Peddling home energy management gear and software successfully is harder than it seems, and big companies such as Microsoft and Cisco are ditching this market. EnergyHub is staying and on Thursday announced a $14.5 million round to help it sell products and services to consumers.
Throughout 2009 and 2010, Internet companies like Microsoft, Google and even router giant Cisco launched experimental software and hardware to help building managers and home owners monitor and control their energy consumption. But now these firms are abandoning those plans. Why?
Internet giants Google and Microsoft have officially given their web-based energy management tools the Donald Trump (as in You’re Fired!), and lannounced that they would be closing them down. But there are still over a dozen options trying to tackle this difficult market.
They’re dropping like flies: the big Internet companies’ online energy tools. Last week, it was Google pulling the plug on PowerMeter, and this week, it’s RIP for Microsoft and its Hohm energy tool. Here’s my assessment of 5 reasons why Microsoft Hohm didn’t take off.
In the wake of Google pulling the plug on its energy tool PowerMeter, Microsoft says it has now killed its energy service, Hohm, too. Microsoft writes on its blog that it will discontinue its Hohm service starting on May 31, 2012.
OPower, the startup that gets homeowners to cut energy use with out in-home dashboards and gateways, is looking at home energy automation devices. What are the pros and cons of high-tech automation versus smart behavioral science?
Anticipating the roll-out of their new electrified line of cars and light-duty vans, Ford is partnering with utility Portland General Electric to make sure adequate charging infrastructure and electrical grid capacity are available in their service area.
The first wireless and web-connected gadget for Microsoft-Hohm is now available in the form of an electric meter sensor, a wireless LCD monitor and a Wi-Fi adapter. With this combo, I’m able to track my electric usage, determine my home’s carbon footprint and get green recommendations.
On Tuesday morning Microsoft is looking to kick its Hohm energy management and monitoring software aimed at consumers into a higher gear. It is announcing its first gadget partnership with Blue Line Innovations, a Canadian company that sells low cost gadgets for tracking electricity use.
Shame, guilt, and embarrassment are always good tools to change people’s behavior. This morning Microsoft added in a “score” functionality to its energy management tool Hohm which gives a Hohm score to every address entered based on how energy efficient the building is.
