This year, we're incredibly thankful for all the support and enthusiasm from our wonderful readers. (Yes, we’re talking about you.)
We're also thankful for gadgets that make it easier for us to live greener. For example, we're grateful for the Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Meter, which came to us courtesy of Current Energy.
The Kill A Watt is a nifty device that lets you measure how much energy your refrigerator, computer, microwave, lamp, stereo, TV and other appliances use.
You just plug the Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Meter into an outlet, then plug the appliance into the Kill A Watt. The LCD display can display power consumption in volts, amps, kilowatt hours (kWh) or watts.
If you know the rate your utility company charges for energy (usually expressed in kilowatt hours), the Kill A Watt will even tell you how much your appliance costs to run.
In our line of work, the Kill A Watt is invaluable for measuring the accuracy of manufacturer claims. In fact, we've been using the Kill A Watt to test the energy efficiency of appliances like the Sharp Air Purifier KC-C150U or the Blueair ECO10 (two of the air purifiers we'll be featuring during next week's special 1GreenProduct.com Air Purification Week!)
We plan on employing the Kill A Watt regularly as a way of verifying that the products we profile really do help you make your home more energy efficient.
Of course, we won't have a chance to test all the products you already own. Therefore, you might want your own Kill A Watt to determine which appliances use the most energy, giving you the ability to make decisions about which appliances to replace if you wanted to lower your energy bill (and shrink your eco footprint).
Although you can leave the Kill A Watt plugged in to measure average energy usage and costs over time, we suspect you'll often get a good idea of energy usage just by plugging your appliance into the Kill A Watt for a few minutes. So why not lend the Kill A Watt to your friends and neighbors? There's no reason why 3, 5 or 10 households couldn't all benefit from a single Kill A Watt device.
In terms of gripes, we did find the instruction pamphlet slightly confusing. We also wish the Kill A Watt were made in the USA, to reduce the pollution costs associated with shipping from its Chinese manufacturer. And wouldn't it make sense if a device intended to help people live greener lives could incorporate a bit of recycled plastic into the design of the device itself (as with the HP Deskjet D2545)?
Enough grumbling. What did we find in testing the 1GreenProduct.com household? Here's how our appliances stacked up according to the Kill A Watt:
- Fan = 36-43 watts (depending on fan speed. Interestingly, the top speed uses almost the same energy as the lowest speed...)
- 20-inch CRT TV = fluctuates around 70 watts
- DVD = 12-15 watts
- Treadmill = 107 watts (at 2 miles per hour)
- Lamp with 60-watt ncandescent bulb turned on = 61 watts
- Lamp with 13-watt CFL bulb turned on =14 watts
- Sharp air purifier (low setting) = 5 watts!
- Sharp air purifier (high setting) = 75 watts
- Blueair air purifier (low setting) = 6 watts
- Blueair air purifier (high setting) = just 10-11 watts!
- Toshiba 15-inch laptop = 27 watts
- Compaq desktop (Presario 6000) = 70-109 watts, depending on what the processor is doing
- 17-inch LCD monitor =32 watts
Incidentally, based on these tests, it seems that a laptop is a much more energy efficient choice than a desktop and monitor. Even taking into account the fact that we were testing an old desktop computer and that desktop efficiency has improved, we still ended up using a minimum of around 100 watts for the desktop and monitor combined versus 27 watts for the laptop. (Naturally the equation changes if you're using a desktop like the 11-watt Zonbu Desktop Mini...)
Where to buy:
A Google search will reveal lots of places to buy the Kill A Watt. We obtained our sample unit thanks to the generosity of Current Energy, a Dallas-based company that operates what it calls the world's first energy efficiency store™.
You can order the Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Meter ($56)- along with lots of other nifty energy efficient products, through Current Energy's online store.
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