Get a Kill-A-Watt!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
No direct benefit, but when you use the results of your measurements to help you save power, you can save a lot! Helps you find those "energy vampires" mentioned in one of the earlier posts "Go Unplugged!"

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Cost of the device is currently $16.99 on Amazon. You can easily save more than that by being more energy aware!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Electricity is a kind of a personal servant in a sense - it makes things more convenient and more comfortable for us. Perhaps "employee" would be a better word than "servant" because you have to pay the cost of using it. Sometimes it's more convenient to leave things on, not bother about turning off all the lamps, electronic piano, stereo system, etc. But once we know what those things are costing us, it is sometimes "easier" to remember!

What We’re Doing
Shannon bought this "Kill-A-Watt" meter for us several years ago. You unplug any device, plug this thing into the wall and plug the device into it instead of the wall. Then it will tell you how much power or current the device is using at any moment. If you leave it to run for awhile (like while monitoring a refrigerator) it will also keep track of how much power it uses over time (since refrigerator compressors go on and off during the day, taking more and less power). We've gone around the house measuring different gadgets, and it's very interesting to see how much power your appliances actually take - both awake AND when "sleeping". For example, our desktop computer uses almost 4x the power of the laptop we've got. Our microwave uses more power than the label on the back says it should (what's up with that???).

A Little Humor
"If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight."
— George Gobel