For most people the idea of saving money each month simply through careful electricity planning without needing to invest lots of extra money in costly eco-friendly gadgets that reduce overall energy usage is a major goal. To satisfy this need a number of utility companies throughout the world have been actively developing various “smart meter” tools that home users can implement in order to better watch their energy consumption and monitor output over a wide area. Tenrehte Technologies, on the other hand, have been focusing on a more home-owner friendly device that can be installed and monitored from anywhere and can easily be used to both monitor and control power levels no matter where the user is in the world.

Enter the Picowatt: a small, Wi-Fi powered device that fits over any plug and can grant the user complete access to both their historical energy usage as well as power consumption by hooking into your home network and making your information available to you online – complete with the ability to control the power output no matter where you may be. The device utilized a Linux based system and can directly connect to any home PC or even Facebook and allows users to easily check on their home’s energy usage as well as remotely turn off the power flow to any device connected to it through the simply click of a mouse.

Aside from the overall peace of mind the Picowatt can offer home owners by removing the constant worry of “did I turn off the coffee maker?” or some similar concern when you leave for a trip, the Picowatt can even help remotely control power consumption from major appliances that continue to draw power even when on standby mode. This is particularly important for things such as televisions or computers that, while it’s true have a significantly lower energy usage when not actively being used, still pose a risk to your electric bills if they’re not disconnected entirely from your home’s power grid and will regularly rack up the electricity costs even if you’re nowhere near your home.

For those interested in the device the company is looking at rolling out production and making it available to consumers commercially starting in April and it should retail for around $79, much cheaper than many alternative energy saving devices discussed to date, and its added flexibility to allow access no matter where an owner is in the world is sure to appeal to both busy home owners and professionals alike.

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