Dive Summary:

• Facebook and Twitter have become tools for utilities to encourage energy conservation—and promote themselves in the process.
• Duke Energy has been using Web videos to dispense advice to customers.
• Budgets for customer energy efficiency programs increased by more than $3 billion over the last decade, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

From the article:

With temperatures hovering near a sweaty 100 degrees in recent weeks, the nation’s electric utilities have been taking to Facebook and Twitter, urging customers to conserve energy in the hopes of avoiding blackouts and other strains on the system.

At Duke Energy, the country’s largest utility after its merger with Progress Energy, the effort has included something beyond the usual messages to turn down the air-conditioner. ...