On the personal front I’ve taken the initiative to monitor our power consumption, heating and cooling use. I wanted to start monitoring our electrical use house wide, something we’ve done for years with our data centers. Who doesn’t these days with many wanting to be environmental friendly and with rising fuel costs? While the Kill A Watt is a great meter, it can only monitor a device that’s plugged into its electrical outlet. At Empowering Media we use the Kill A Watt meter to monitor a server’s power consumption before it goes into production.

What I always wanted was a method to monitor power consumption for our entire house. I found out such a product exists and is called the PowerCost Monitor. I found out about it on an “old” “Ask this Old House” episode. Simply attach the remote sensor on to your electric company’s meter and the display updates every 15-30 seconds. The setup in my case, with an analog meter, took only 15 minutes. Best of all, is you can plug in your KwH rate(s) from your power company and will tell you how much power it’s costing you up to the min. This means no surprises at the end of the month. This product is also great to determine where the big suckers of electrical use come from. If your wife complains (sorry Jeanne) about how much it costs by leaving a light on in a room, now you will know.