Power Nerd

My most recent obsession is energy conservation. I had some time on my hands over Christmas Break so I took a couple of steps to save a kilowatt or two.

First, I bought some Warm Window fabric to make an insulated shade for the window in my drafty dining room. Skill level required: moderate. Must know how to convert inches into fractions of a yard (to speak fabric-store-lady talk) and know how to use a sewing machine. I, fortunately have both of those skills. I'm nearly done, but still have the tedious tasks of sewing on 27 little plastic rings by hand and getting my spouse to help attach it to the wall.

Second, I learned about two cool things (which both arrived today): the Kill a Watt, and the Smart Strip. The Kill a Watt lets you plug in your toaster or TV or hand lotion warmer into it then you plug it into the wall and it gives you a readout of how much energy it uses. The power strip is a Surge protector that has some designated outlets that will shut off when it recognizes that the appliance plugged into it has been unused for a while. It should work for Computer peripherals, like the scanner, the printer and lamp. Skill level required: Low. Read Directions, plug in. Not so hard.