Okay, it's not really education related, unless you count educating yourself. I just received my TED5000 and this thing is SWEET! My dad came over yesterday and helped me put it in. With the exception of the very scary (but relatively easy) installation in the breaker box, things went well. We did have quite a challenge getting the gateway on a circuit that was noise free. This thing really doesn't want to work if there is ANY noise on the line. If you're a geek like me, chances are there are noisy devices on every outlet in the house! Once we accomplished that, the rest of the installation went along great. The software monitors your usage in real time and maintains a history (the really useful part). I went ahead and opted for the remote display as well, and spend the rest of the night saying things like "Hey, I just discovered my computer is costing me five cents an hour!", or "Look, I can tell by the increase in kilowatts that our heat just came on!", which of course resulted in responses like "Yeah, 'cause the roaring furnace fan wasn't a dead give away.". Okay, maybe my enthusiasm went a bit too far.Today, I keep looking at my iGoogle gadget about every five minutes to see what the Powermeter is doing. Granted, it doesn't really show me updates that often, but I just can't help myself!
For $239 I feel like I got the greatest eco-geek toy ever. The best part? It's back ordered now for 3 - 6 weeks, which means I'll continue to be the only person I know that has one for a while. Geeky bragging rights are mine!
