New Energy-Saving Gadgets from CES

The company has two new gadgets for managing energy consumption: The advanced wireless appliance manager, which can wirelessly monitor up to eight home appliances, providing a reading of real-time cost, power use and carbon emissions; and the individual appliance manager, into which a single appliance is plugged, producing comparison readings of cost and energy use at different times of the day.

Ironically (it seems), the other product debuting this week from Oregon Scientific is an alarm clock called the i.wakeup Sunrise Clock, which is meant to mimic the gradual arrival of day, even if you have to wake up while it's still dark out. The clock has a large light mounted on top, which "gradually increases illumination with a 300-lux light to simulate a natural sunrise." This seems like it might belong in the Totally Unnecessary Objects category, given that the sun has been providing this service since the dawn of time. However, for those with severe Seasonal Affective Disorder, perhaps this thing can be an antidote.