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A Kyoto in every home
A wireless transmitter that calculates energy consumption.
The number of doomsday reports about global warming seems to be rising with the same ferocity as sea levels. When wading through the bad news, it’s easy to feel powerless. The advantage of shutting down your laptop at night, say, or doing your part to save energy in other ways can seem so minimal as to be futile. How can your puny personal attempt at conservation make a difference? It’s elementary: Wattson.
Wattson measures your energy use so you can figure out how to use less. Through a wireless transmitter that plugs into your electrical system at home, Wattson calculates consumption, highlighting the areas where energy is wasted. As its name implies, the device figures usage in watts—and also in dollars, euros or pounds, if desired. Its colour-coded energy management makes goodwill practical. An increase in consumption triggers a change in colour, like a mood ring for a sustainable future. Wattson, which starts at about $300, doesn’t appeal exclusively to your ethics either. Obviously, reducing waste cuts costs in the long run. And its sleek, retro-futurist design is easy on the eye as well.
According to Greta Corke, one of the founders of Wattson’s parent company DIY KYOTO, the invention “allows individuals to set their own standards” about climate change, instead of waiting for institutions or governments. Between its high style and its economic advantages, Wattson makes your own Kyoto protocols much more attainable.
Find out more: www.diykyoto.com
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This is all beautiful, lovely, trendy and on the top of design... but, this device in itself not only consumes electricity but must also be assembled/created, and hence generates additional usage of our precious resources. Is it really so complicated to use common sense to decrease our energy consumption?
Switch off the lights you are not using (when you exit a room). Switch off the heating when you open your windows. Plug out the electricity devices from the wall while you sleep. Switch off your computer(s) at night. Don't leave devices to recharge over-night (do it only when you are awake enough to plug it out once it is fully recharged). Simply by taking these steps you cut your energy consumption. Add another appliance and you increase your electricity usage... that is simple and clear, and should be obvious even to those who only mean well with such devices.
With hope, Julia
posted by leiju on 2/12/2008 5:17 pm