If I told you that I could give you detailed instructions on how to save $1,000 or more per year, would it be worth an hour of your time? No, this is not a pitch to get you trapped in a room with time-share vultures. This is legitimate information on saving money on your energy consumption and it is 100% FREE! That’s right, thanks to a BETA service from Micorsoft called Hohm, you can begin analyzing your energy consumption and saving money almost immediately. All you have to do is invest the time and supply Hohm with the necessary information about you residence and past consumption.
Before you jump in and begin entering information, lets take a look at this service. According to the press release issued by Microsoft (June, 2009), Hohm is a “new online application that enables consumers to better understand their energy usage, get recommendations and start saving money.” Recommendations are tailored to the individual home, based on house features, usage patterns and appliance information provided by the user. As a user, you can also compare your usage to neighbors and gain access to the community of participants online to share ideas and compare savings.
Getting Started
Starting out with Hohm is very easy and you can get a quick overview of your home by simply visiting the site and typing in your address. If you want to begin using the service, you will need to provide your email address as well. I went through the entire process and here are the highlights of my hour on the web site:
First, I simply entered my address and Hohm provided me with some basic information by simply pulling from public records and other users. The information was amazingly accurate, including house size, year built and average usage.
My Hohm at a Glance
Next, I worked my way through a series of screens that asked for information about my house. Everything from number of doors to type of refrigerator needed to be entered. I also entered in all of my electricity and gas usage (thanks to information pulled from their respective web sites) so that Hohm could see what I have been paying over the last few years. *Some lucky users can simply import their usage from participating sites. My utility companies were not participating unfortunately.
Gas Usage Entered Manually
Finally, Hohm provided me with a laundry list of Savings Recommendations, broken down by annual savings and cost (both DIY and pro). From this, I can prioritize the changes I need to make and estimate initial investments. Below the recommendations chart, I was also provided with how-to videos, detailed explanations of the individual recommendations and difficulty of implementation for each.
Savings Recommendations
Verdict
While many of the items on the site are basic “cost cutting” measures that I have heard about for years, like replacing bulbs with energy efficient ones, using a programmable thermostat and buying energy efficient appliances, I was introduced to some new concepts and ideas. For instance, I didn’t know that having my air ducts professionally sealed or lowering the water temperature of my hot water heater could have such an impact. Those two items alone could save me almost $100 a year.
The main issue that most people will take from this is “why enter all of that data?” Yes, you might spend an hour or more entering the information, but it will pay off in the long run. Now, you’ll be able to measure the impact of your changes and your information will be available for national studies. If someone comes up with a great way to cut costs for a particular type of home, appliance or door type (just a few examples) you’ll have access to the information quickly and easily.
Tags: appliances, cooling, cost, Electricity, gas, heating, hohm, Home, lighting, meter, Microsoft, Savings, usage, utilities, ware heating
