There’s a hip new way to save energy, and it is making waves in the UK. The Wattson is a sleek and chic device that measures a household’s energy usage in real-time and displays it in watts per hour or British Pounds per year. The system works in two parts. The first is a tool that attaches to the electric meter, measuring the current amount of electricity being used by the household. This tool then communicates wirelessly to the second, which is an attractive display placed prominently inside the house- on a kitchen counter, perhaps. This allows the occupant to see how their lifestyle affects energy use- watching it spike when the air conditioning is turned on, seeing how low it can get when the home is empty. Also, the lights underneath will turn from blue to red if the home’s energy usage is running unusually high, giving the viewer a quick look into the home’s overall energy health.

It gets even better. The Wattson records this data and, when connected to a computer, can display the usage patterns and trends over time. When connected to the internet, a Wattson user can choose to compare their usage with other Wattson users, where this data is collected in a central database. This central database allows the Wattson community to see how much energy their collective efforts have saved. Some research is being done in the UK studying 40,000 households that have the Wattson installed to see how it affects their consumption over time.

Of course there are similar (though maybe less stylish) devices that allow an individual to monitor energy usage. The Watt’s Up ($110) and Kill-A-Watt ($20) meters offer some of the same measurement features, but only measure one appliance at a time, rather than a whole household’s real-time usage. Although the Wattson’s features outpace the rest, at £125 (about $250 USD) the Wattson is more expensive than the average person may care to spend, but certainly scores bonus points for its ability to help users make the connection between their lifestyle and their energy usage.