Saving energy at home

Yes, we know you’d like to have photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of your home. After all, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and Owen Wilson have them; why shouldn’t you?

Two reasons: First, odds are good that, even with state incentives, you can’t afford them. Second, before you think about adding any more energy to your home system, you should take some away, through energy conservation. Power down the 71-inch plasma TV, unplug the beer fridge out in the garage and give a second thought to that 48-jet home spa you’ve always wanted — you know, the one with the underwater lights that change color?

America consumes more electricity than any other country in the world, and changing that dubious achievement starts with you. To find out where to start saving energy at home, call your local library and see if they have a Kill A Watt available for loan (if they don’t, ask them to get one). Simply plug the remote-control-sized unit into any wall receptacle. Then plug any appliance or gadget into the Kill A Watt, and see how much juice it sucks — even when the device is switched off. Try a cell-phone charger, a hair dryer, a rice cooker. It’s an eye-opener.

Since we generate roughly half our household energy by burning coal — a leading contributor to the global climate emergency — it’s easy to make a difference just by yanking a few cords. And it costs you less than nothing; you actually save money by using less energy.

The Eco-Bee Smart Thermostat (about $385) is probably the world’s most intuitive programmable thermostat; tap your way through the bright color LCD screen to create programs and check conditions in your home. Connect it to your home’s wireless router and you can tweak home heating and cooling from any Web browser, anywhere. It will even send you an email if something suddenly goes amiss with your system, like say, if your furnace fails in the middle of winter while you’re not at home.