Energy saving never looked so good. This month OPC is giving away three Wattsons, the eco-chic meter which can help reduce your electricity consumption by a whopping twenty five per cent. Use it with the clever Holmes software, which converts watts into pounds and tonnes of carbon, allows you to analyse your usage over time, and share and compare your data with other users online.
To get your hands on one, just email eac@capacity.org.uk and tell us three ways you can reduce your domestic electricity bill, how a Wattson would help and how much you hope to save. We’ll select winners who show plenty of enthusiasm for energy saving and are happy to be featured as case studies by OPC and DIY Kyoto. Winners must agree to participating as a case study, including submission of an appropriate photo.  The closing date for entries is 15th February 2009.

“With the numbers going up and down constantly, it’s a beautiful feature which makes the electricity come alive. You can understand how the flow of electricity varies at different times.” Greta Corke, DIY Kyoto

The Wattson is the first product from cutting edge design group, DIY Kyoto, whose work empowers consumers to go green. Read our interview with DIY Kyoto’s Greta Corke and find out more about what makes her tick. Click here to listen to the MP3

Architect and designer William McDonough coined the phrase ‘cradle to cradle’ to describe a new design philosophy based on natural cycles and zero waste. Take a look at the wryly funny, inspirational guru outlining his approach based on ‘all children, all species, for all time’. Click here to see William McDonough on You Tube

If you want more, check out the feature length documentary about his work with Michael Braungart, narrated by Susan Sarandon.

Inspired by nature’s ingenuity, biomimicry is a design approach that yields environmental solutions to human problems. For example, passive cooling in termite mounds translates into energy efficient buildings and water repellant lotus plants give rise to non-toxic fabric finishes. Hear expert Janine Benyus explain more.

Get your own back on thoughtless relatives who bought you unimaginative tat for Christmas! The second annual Landfill Prize will be announced next month – email your nomination for Britain’s cleverest rubbish to landfill@enoughness.co.uk.

Can you better last year’s top 10 which included the mind-boggling ijoyride, an exercise machine purporting to provide ‘all the benefits and none of the cost of owning a horse’?

Milk www.milkmovie.co.uk

The third series of BBC2’s ‘It’s not easy being green’ sees the Strawbridge family putting celebrities such as Phil Tufnell to the eco-test.

The new series of Channel 4’s Dispatches kicks off with ‘The true cost of cheap food’, following two families in Leeds switching their grocery shopping to low cost supermarket and local independent stores. Airs Thurs 22 Jan and is then live for 30 days

And Radio 4’s weekly half hour strand, ‘Costing the earth’, recent programmes covered the environmental costs of golf, the health impacts of pesticides and the future of eco-cars.