Gadget Reviews
OWL Home Energy Monitor
Price: £34.95
Available from: TheOwl.com
The OWL Wireless Home Energy Monitor is a bit of a mouthfull so we'll just call it the OWL from now on!
This handy little gadget has one primary function - to help you reduce the amount of electricity you use in your home by showing you in real time just how much you're using - in both Kwh units and pounds.
Installation is as easy as fitting a couple of batteries which are supplied and clipping a sensor onto a wire at your electricity meter. After that the sensor will start transmitting consumption usage to your display unit which can be placed pretty much anywhere in the house.
Most people will have seen the adverts in which people with devices similar to this get ridiculously excited about turning lights on and off to see how much money they could save - and probably thought that it couldn't be anywhere near as thrilling. Well as we found out - actually it is!
The display readout is easy to see and makes it clear to understand just what is happening to your electricity supply.
There's also a handy gadget that reads the signals from the sensor available seperately for your computer. It's called the USB Connect and costs just £17.95. Connect it to your computer and you can start to collate information in a graphical form, comparing electricity usage weekly or monthly and allowing you to view real time usage.
We weren't entirely convinced that installing the OWL would make any difference but been able to see in real time how much electricity you're using and how much it's costing you really does encourage you to remember to turn appliances off.
