Jan 20, 2009

More on the importance of convenience

Here is another quick comment on inconvenience and barriers to innovation. Murray Hill of Saskatoon writes in today's Ottawa Citizen about a new device, Kill A Watt EZ from P3, that tells you precisely how much electricity your appliance uses and how much it will cost to run.

Having a simple display of how much energy you use at any given time is a very powerful tool to encourage energy conservation and behavior change. But the two barriers he notes are that “the display is it difficult to see unless you use an extension cord, and that it's difficult to find in stores.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Black and Decker makes a similar device that monitors your power meter and gives you the ability to monitor your power consumption in real time.

http://www.blackanddecker.com/Energy/products.aspx

It can be programmed to give kWh or $/hr.

It is available at Canadian Tire for $99.99. (Product #52-8806-2)