They are lots of benefits to using Holmes and I to help you save energy and up to 25% on your annual electricity bill. Just take a look at all these features:
- I’m really, really easy to install and set up.
- I show you how much each electrical appliance uses when you switch it on or off.
- My easy-to-read display works in all light conditions and show your home’s electricity usage in watts or cost (£ or €).
- I’m portable and wireless, so you can use me anywhere in your home1.
- My cool, contemporary design looks great whether you live in a palace or a pad.
- I show electricity use in numbers and colours, so you can also use me as a mood light.
- I use just 5 watts on average, which drops to under a watt in low power mode.
- My clever low power mode extends by months the life of my rechargeable display battery.
- I’m completely recyclable – not that you’ll want to be without me.
- I store up to 28 days of electricity use information in my internal memory.
- With my software friend holmes, I give you easy access to daily, weekly and monthly views of your home’s energy use.
- You can use me within an online community2 to swap energy-saving hints and tips.
- I can show you how much energy you’re generating.
- I can measure microgenerated electricity supplies such as solar cells or wind turbines.
- It’s simple to fit an extra sensor so I can measure your home’s electricity generation.
- I can be used in big houses and small businesses that have a three-phase (415V) electricity supply.
You can see how versatile I am, so why not find out how I work and where you can buy me.
With Michael in tow, we then proceeded to turn off each appliance in turn, one by one, noting the changes on wattson. Making use of Michael’s subtraction skills we were able to discover the power use of each appliance, which was duly noted.
This was a great way to educate Mike, and myself, on our energy use. Slowly we reduced the power down step by step until we were at a few hundred watts.
Along the way we found that our microwave cost us (well, me) £50 a year just to tell us the time, and our entertainment centre (TV, playstation dvd, hifi) cost me over £100 a year on standby.
After some time we had switched of all the appliances that we could find, but the power was still at over 100 watts. We wanted to get to zero and thought we should be, where this 100 watts was being used was a mystery. We set off again on our search and after another few minutes discovered there are some appliances we can not easily (or rather conveniently) turn off, these include burglar alarms, electric doorbells, central heating controls, cooker clock, a phone charger etc. Each one using very little but adding up.
So, we didn’t succeed in getting it to zero, the burglar and alarm and central heating being quite important things not to have switched off. We did get to less than 30W, which isn’t that bad.
Note: Please remember to turn your fridge and freezer BACK ON! I forgot to do this and lost a lot of food, as well as being in the dog house for several days.
wattson now lives in the living room, where we can keep an eye on it (or it can keep an eye on us). I normally keep the numbers turned off but colours on. It’s actually quite soothing when we have the lights low and are watching a dvd or reading.
Last thing at night or as we leave the house, we use it as a last check. A soothing blue glow is Wattson telling us ‘everything is ok’.
1 Within approximately 30 metres of the transmitter.
2 Online community is a future feature.