Microsoft is launching a new energy management service “Microsoft Hohm” Wednesday, an online application that will allow users to view how much power they use.
Unlike Google’s move into energy management which includes the use of smart meters, Microsoft Hohm is a online service that provides energy saving advice based on user input. Users enter details about their appliances, and the software tells them way to how save energy and lower their bills.
According to details due to be published on other sites (but not live at the time of writing),
Hohm’s recommendations range widely — from the simple “turn down the thermostat” to the less obvious “caulk windows to remove air leaks.” To do this, it takes into think square footage), etc. If users don’t want to go to the trouble of providing all of this data themselves, Hohm provides a set of recommendations based on national and regional averages that customers can tailor to their own situations.
There’s also said to be some social aspects to the application, with users being able to compare energy consumption.
The link isn’t live at the time of writing, but you should be able to access Hohm sometime Wednesday US time here . Demo video as follows:
