With winter well on its way, home energy costs will start to soar again. But maybe you don't have to get hammered again this year; Onset has unveiled the HOBO U10 Temperature Logger Kit.

It's basically a compact, battery-powered temperature recording device that allows you to view heat and air conditioning activity on your PC or Mac with the included HOBOware Lite software. All you need to do is activate the HOBO by connecting it to your computer via the included USB cable, and once it is ready, simply place it anywhere in the room you want to monitor.

Once the data has been collected by the HOBO for the preset amount of time, the software converts it into time-stamped graphs to give you an idea of when the air was running and at what time during the day. The HOBO can be placed virtually anywhere in your home, and you can set the collection time to any amount you want.

The HOBO will not only tell you when the air is on, but Onset believes it will prove to be valuable in reducing your energy costs. If the heat is running when you're not home, and you never knew it before you had the HOBO, all you need to do is change the thermostat temperature, and your costs will certainly go down.

You can have your very own HOBO U10, a USB cable, and the software from Onset's website for a nicely affordable $79.

Post by Don Reisinger