Super Eco

Photo credit: Greg_Reser at Flickr

"Turn off that light. We're saving electricity!" I repeat incessantly to my kids. But how much electricity are we saving? I really hadn't a clue until now! There is now a gadget available that can monitor and display household energy consumption in real time. This thing shows changes every time a light bulb is turned on or off, or a vampire appliance is shut off. It's accurate to 2%, which is close enough for me. Just having that display around can give a graphic representation of actual energy usage, and make everyone in the house completely aware of the impact of our habits. This is what we need so I can point out exactly how much energy we're saving.

The gadget is called T.E.D. It stands for The Energy Detective. There is an international version called Efergy. It's easy to install. It clips onto the energy line going to your meter, and the wireless display unit can go wherever you want to put it. It's programmable, so you can even calculate exactly how much money you're saving by turning off that bathroom light. The basic T.E.D. device costs about $140. How long until it pays for itself...well that's up to you. I think I'll tell my family that once we've saved enough electricity to cover the cost of the device, I'll use the savings to buy them something really great...as long as it doesn't use electricity.