Wondering how much that old fridge or television is really costing you? Thanks to the Energy Trust of Oregon, now you can find out. Hood River County Library District is now checking out Kill A Watt energy monitors, donated by the Energy Trust. A Kill A Watt can be used to measure how much energy is used by your electric devices at home such as refrigerators, microwaves, computers, battery chargers, TVs, lamps, media players, game consoles and cable set-top boxes.

Patrons who check out a Kill A Watt, which can be borrowed for one week, can also use the device to measure the “phantom” energy consumed by a device when it is turned off. Even when these devices are turned off, they still draw power as they wait in standby mode.