Like cooking with fresh herbs but no room for an herb garden in your house? Here’s a fun Hohm design project that helps you reuse bottles and grow your own herb garden. And as a bonus, you can test a few bottles of wine to find the best ‘planter’ first! You could use beer or other bottles as an alternative!

The steps are pretty easy to follow –

1. Finish off a bottle or two of your favorite wine ...

Yesterday I posted a creative video produced by Geoffrey Ladd, a student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, that demonstrated ways to reuse simple materials around the house to make trendy woman’s jewelry. For today’s design note I came across a Polish design studio emocja studio (Agnieszka Bartosiewicz & Krzysztof Ruść) that has created a ‘blop’ lamp featuring a lamp shade compiled from paint swabs. This one hit home for me since I have a couple stacks of ...

We’ve pulled together a list from the community of DIY energy saving video ideas. We’re to the point where we’re going to be executing on creating these videos and we wanted your feedback on the following items. What’s the best topic (from the list below)? Can you contribute/are you an expert that wants to be in one or multiple episodes of the video series?  What are we missing? Take a look at the list below and let us know what ...

In the following weeks we’ll be focusing on green design – making your home beautiful and respecting the environment. You’ll see tips, examples, DIY projects and resources you can use for your home design projects.

Tell us what you would like to learn about green design and we’ll try to include something for you.

To get started, think about what green design means to you. What do you hope to get out of the project and what are you ...

Just as we’re all getting used to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), a new lighting technology based on light emitting diodes (LEDs) is coming to market. Should you care? Yes – they’ll save you even more energy and money -- and LEDs don’t come with some of the drawbacks that drive people crazy about CFLs.

LEDs may seem like a new technology, but you are already surrounded by them. They are used for the little indicator lights in ...

Last November we kicked off the Welcome Hohm Video Challenge and asked you, our Hohm community, to submit a short video and/or photo showing what you've done (or would like to do) to make your home more energy efficient. The creativity and diversity of your ideas and efforts did not disappoint. Thanks to all who participated — we're truly inspired by your passion and commitment.

And now, it’s with great pleasure that we announce our winners.

First prize ...

If you've been wondering what Hohm can do for users, here's an interview with Tyler Hurst aka (@tdhurst). Tyler is a marketing and PR consultant for AVC, editor for kontaktmag, and involved with other groups such as Gangplank, a group of connected individuals and small businesses creating an economy of innovation and creativity in Phoenix, Arizona.

In this video Tyler talks about how Hohm helped him learn how he could make his home more energy efficient and ...

I’m a fan of LED lighting, but I don’t want anyone to have a bad experience with the early products that still have some drawbacks. When you shop for LED lights, keep these four factors in mind.

Remember the early days of CFLs? They were expensive, didn’t fit into regular lamps, had strange shapes, and the light they cast had that harsh fluorescent glow. Many people tried those bulbs and were turned off by them – even though ...

Reducing energy use in the home is an integral part of addressing global climate change, energy security, and green economic growth.  Energy used in the residential sector is a significant contributor to green house gas emissions (GHGs).  In California for example, homes are responsible for 14% of GHGs, 32% of the state’s electricity consumption, and 36% of its natural gas consumption.  In response to this many homeowners are taking action to save both money and energy use through energy efficiency upgrades. 

Unfortunately many people ...

When it came time to buy a new car back in 2006, my choice was clear.  The Toyota Prius was the only car at that time that provided the performance I needed and was as eco-responsible as I could get.  I knew that my top priority was sustainability and so my “green” decision was easy.

Living in California, I thought that other Prius buyers were doing it for the same reasons, but I’ve learned it’s always good to know whether you’re really as similar ...