Keep tabs on energy use with Microsoft’s Hohm
By Amy Farnsworth | 06.24.09
Microsoft wants to help you lower your energy bills.
On Wednesday, the software company announced its latest program, Microsoft Hohm, an application that aims to help people monitor their electricity and natural gas consumption while providing energy-efficient solutions.
The application, which records the amount of gas and electricity consumed per month, will launch next week in the US. The name “Hohm” is derived from the electrical measuring unit “ohm.” The program was developed using licensed data from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the US Department of Energy, according to Microsoft.
To begin using Hohm, users simply create a profile. Hohm is able to assess energy consumption and provide tailored solutions by asking users questions about their home, such as when it was built and the square footage. In addition to recording the watts of energy consumed each month, Microsoft provides tips on how to save money and the environment, like caulking windows and purchasing a programmable thermostat.
Microsoft’s Hohm has also created a software development kit for utility companies, with the hopes that they will upload customers’ energy consumption data into the application. So far, four utilities have partnered with the service.
In the future, Microsoft has plans to include propane, fuel oil, and water monitoring capabilities in the program as well as expand its free service overseas.
Similar energy-monitoring programs have sprung up recently. CSM blogger Eoin O’Carroll, wrote about the launch of Google’s PowerMeter, an iGoogle widget, which requires “smart meter” hardware to measure electricity in real-time online, earlier this year.
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2. Shawn Reeves | 06.25.09
Not sure what’s more funny, the switch halfway through the article of the spelling of the subject, or the switch in Andrea’s comment, in her mind, from Microsoft to “the government.” However paranoid Andrea’s comment seems at first, I understand the underlying mistrust. What sets of bells in my head is how the Hohm web site has the tell-tale green-washing: They just couldn’t resist having a background image of green green grass, even though grass has less to do with home energy consumption than most everything else. Nothing sickens me more these days than the stereotypical “green home” site, even though I espouse the ideas printed therein. You won’t find any gratuitous fluff on my web site, although one of our logos used in signage includes wind turbines.
The article states Hohm “records the watts of energy consumed each month.”
First, it’s not watts of energy, it’s watt-hours; a watt is a joule per second, thus a watt per month is a joule per second per month, not making much sense. A watt-hour (Wh) is 3600 joules (J), a kWh being 3600000 J. This is the umpteenth time I’ve tried to correct a CSM article on this, along with other papers. Power is measured in watts (or horsepower or BTU/hour)., energy in watt-hours (or Joules or ergs or BTUs). Power is the rate of energy transfer. Only people who understand that should be allowed to report using it; not because we should discourage people from trying, but because seeing mistakes in print over and over makes the whole public less able to understand some important issues. It seems like a little detail, but, CSM, you are propagating misunderstanding.
Second, Hohm is just software, it can’t record usage, so usage either must be typed by the user or retrieved from the utility. Really, the thing is a glorified spreadsheet, as is the LBNL software.
3. KSHo | 07.07.09
@Shawn Reeves
You explanation is useless. Every single article on the internet quotes energy in kW (or worst HP). Don’t try to explain this to clueless journalists that know nothing about science. They simply don’t understand energy.
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1. andrea | 06.24.09
This is not a good idea. This is just another way for them to monitor what we do and when. And another way for them to tax us all. They make it sound so wonderful. Like go green is gonna save us. Isn’t that what they used to say about God?
an application that aims to help people monitor their electricity and natural gas consumption………………..or help the government monitor us? Hmmmm?