 The Boston Globe article: The phantom menace talks about the energy wasted by items that are turned off, but still drawing power. Individually, none of these turned-off devices use much power. But together they represent an estimated 2 to 8 percent of a home's electricity usage. For someone in the Boston area with a 6 percent phantom load, that's more than $5 a month, or $60 a year. The article then goes on to mention a very interested device: Before touring the home, Stack attached a PowerCost Monitor device to the outside electric meter. The battery-powered device, which NStar customers can buy for $29.95 from Blue Line Innovations (bluelineinnovations.com), transmits data to an in-house monitor that tells the Hebards how much electricity they are currently using, both in terms of kilowatts and cents per hour.
At the Hebard home, the monitor fluctuated quite a bit as Stack made his way through the house turning on and off appliances and lights.
During the half-hour period, the price went as high as 45 cents an hour, when everything was turned on, and as low as 16 cents an hour. Real time information on how much you are spending on electricity?!? Oh, I have got to get me one of those!Labels: Saving Energy, Saving Money |
I have a Kill-a-Watt that I use to spot check my appliances and gadgets.