Dollars per watt: Black & Decker's home energy monitors help save power, money
by Sarah Fazio | 10.22.08


WHAT'S HAPPENING
  • Cutting back on household energy use can feel like a full-time job. Reminders to turn off the lights, turn down the heat and unplug gadgets when not in use only go so far. Now there's back-up with three new energy-use monitoring tools from Black & Decker: Power Monitor, Lights Out Autoswitch and Thermal Leak Detector.
  • Consumers enter utility cost info into the Power Monitor then it wirelessly syncs with the electricity meter and translates real-time energy use into dollars (TreeHugger.com, 10.2.08).
  • The Lights Out Autoswitch is a motion sensor that attaches to any standard light switch and turns on and off based on room activity.
  • The Thermal Leak Detector is a hand-held sensor that seeks drafty and poorly-insulated spots around the house to help consumers know where they need extra padding to keep out the cold.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
  • Carbon footprints, timed showers — more monitoring is picking up in green households. Motivations may include savvy savings, old-fashioned conservationism and even eco-bragging rights.
  • Whatever factors are driving the Calculation is the New Conservation behavior, tools that help figure savings are expected to be accurate, reliable, and of course, sustainably sourced and produced.
RESOURCES
Black & Decker's Energy Saver Series tools start at $99.