At the Edison Electric Institute conference in San Francisco yesterday, Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie announced the launch of a new online energy management software service allowing consumers to monitor and manage their own energy consumption online, writes the New York Times.
Microsoft spent the last two years quietly developing the service, which it calls Hohm, and rivals Google which has been openly discussing its yet-to-be-released online energy management software PowerMeter since February.
Microsoft's Hohm appears to be more comprehensive than Google’s PowerMeter, and will be available within the week to consumers and utilities. (PowerMeter's launch date is still unknown.) The speedy rollout is a result of the company’s decision to offer non-smart meter energy data first and incorporate smart meter data when it becomes available.
Hohm works like this: Consumers log into the Hohm site, and enter their Windows Live ID and zip code. Hohm then uses algorithms licensed from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy to start predicting home energy consumption, based on this simple location information. From there users can enter as much info as they want (answering up to 180 questions) about home size, water heater brand, etc., to make the energy prediction of their home as accurate as possible.
More detailed information will be provided when and if Microsoft partners with a utility in the area where you live. Currently Hohm is launching with Xcel Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Seattle City Light, and Puget Sound Energy, with more in the queue. Consumers who live in the footprint of one of these utilities and choose to link their utility account with Hohm can connect the systems and look back at all their historical monthly energy data. Hohm also will link up with smart meters when its partner utilities have installed them, as well as smart energy devices like dashboards, thermostats, and plugs.
Microsoft wants Hohm to be used for managing electric vehicle charging and demand-side management by 2011, and is already in talks with big auto makers about the electric vehicle-charging plan, says Troy Batterberry, Microsoft’s product unit manager of its Energy Management & Home Automation division. Microsoft has already developed software for the automotive industry.
While the initial phase of Hohm is free to consumers and utilities, Microsoft eventually plans to charge for services like utility demand management or electric vehicle charging. Google’s Powermeter, in contrast is, a free service.
For now, Hohm is offered in beta version - Microsoft wants to listen to customer feedback and fine tune the service before it moves out of that stage.
In 2007, Google unveiled its lofty ambition of making renewable energy - that is, energy from limitless resources such as solar and wind power - as cheap as coal, which is currently the cheapest but dirtiest nonrenewable resource on the planet.
