Three former workers from Amazon.com, Microsoft and aQuantive are working on a new startup company called Evoworx to help people reduce energy use in the home.

Backed with less than $500,000 in angel financing, the team includes former Microsoft program manager Aaron Goldfeder and former Amazon.com and Pelago developer Leo Shklovskii. Co-founder Karl Siebrecht, the former president of aQuantive's Atlas unit, serves as chairman.

What do a bunch of software and digital media geeks know about residential energy efficiency? 

"We're passionate about software and we looked at this and said: 'Wow, it is a classic industry that can benefit from Internet scale technology," said Goldfeder, who previously spent six years at Microsoft working on Internet Explorer and other products. Shklovskii said they are trying to help home owners answer two basic questions: "How do I reduce my energy bill and how do I make my home more energy efficient?"

The software heritage could serve the company well. But even so, Goldfeder said they will need to tap the knowledge of experts in the energy/utility business if they are going to succeed.

"Our company team building philosophy is to marry those two sets of DNA," said Goldfeder, referring to software and energy efficiency.

Goldfeder said they've already started working with some people in the energy field, though he declined to elaborate.  The company's investor group includes two members from the Northwest Energy Angels, but he wouldn't name them.

They aren't sharing many details about the business at this point, though they are providing some of the technology framework for the Efficiency First Web site. That organization is trying to retrofit homes in order to make them more energy efficient, utilizing new weatherization and heating and air conditioning systems.

There's a lot of work to be done. Goldfeder said that most Americans know how many miles per gallon their cars achieve, but have little idea whether their homes are operating in an efficient manner.

And Evoworx isn't the only technology company looking to tap into this market. Earlier this month, Google announced plans to introduce a new Web site that monitor's home energy use.

Evoworx plans to formally launch its service under a new name later this Spring.