As everything goes "green" these days it would be nice to try to do your bit in the home beyond just recycling and turning off the heating when you don't need it. A clever gadget from a little-known company in London is designed to help you do that little bit extra, by allowing you to monitor your electricity usage, and more importantly, visualise the immediate impacts of switching gadgets on and off.

Called simply Wattson, this gadget has three things going for it. It looks good, it does a useful job, and it will potentially pay for itself in a very short time. Yes it costs £150 (about €215) but one of the clever things about the Wattson is that it displays energy usage in Euros rather than in units of electricity. Switch off a light, and you'll see the effect on your energy costs immediately. Turn off the hob and the effect will be even more noticeable. Also, with its "mood light" underneath the unit, you can tell at a glance if your energy usage is conservative (cool blue) or excessive (warning red).

The unit works by communicating wirelessly with a sensor that you clip around the wire feeding your mains meter. There's no need for cutting wires or consulting an electrician, and the sensor and the main unit can communicate as long as they're within 30m of each other, allowing you to place the Wattson pretty much anywhere you want.

Additionally, if you have any renewable energy sources such as solar cells or a wind turbine, you can add an additional sensor to these and it will "credit" you for energy these sources develop.

And to keep track of your ongoing efforts to save the planet, the unit comes with Mac and PC compatible software to plot energy usage over time.

Of course Wattson is made from environmentally-friendly materials which can be easily recycled when it's reached the end of its life, and for those who can afford to splash out, a £350 (about €500) limited edition made from bamboo and acrylic is also available.

Find out more and purchase online at diykyoto.com.