Digital Home Thoughts: Whole Home Power Monitoring With Microsoft Hohm

"The "smart grid" might not be a reality for most of us yet, but a clever combination of sensors, WiFi, and Web data provides unique feedback on your energy use. We tested the Hohm service with one of these devices, the ingenious PowerCost Monitor from Canada's Blue Line Innovations, to find out just how much you can learn from watching your home's energy use in real-time—and if that knowledge is worth the cost."

A good first step to more efficient energy usage is to get an idea of how much energy you use. There have been several tools in the past which help you do this, from an individual device like with the Kill-A-Watt, to an entire household, with the Black & Decker Power Monitor. Each of them are useful but they act like stand alone devices. Microsoft Hohm seems to be the next logical step, where information can be sent to a server and later analyzed. I live in an apartment, so Hohm seems to not be for me (The tracker attaches to your power meter) but it looks like a great way to get feedback on just how much power is being used. However, I used to live in a house, and Toronto Hydro was piloting a project with "smart meters" that allowed you to monitor your daily power consumption on their website. It was great for tracking but it did lack the real time feature. It is all a great start, though I hope that they will be able to offer a more granular service, such as a room by room, or fuse by fuse, solution.