Borrow a Kill-A-Watt meter and save energy

    With a rising cost of living, everyone wants to know how to save energy these days. Kill A Watt meters can help people better understand where electricity is being used – and wasted – in their homes. This spring, Efficiency Maine equipped Maine’s public libraries with Kill A Watt meters. Public libraries are great resources; they provide books, videos, music, internet access – and now – a great tool to help you conserve energy.
    Here’s how it works. Go to your local library and check out a Kill A Watt meter. When you get home, plug the meter into an outlet and then plug an appliance into the meter. Turn the appliance on, and the Kill A Watt’s digital readout will tell you how many watts the appliance is using. Ask yourself how often you use this appliance. Do you think it has a big impact on your electric bill?
    Next, find an appliance like a TV or computer. Plug the Kill A Watt into an outlet and plug the TV or DVD player into the meter. Don’t turn the appliance on. Look at the digital readout; you may notice that this machine is using several watts of energy. This is called a phantom load, and many appliances are guilty of using electricity when not in use.
    Why do appliances have phantom loads? One reason is that many of these machines have internal clocks and remote sensors.    
    So how do we squash these energy hogs? Unplug! Any appliance that has an easy-to-reach plug can have its power cut with a simple tug. What about those hard-to-reach outlets? Plug the offending appliances into a power strip, put the power strip in an easy-to-access area, and turn it “off” when you are done using it.
    These Kill A Watt meters have been in public libraries for several months now, but Efficiency Maine is starting a new program to stock school libraries with Kill A Watts too.
    Teachers who would like to take your Kill A Watt investigations a step further, can contact Maine Energy Education Program. They offer free, classroom-based, hands-on energy programs and can assist you with Service-Learning projects focused on energy efficiency. Visit www.meepnews.org for more information.
    To learn more about Efficiency Maine’s Kill A Watt program, visit www.efficiencymaine.com.
    This column was submitted by Stefany Arsenault, Assistant Director of Maine Energy Education Program. In Our Back Yard is a weekly column of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). E-mail your environmental questions to infodep@maine.gov or send them to In Our Back Yard, Maine DEP, 17 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333.