J.D. at Get Rich Slowly has a review of a nifty little device that tells you how much electricity appliances draw. You can use it to calculate how much money you’d save by turning things off/unplugging them. Cool!

From J.D.’s review:

While researching this post, I learned that cable boxes are hidden power hogs. It hadn’t occurred to me to test ours, but I’ll do so tonight. (I read one report of a cable box drawing 100 watts. If you leave yours on 24/7 as we do, that’s about $100 a year!)

The Kill-a-Watt’s best feature is the ability to measure power consumption over time. If I want to see how much power the cable box really draws, for example, I can leave it plugged into the Kill-a-Watt. After a few days, I can check the cumulative power consumption in kilowatt hours and compare it to the amount of time that has elapsed. (Both of these are measured by the device.) Simple arithmetic will show me how much I’m spending to power the cable box!

This seems useful for people who need to see concrete numbers in order to motivate themselves to action, but it’s not something you’ll use all the time. Still cool, though. —MEGHANN MARCO

Review: Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor [Get Rich Slowly]

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