Several recent Hohm blog posts have mentioned energy vampires, including Holly’s post on energy saving ideas for Father’s Day and a recent Ask the Expert piece on efficiency tips for apartment dwellers. But just what is an energy vampire?

First, some good news: no need to stock up on garlic and wooden stakes. An energy vampire is simply an appliance or electronic device—think your TV or microwave—that uses small amounts of energy 24 hours a day, even ...

Surprisingly enough, the end of December is already upon us, and we all know what that means – the holiday season. Before the noughties (lamest decade nickname ever) end, however, there are some ways for all of us to prepare our homes in these last couple of weeks leading up to the close of the decade. I present, for your enjoyment, the 12 Green Days of Christmas, or rather, 12 things you can do to be greener for Christmas.

Yes, technically, the 12 days of ...

With the economic downturn putting pressure on many people’s wallets, we have been analyzing our purchases, and trimming back on many costs we do not view as essential.  Enviromedia recently released a report showing that 82% of consumers are still purchasing eco-products, despite the economic lull.  Given the higher upfront costs of these products, why are people still choosing to buy green?  Do people now view these products as essential items?

For many people, they see the long-term savings associated ...

As you may have seen this morning, Natali Del Conte of CBS Early Show put together a great segment about Microsoft Hohm. CBS followed a family in Sacramento and tracked their use of Microsoft Hohm. The family used Hohm which provided them with custom recommendations based on their home's appliances and family habits. They were surprised to learn that their refrigerator in the garage is very inefficient, that they could combine laundry loads to save, and that replacing traditional light bulbs with energy efficient compact florescent ones can make a ...

Sumi Das with smart planet recently took the time to interview Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s chief environmental strategist. In this interview, Sumi engages in a descriptive conversation with Rom hitting on key points of the true power of Microsoft Hohm.

The interview starts off with a general overview and then dives into more of the complex features of Microsoft Hohm such as, user’s ability to enter in their gas, electric, and water data along with others including how home provides the ability to compare your consumption with ...

Today Seattle City Light is the first utility to announce that it is offering  customers the ability to link their electricity consumption data with Microsoft Hohm."Our customers understand that energy conservation means lower bills and less impact on our environment,” Superintendent Jorge Carrasco said. “We want to help them use less of our product by giving them the tools like Hohm to manage their energy use wisely.”

City Light was one of four launch partners when Microsoft Hohm ...

Renewable energy is a hot topic these days and one way to harness a renewable energy source at your home is through solar power. Jeremy with Puget Sound Solar walks through the installation process, types of consumers that he is encountering for solar and how Microsoft Hohm can help leverage renewable energy like solar power.

Recently I had the chance to meet Ben Kaufman owner of GreenWorks Realty for an interview. Below is a paraphrased synopsis of the interview. Let us know what your thoughts are and if you have any feedback on the interview.

Why did you focus your environmental passion on realty?

The lowest hanging fruit…the easiest thing that we can do…the biggest bang for the buck and the most effective/efficient thing that we can do is conservation, not going to ...

Watch the video below for some exciting new updates with Microsoft Hohm.

The main theme of these updates is that they come from you. Please keep your suggestions coming and we're going to do what we can to implement those ideas back into Hohm.

Thanks!

In this video Dan goes through some quick recommendation on how to fix your broken ducts in your home.