling the direct effects of the financial crisis and lower energy prices. Most notably, Nexen says it will reduce capital expenditure by 15% in 2009 but it hopes output, net of royalties, will grow approximately 10% compared to 2008 and range from 220,000 to 235,000 boe/d (250,000 to 265,000 boe/d before royalties). There is speculation Nexen is going to be acquired in the short term; possible buyers include Royal Dutch Shell, among other firms. An acquisition will help rally Nexen’s stock price significantly. Nexen stock has also been performing well over the past few months alone.