Green for less: Fun, easy devices to to monitor your energy

Why is it important to read your home energy levels? When you know how much you're using, you're much more likely to conserve. A variety of gadgets out in the market now make it incredibly simple to read your energy use.

Knowing exactly where your energy dollars are spent will help remind you to turn off and unplug your computer at night (don't just put it to sleep), turn off the lights when you're not in a room, and keep that refrigerator door shut close. That's money in the bank. Invest once in a monitoring device and watch as the savings roll in. Here are a few of our favorite devices.

TED's Energy Detective is an easy solution for measuring everything in your house, to find out what is eating away at your energy bill. You can order a simple package for $145, and for $190 you'll have included their Footprints software if you want to log in real-time your energy use on to your computer.