Hey Guys, Month after month I research and try to find new ways to save energy, and somehow my bill still gets higher. I realized I don't really have much of a clue of which lights and appliances are costing me the most money each month and am starting to look for ways to do this affordably. I've looked at buying a KiloWatt to measure each device, but it seems like a lot of work, and only gives me an estimate of what each device costs me a month. Then I came across this Kickstarter project, Zuli, which looked really cool (http://kck.st/1cZEVdF). It seems like they monitor the energy data over time for the month, so when I get my bill I can see exactly where it was spent. Also, what I thought was really cool, was that if my kids leave the lights or TV on (which happens daily), it will automatically shut them off for me when I leave. I've really only started my search, but I wanted to get some thoughts on this or other products that you think might work for me. I'm thinking about buying a 10-pack of these Zuli plugs (only $400), but if other people know of other ways I'd love to hear about them. Thanks! Keith

There was a device that monitored energy use for the entire house, and by looking at both wattage and power factor patterns, it is supposedly able to figure out what devices are in use.

There are systems that employ ring transformers at the circuit breaker box to measure current in each circuit. They can be as detailed or general as you want.

Check out the TED Pro system for energy monitoring. I have a 2 circuit TED 5000 that I have monitoring both my panels to give me total power consumption for the entire home, and I have a TED Pro with the Spyder so I can monitor another 9 circuits (Heat pumps x 2, Water heaters x 2, etc.)

http://www.theenergydetective.com/prohome

I can add a vote for the energy detective system (TED) ( there is a good video here about it http://www.gogeteco.com/the-energy-detective-ted/ ). Even though the TED is a good system for monitoring energy usage if you are going to spent $400 and you really just want to make sure stuff is turned off when no one is there you could use WeMo products (wifi connected outlets http://amzn.to/1WHkYPX) - these basically do the same things as the Zuli products you mentioned but use WiFi

Or this, only $13 per circuit.

Interesting--only $10 per 20 A circuit, and it looks like it has higher resolution than the kill-a-watt meter, as well as the capability for 240 as well as 120. I might put one on my water heater.

I decided that I had to have the data go into a computer, so I ordered this one.

So how do they work and how are they wired in? (the one with data going to the computer)