The service is aimed at users from the United States as Microsoft asks for a US zip code to provide the user with data from that area in the United States. There are for example information about the average annual energy costs in the area or the energy costs breakdown.

Users who signed up for the service can start by completing their home profile which basically asks them to fill out detailed information about their home. This ranges from entering the year the home was build to its square footage, heating system and year the water heater was installed. The information are further divided into categories like doors and windows, lighting, appliances or pumps and pools all with about 5-10 questions that need to be answered. This can take some time depending mostly if the information are available next to the user or not.

The data is then linked to energy providers in the region once the information have been filled out (with the possibility to leave answers blank or use don’t know as an answer). This is a great way of comparing energy costs. Probably the most important part of the site are recommendations based on the home profile that has been created during setup.

These recommendations list improvements that can be made to the home to save energy and money. They can be filtered by name, cost or annual savings with the option to plan the improvements, set them to done and to write notes and the actual costs.

The average annual energy costs can be recalculated whenever the situation changes. Microsoft Hohm is an interesting online service for home users from the United States who want to cut their energy bills.

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Computer systems consume power. The amount of power depends on the system at hand. It can vary widely depending on the hardware build into the computer system. A high end user’s computer with the latest hardware will consume more power than an Office computer system that uses low end hardware. High end computer systems use 250 Watts or more per hour which equals 1 kWh every four hours of usage. The US average energy costs for 1 kWh are $0.11. This varies a lot in the country but also worldwide. The costs of 1 kWh in Germany average around $0.27 for example.

A computer running 24 hours a day using 100 Watts per hour will need 876 kWh a year which would equal $96 when using the US average and $236 in Germany. If the computer uses 250 Watts instead the costs would rise to 2190 kWh per year which would equal $240 in the US and $591 in Germany. Not all computer systems are running 24 hours though but it is probably good to know some maximum values. Keep in mind that energy costs are on the rise and that it will also reduce heat and noise.

1. Buy energy efficient products

Considering energy efficient products is a good way to save energy in the first place. Look for logos like the Energy Star to buy computer hardware that offers a good energy efficiency. Another good idea is to look for a 80+ power supply unit which is more energy efficient as well. (See 80 Plus Power Supply Units)

2. Use build in power saving features

Most operating systems come with power saving features that put hardware like hard drives or the computer monitor into idle mode or turn it off for the time it is not being used. Idle mode consumes between 20 to 50 times less energy. Windows users find the power saving settings in the Control Panel. It might be necessary to tweak the values for turning off the computer monitor, hard drives and setting a system standby time to suit the individual needs. A lower time will save more energy but is also likelier to affect work.

This also includes the possibility to underclock hardware. A high end video card is only needed with its full power when playing the latest computer games. It is definitely not needed in most other situations. Underclocking the video card will save energy (read create video card profiles to save power) The same is true for processors.

3. Turn down the brightness

Turning down the brightness of the computer monitor, or any other monitor actually, saves energy. This is actually a good tip for users with laptops, netbooks and other mobile devices including cell phones. It can also be helpful on desktop systems.

4. Turn off the monitor instead of using a screensaver

Screensavers do not save energy. Their function these days is reduced to visuals only. Turning off the computer monitor instead of running screensavers saves lots of energy.

5. Disable devices that are not needed

Laptops come with all sorts of devices that a user might not need. Each of the devices – if enabled – consume energy. A laptop user that uses the build in network adapter and a cable to connect to the Internet probably does not need Wi-fi, the build in modem, Bluetooth or infrared. The same might be valid for other devices like the DVD drive or sound card.

6. Turn off the computer

This might be an obvious tip but there are a few myths surrounding this. Some users think that turning off a computer will reduce its lifetime. Others believe that it will cost more power to turn the computer off and on again than to put it to hibernate mode.

It might not make sense to turn off a computer system when going on a 5 minute break but it definitely make sense for longer breaks, e.g. lunch or meetings.

7. Share hardware where appropriate

Hardware like printers, scanners or routers that are connected to a computer system are also using power. A way to save energy is to share these devices where possible. This does require some computer knowledge though.

Energy Saving Verdict: It is possible to save lots of energy by turning off devices when they are not needed. Buying energy efficient hardware and using power saving settings are the two other helpful options.

Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments.

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The test compared the on, off and idle states of the devices if applicable listing the weekly, monthly and yearly energy consumption and costs in a table. The Playstation 3 is by far the most energy hungry device in the test followed by a 42″ Plasma TV and the Xbox 360 while the Nintendo Wii consumes only a tenth of the energy the Playstation 3 needs.

I could go on but the essence, the real important information can be found when comparing the idle energy consumption with the one when the device is turned off. Lots of money can be saved by turning the devices off instead of leaving them in idle mode. The Playstation 3 for instance consumes 1655.20 Kwh per year in idle mode but only 15.53 Kwh when turned off.

It does not make much sense to turn off the gaming console the whole year to save energy but it makes perfectly sense to turn it off when no one is playing. If you want to cut all costs you simply disconnect the power supply from the device.

Someone with a Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 would pay more than $420 per year for both devices even if they would be in idle mode most of the time. Please note that you have to check the local costs of 1 Kwh and calculate the expenses this way. It could very well be that you would be paying more or less depending on the energy costs in your country.

I usually cut the power supply that powers my LCD TV, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and Xbox whenever I’m not using those devices to save energy. I do not cut the power supply on my computer though, mainly because it does not make a huge difference.

Are you saving energy, if so how ?

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