Home power monitors

[rjacob]

I ran across this article:
The Publican - Home - Mark Daniels: Hypermiling my electricity bill

Does anybody have experience with these home power monitors? I found one made by Black And Decker:
Black & Decker Power Monitor - VES Energy Store

They sound sort of like a scangauge for your home.

[mtgeekman]

There seem to be quite a few of these. I have been looking for one to use at my house.

this is the one I am leaning towards at the moment. though the 5000 series sounds nice, just not out yet...

T.E.D. : TED Details, Electricity Conservation, Home Energy Monitor, electricity monitor

[Frank Lee]

I just unplugged and shut stuff off.

[NiHaoMike]

I found that the Kill-a-Watt is a very good one to start with.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by NiHaoMike

I found that the Kill-a-Watt is a very good one to start with.

Seconded. Great for spot-checking usage.

[Snax]

The Kill-a-Watt is a terrific tool because you can easily check each device directly vs. having to figure out the change on a panel of the whole house aggregate use. The consumption of larger devices like water heaters, the dryer, or heat pump are easy enough to figure out, but it's the phantom loads that really add up and where most people can see some savings with minimal lifestyle changes.

[Jethro]

I was looking at a Kill-a-Watt before. Then I started reading "I saved $11 a year"
Really?! $11?! Who the hell cares? That's less than a Dollar a month!

$40 a month, sure. $40 a year.. Pass. Some things just are worth the effort.
That's the line between being smart and being a cooke (sp).

I put CFL's throughout the house, I use my LED desklamp as often as possible, and I tell my dad to learn to shut off the TV when he's not watching it... Am I going to unplug stuff to save $40 a year... NO. I'm lazy, and $40 a year just ain't worth it!

[Snax]

It really is a tool for penny pinchers.

In my case, it answered questions about how efficient my computer and Dish receivers were, arming me to upgrade to a computer with as much computing power as the previous one while using half the power. That's only a 70W difference, but with it located in the bedroom, it was a significant contributor to overheating the room in the summer.

The Dish receivers I don't know what to do with. They just keep sucking the teet of the grid no matter what - and nobody wants to sit through 5 minutes of them booting back up again, so power strips are out.

[G2TDI]

Great thread I want to follow this one.