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 tools on the other hand are similar regardless of the motivation of the single user. A computer power management software like Edison can aid the user in the process. Edison basically allows a user to set power saving profiles for work and off-work hours on a computer system.

Three parameters can be defined for both work time and non-work time that have been taken directly from the Power Options of the Windows Control Panel

The user can define the time in minutes to turn off the display, power down the connected hard drives and to suspend the computer. Edison will display an estimated annual saving which is divided into money, energy and CO2. The problem with those figures is that they calculate the savings by taking the average PC usage per year into account. Users who work more or less will see different results as will users who work with a high-end computer system or low end system.

The figures can therefor only be seen as a guideline. It is possible to change the price per kWh but not the average work time per day which is rather unfortunate.

A slider is available on top that can be used to configure the program. Experienced users can also enter the values manually.

Edison is an interesting application as it visualizes the abstract power saving concept. It might make more sense for most users to simply adjust the power saving settings in the Control Panel.

Users who are serious about saving energy might want to invest money in an energy monitor that is connected between power source and computer. They might also be interested in the articles: Saving Energy With All Off, Create Video Card Profiles To Save Power And Reduce Noise and 80 Plus Power Supply Units.

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The computer will not shutdown automatically usually unless the software offers the means to initiate the shutdown. Enter All Off which is a small software program that can shutdown a computer automatically under certain circumstances.

It monitors mouse, keyboard and cpu activity and will initiate a shutdown if there has not been activity for over 600 seconds. All parameters can be changed in the options to suite the needs of the user.

It is for instance possible to change the no activity time to a value between 5 and 1800 seconds, the cpu load from 5 to a value between 1 and 30 or the cpu threshold to a value between 5 and 50.

The very same menu provides the options to determine the shut down type. Available are Power Off, Hibernate, Monitor, Reboot, Shutdown or Standby.

Another interesting possibility is the option to use the software on remote computers. All Off can be installed as a Slave on the remote computers so that they can be monitored over a network or the Internet.

The application is free for personal use. The developer requires a registration on his website though.

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Local Cooling [via Shell Extension City (You guys rock)]is not applying magic however. All it does is offer the user easy access to energy saving options that can also be accessed in Windows independently. It does however offer the user power saving modes with which he can change the mode with the click of the mouse button. Low, Medium, High and Custom power saving modes are available to choose from.

These modes change the idle time before the monitor is switched off, before hard drives spin down and the PC is shutdown. A high power saving mode turns the monitor off after 5 minutes of idle time while a low one after 15 minutes.

The custom setting accepts any values and can increase or decrease the idle time before the power saving mode kicks in.

The question that I have been asking myself however was why someone would need Local Cooling at all. I mean, the settings are available right in the Windows Control Panel, right ?

I have two possible answers for you. The first is accessibility. You start Local Cooling and all you need to do is press one button and you are saving energy. That’s better than locating those power saving options somewhere in the Windows options, if you know that such settings exist.

The second answer is the community effect. If you known Seti or Folding at home you know that you can create groups and compare what your computer / group has achieved against others who participate. You can do the same with Local Cooling.

It is possible to create or join a group and check your stats online and how they compare to other users. You could create a group for your school, workplace or University and see how it compares against the other groups.

Oh, there is one last element that users will like. It details the Savings on your PC in saved trees, galllons and kWh. And it made the realize that I probably could use the AMD Cool & Quiet technology to run my cpu with less power to save energy. I write and surf the web most of the time anyway.

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