Today Microsoft Corp unveiled its Hohm website designed and engineered to assist residential home owners in managing and better undertanding their power consumption amounts. The intention is to help people save money by conserving energy and reduce the scope of environmental impact currently taking place.

Microsoft has been promoting the technology to the energy industry for years and is now aiming it towards the home power market as the weak economy forces consumers to find ways to save money and the government prepares to mandate the use of renewables and energy efficiency to curb carbon emissions.

According to Microsoft, the Hohm website uses very complicated algorithms to analyze and sift through information provided by the participating home owners or utilities in order to help them better understand their power usage, get recommendations and save money.

Those recommendations can include the replacement of a thermostat, purchase of a new refrigerator and, ossibly in the near future, the installation of solar panels on the roof. It is estimated that consumers could save approximately 5 percent to 10 percent on their energy bills, depending on how many recommendations they follow.

Microsoft is betting the Hohm’s site will eventually money as the demand for intelligent and scalable demand-side management tools for the up and coming smart grid take hold.

To get started with Hohm, users signup and then input household information over the secure Hohm website.