Phantom Menace: Redux
I know I posted on this a few weeks ago, but here is a link to today’s Clean Break column in the Toronto Star about phantom loads in the home. My previous post on this issue was based on a CNET News.com article. My column takes this a bit further, adding a Canadian spin and some information from Natural Resources Canada.
If you want to listen to this via podcast, click here — you’ll find a link on the podcasting section of the Toronto Star’s site.
(FYI: Rob Hyndman forwarded this link to a product called Kill-A-Watt that can measure the watts used by individual devices and appliances. Thanks Rob! You can apparently buy a similar device at Canadian Tire stores.)
Tyler Hamilton is associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and former business columnist for the Toronto Star. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005.
January 3rd, 2006 at 2:30 pm
That link to the canadian tire online store doesn’t show anything. any ideas on a product name so i can search ?
January 3rd, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I provided the link to Canadian Tire stores as a reference, but unfortunately the company doesn’t sell those particular devices online. You have to physically go to one of their stores.
January 3rd, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Oh! Well then i’ll try and track down a kill-a-watt on ebay!
January 4th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Sorry to have lost the thread over the holidays. I originally put the note up about the Energy Meter at Canadian Tire. It is available on-line, the part number is 52-8851-2.
It is called and Indoor Energy Meter if you search.
If any users have recommendations about a different set of features let me know. There is a better version brewing…
The Kill-a-Watt is cooler, for sure, but if you want basic features at a lower price this unit is sufficient.
January 4th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Check first with your local distribution contractor, (Toronto Hydro, Woodstock Hydro, Powerstream, etc) before you purchase one, as they may have one of these available on loan as part of their Conservation and Demand Management Plan’s programs. Usually they make them available by loan from a library.
Jp