14 DAY TRIAL // A consistent update to Microsoft Hohm is designed to enable environmentally conscious users to answer a simple question - ‘Am I an energy hog or an energy miser?’ The refresh is synonymous with the introduction of Hohm Scores, a new feature capable of easily letting owners of some 60 million households in the United States see just how efficient their home is in terms of energy consumption.
“The Hohm Score provides an easy way for anyone to measure their home energy efficiency, and compare it with others. It’s important to note that the average Hohm Score here in the U.S. is a failing grade,” Troy Batterberry, product unit manager of Microsoft Hohm, revealed. “Fortunately, by making some simple changes to your household, consumers can easily achieve a passing mark, and save an estimated tens of billions of dollars each and every year.”
Calculating the Hohm Score for a specific household is a complex operation, which takes into consideration a wide range of variables. First off, public-record information such as the size, age and location of a building are looked at. Hohm then moves to integrating information on weather patterns, correlating it with data related to average utility bills. Analytics licensed from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy help Microsoft calculate a home’s energy efficiency score and offer it online.
The homes’ energy use is ranked on a 1-100 scale. In this regard, home owners should aim to achieve a perfect 100/100 score, which reflects a perfect energy efficiency. The impact of improving energy efficiency can be massive. According to the Redmond company, if the 60 million homes that are currently taken into consideration for Hohm improved their scores by as little as five points, they could save in excess of $8 billion per year.
“The Hohm Score is the first step in helping us all make smarter decisions about our home energy use,” Batterberry said. “If each of the 60 million households improved their Hohm Score by five points, collectively that would equal an estimated $8 billion in savings a year.”