FARMINGTON – New Kill-A-Watt Energy Detector kits circulated by libraries statewide are in hot demand.

Melanie Taylor Coombs, librarian at the Farmington Public Library, wasn’t sure what the demand for the kits would be, but after just receiving four kits Friday, Coombs already has a waiting list of patrons who want to take the kit out on loan.

Efficiency Maine, a program of the Maine Public Utilities Commission, is sending 660 Kill-A-Watt monitors to 200 libraries throughout the state for patrons to sign out along with the latest best sellers.

“Libraries do this type of thing really well,” Coombs said. “We’re accessible to the public and an inexpensive way to get as many out to as many people as we can. We also have the ability to track units.”

The Kill-A-Watt energy kit offers consumers an opportunity to measure the electricity draw of any item in their homes in an effort to cut down energy costs and assess how efficient the items are and which items are worth keeping connected.

By plugging the small unit into an outlet then plugging an appliance into the unit, the number of kilowatts needed to run the appliance can be measured. Multiplying the number of kilowatts by the electrical rate per kilowatt gives consumers the cost to use the item.

Along with the unit, the kit provides instructions and materials offering energy tips for each patron to keep when they check the kit out. Tips include reducing “phantom load,” the power drawn by appliances when they are switched off.

“We hear a lot of unhappy news these days about how energy-use costs us money and does damage to the environment,” said Sharon M. Reishus, chairwoman of Efficiency Maine. “It’s refreshing to be able to offer Mainers something which in a very fun way will help them figure out where the ‘energy thieves’ are lurking, and what to do about it.”

Efficiency Maine partnered with the Maine Library Association and started distributing kits last week. They expect all participating libraries to have them by next week. Two kits were donated by Efficiency Maine to each library that chose to participate, and larger libraries received more.

Lewiston Public Library has six copies, said Karen Jones from the library’s technical services department. By Wednesday morning, the six kits were already checked out.

Rumford Public Library has had “a surprising number of people asking about the kits,” said Susan Brooke, circulation librarian. Unfortunately, the library doesn’t have the kits but expects one to arrive next week. People can call and request it, she said.

Wilton Free Public Library received two kits Wednesday morning, said Librarian David Olsen, but he had also received a call Tuesday to see if the kits were available.

Patrons can track whether the kits are available through their local library Web sites just as they do books, said Coombs and Olsen.

Suggesting libraries allow a one week loan of the 660 kits, about 30,000 loans are possible per year, said Fred Bever from the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

“People are hungry for that knowledge. It gives them a sense of control,” he said.

Whether more kits will be available depends on how the demand compares to availability and resources, he said.