Comments on: Microsoft dials Hohm to cut home energy use

Microsoft gets into the smart grid starting at home with a Web application that gives consumers information and tips for saving electricity and natural gas.

[mjconver]

I wonder how the guys at Ho Hung Ming Enterprises( www.hohm.com ) are going to deal with the traffic?

[becee]

Awesome ... let me line up to give more personal information to Microsoft! They're such stewards of privacy. Better yet, why doesn't my utility company just give it to them without me having to do anything?

[monkeyfun14]

Think about it for a minute here.

You give your social security number to every utility to sign up for and are required to give it to the support rep when you call in.

And your worried about Microsoft knowing how much power you use? What possible damage could be done with that.

Running out of reasons to ***** it appears.

[dbargen]

Color me mildly paranoid, but with the recent appointments of energy czars, and the current admin's penchant for efforts like "killing the coal industry," having all of the stats on my energy usage in one place and having those stats "phone home" sound waaay too big-brother-ish to me. Californians' household meters that phone home to the utility companies and let them control energy flow directly were the first step on what could be a repressive control.

"Households willing to participate in efficiency programs to utilities" may extend to those that don't four "our own good," as I've heard some advocates say. Outside of places like Cali, I don't see any state gov'ts being capable of this yet, but it may be wise not to help the process along, hmm?

[Techno Guy]

As a consumer, I think the ability to monitor my utility usage and cost in real time would be a tremendous option. And if this ability could be taken a step further so that I could adjust my thermostat from the desktop, or monitor particular appliances for declining energy efficiency (possibly indicating impending end-of-life), that would give me information and control that would allow me greater savvy as an energy consumer. But the elephant in the room is the ability of a government agency or a public utility to take that same data and dictate to me what I can and cannot do within the walls of my own home. It appears that these technologies are being developed with the benefits to the consumer as the public selling point, but are also designed to give utility companies or government agencies the foot in the door they need to regulate yet another aspect of individual freedom.

[BogusBasin]

Mom! The power went out again. Don't worry Billy, it's just a virus. Just boot up in Safe mode and reinstall!

Amen

[amarkj]

All this does is import your data from utilities (or you manually do it) to analyze it. Stupid comments about virus cause Microsoft released this tool show how much you read the story.

[monkeyfun14]

Who agrees a intelligence test should be added to registration on all websites.

[BogusBasin]

Wow. Try to inject a bit of humor and get attacked by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Don't you guys have a registry to edit or something? Sheesh.

Amen

[monkeyfun14]

@BogusBasin

I'm not sure don't you have permissions to repair?

[BogusBasin]

@monkeyfun - Oooh, burn!

Amen

[TV James]

Eh. Microsoft will decent audience of people who pay to use the service, then become bored with it and shut it down.

[monkeyfun14]

Eh how many times have they did that?

[The_Facts]

To the big brother comments,

Do you really not think that big brother does not know what your are paying for energy already? They already do!!!

Now, on this topic, do "big brother" really care if you have an energy efficient appliant or you know how to save energy. No, they could not careless, they care about your TOTAL consumption to see what is that you maybe doing, maybe something illegal... They already monitor that.

Let's be realistic, there is a line between losing your freedom and just a simple way to monitor your own energy consumption.

[juno0716]

Great, one big step for Microsoft, and one disastrous mistake for mankind. Now, Microsoft can help the government control the temperature in your home - how quaint and how efficient! Wake up people -- do you want the government telling you how warm or cold your house can be? ... all in the name of a phony hoax called global warming! This is a man-made hoax that has been designed fromt he ground up to fatten the wallets of Al Gore, Nancy Peolsi, and their buds (look at all the boards they sit on - and they are in a position to create legislation that inures to their benefit) , and to make you pay more for your every day goods and services, because if they actually taxed you via the federal government, they know you would rebel; but if they can slip it into everything else you do, they can blame it on the energy companies (who naturally are going to pass on increases to themselves onto consumers) they escape the 'heat' - pardon the pun. Energy prices are going to absolutely skyrocket when our legislators try to quietly slip in cap and trade in the next few weeks (they are welcoming the current Iran deflection). Global warming is another name for global redistribution of wealth. I lived through the 70's and by god it's all happening again (and we didn't all die from all the environmental hazards that were predicted to kill us in less than 10 years back then). This adminstration is capturing control of all facets of your life with blinding speed - banking, energy, education, healthcare... before you know it you'll be marching around in brown shirts doing forced community service for ACORN, reporting your neighbors for burning wood in their fireplaces to keep warm, and you'll be restricted from using your home computer (thereby educating yourself) under the guise of reducing your personal energy consumption. This administration is our worst nightmare - shake yourself awake from it, and remove them from office.

[fdunn3]

Please educate yourself on the subjects you are going to rant about.

Seen any UFOs lately? How about bigfoot?

Make sure your tin foil cap is on tight so they can't inject thoughts or read them.

As I remember it the last administration was left a budget surplus but by the time Dick and Bush were through looting the treasury and starting up conflicts that only fed their financial interests we were deep in the hole.
The economic meltdown happened on their watch. The current administration is just trying to fix what they broke.

For a paranoid such as yourself you are less prone to "Big Brother" now than before the new administration, but I don't expect you to understand that so that's OK. Just go back to your phonics, multiplication tables, and in particular your history lessons.

[juno0716]

fdunn - I don't think the last administration did us any favors either -- but this is about energy and government getting more control over your daily activities. It is all being done under the premise that it is good for the planet - when the planet has done just fine for millions and millions of years and has cycles that go far beyond anything we can contemplate. The polar ice caps on Mars are melting too, is it because Martians are driving SUVs? I am all for not overconsuming or abuse of resources without good reason, but energy usage, and other costs are regulated by the market - when the price of something you want goes up, you use it less or you sacrifice other things to have it. We can control our own environment to an extent, but we can't control China, India or South America. They are allowed to rapidly industrialize because they are 'emerging nations' so are rapidly becoming consumers in competition for resources. In less than 10 years, Chinese will be driving more gasoline based cars than we do in the US. If the global climate is indeed global, how is reducing consumption only in the US going to be anything other than a drop in the bucket? It forces US citizens to reduce consumption and pay more to afford the rest of the world 'catch up time'. This isn't about trying to fix anything that is broken, this is about a power grab and about finding ways to increase government coffers without actually calling it a tax. . Wny do you think Congress and the President are ramming bills around healtcare, energy, communication, etc. through so rapidly without reading them - creating false emergencies and panic to get it done? If they can't take the time to read a bill, we don't need it. Is it too much for you to wrap your brain around the fact that the constitution and our founders did not contemplate government controlling every aspect of your daily existence down to your lighting and whether you use one sheet of TP or ten? When you start paying extra for your groceries, gas, your electricity, adn everything in your life that takes energy and/or oil to produce (which is everything)-- the scales may fall from your eyes - so instead of cap & trade - learn about the cap and ball routine, because that is what this is.