For DIYers, check out this Greener Gadgets Design Competition first prize winning Enerjar. Modeling the free open source design concept, Matt Meshulam and Zach Dwiel created the downloadable DIY schematic of the Enerjar. It measures how much energy your household appliances are sucking up (vampire power) by providing a conduit between the wall outlet and your device. Materials needed include four integrated circuit chips, 12 resistors, and an LED display, and a power supply salvaged from an unused cell phone charger, and an old jam jar. There have been a few concerns over safety so read over their web site documentation, but I thought it was worth mentioning for a cheap energy (and $$) saver idea.
Interested in more green gadgets? Registration is now open for the February 27, 2009 Green Gadgets 2009 in NYC.
