Wind turbines are a net positive for a sustainable society, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have an environmental impact. Apart from their material requirements, those giant, spinning blades can be lethal to unsuspecting winged animals like birds and bats. Although some reports dramatically overplay wind farms’ danger to flying species, there is no denying they can unintentionally kill anywhere from two-to-six birds and four-to-seven bats per megawatt every year. That may not seem like many fatalities, but every animal counts for an endangered species.

To lower these risks, engineers are devising new ways to make wind turbines more visible and avoidable. One potential solution may involve taking a cue from some of nature’s most dangerous creatures. According to a study published in the journal Behavioral Ecology, more bats and birds will steer clear of wind turbines when their blades are painted with colors similar to animals like venomous coral snakes and poison dart frogs.

“White blades, which are the most frequently used pattern around the world, turned out to be the worst option for birds,” Johanna Mappes, a University of Helsinki environmental scientist and study co-author, said in a statement. “This suggests that a relatively simple visual change could reduce bird mortality in connection with wind power.”

To test how birds respond to various turbine designs, Mappes and her colleagues placed test subjects in front of a video screen in a controlled laboratory environment. They then played clips of wind blades with multiple color palettes spinning at different speeds. These included turbines featuring classic white blades, one blade painted black, blades with red-and-white stripes, or blades with a newly designed, biomimetic red-black-yellow pattern.

“By using a touchscreen especially designed for birds, we can use games to explore their behavior and ecology by simulating real-world scenarios, without putting the birds at risk,” explained University of Exeter ecologist and study co-author George Hancock.

In nearly every trial, the birds were far more likely to approach white blades than any of the colored options. However, the test subjects were the most avoidant of the team’s novel, biomimetic striped blades.

“We’ve known for a long time that birds change how they respond to objects with warning colors, but to see such a large effect was remarkable,” Hancock added.

There is no way to completely prevent wind turbines from ever accidentally harming or killing animals. That said, the study’s authors believe a wider industry adoption of evolutionarily inspired color schemes could be an easy, cheap way to make the technology safer. They also suggest that similar approaches be developed for other human-made avian dangers like power lines and building windows.

“If the results are repeated in practical conditions in different countries and with different bird species, it could be a significant change for the entire wind power industry,” said Mappes.

The post Birds avoid wind turbines painted like venomous snakes appeared first on Popular Science.

On April 30, a fusion company took a step that would have seemed like science fiction just five years ago. It applied to connect a 400-megawatt fusion power plant directly to the largest electricity grid in the United States. Commonwealth Fusion Systems told the regional grid operator PJM that it plans to supply fusion-generated electricity from its Virginia plant, the Fall Line Fusion Power Station, aiming to deliver power to the grid by the early 2030s.

For fifty years, fusion has been the subject of energy jokes, always said to be 30 years away. Now, that timeline is finally starting to change. Private fusion companies have raised about $9.8 billion so far. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has officially separated fusion from fission in its rules, and at least three U.S. companies are actively seeking permits or building grid-scale plants. This progress does not guarantee that commercial fusion will arrive on time.

Still, by 2026, the policy, funding, and engineering questions are no longer just theoretical. Today’s decisions will shape how the next decade of clean energy develops.

Fusion vs. Fission: Two Opposite Reactions

Both fusion and fission release energy from atomic nuclei, but they do so in opposite ways.

Fission is the reaction in every commercial nuclear plant operating today, which splits a heavy atom (typically uranium-235 or plutonium-239) into lighter fragments, releasing energy and a cascade of neutrons that sustain a chain reaction.

Fusion does the inverse: it forces two light nuclei together to form a heavier one. Most fusion designs use deuterium and tritium, both of which are isotopes of hydrogen. The reaction produces helium plus a high-energy neutron, releasing energy in the process. It is the same reaction that powers the Sun.

The practical differences are important. Fission needs a certain amount of fuel and a controlled chain reaction. If cooling fails, leftover heat can cause a meltdown, as happened at Fukushima and Three Mile Island. Fusion does not require a chain reaction or a critical mass, so it does not melt down. The plasma created by fusion reactions must be kept at about 100 to 200 million degrees Celsius for the reaction to continue. If those conditions change, the reaction stops on its own.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) found that fusion machines do not produce the kind of residual heat that requires emergency cooling. That is why, in 2023, it decided to regulate fusion as a byproduct material rather than as a power reactor.

Environmental Impacts: Where Fusion and Fission Diverge

During normal operation, neither fusion nor fission plants release carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. The main environmental concerns are about waste, managing fuel cycles, and the materials used to build each type of reactor.

Fission’s Long Tail

Spent nuclear fuel from fission reactors contains isotopes that remain hazardous for very long periods. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of roughly 24,100 years; uranium-235, about 700 million years. Cesium-137 and strontium-90 — major radiological contributors in spent fuel — have half-lives near 30 years but require shielded storage for centuries. The global inventory of spent nuclear fuel exceeds 400,000 metric tons, and no country has yet opened a permanent geological repository, although Finland’s Onkalo facility is near operational status.

Fission also requires uranium mining, milling, and enrichment. These are energy-intensive steps that affect land use, water, and create waste. After a plant is built, decades of carbon-free electricity can help balance out those early impacts, but the effects are real and mostly felt near mining communities.

Fusion’s Smaller, Shorter Footprint

A fusion reactor mainly produces helium, a valuable element, as direct waste; it is a non-toxic and non-radioactive gas. The main radiation concerns relate to two other sources: tritium, the radioactive hydrogen isotope used as fuel, and the reactor’s structural materials, which become radioactive over time as they are hit by high-energy neutrons during operation.

Tritium has a half-life of about 12.3 years. This is short for nuclear materials, but still long enough that any release into the environment is a real concern. Tritium can combine with water to form tritiated water, which living things can absorb. The main way to manage this is to contain and recycle tritium within a closed fuel loop. Reactor structures, usually made of special steels and ceramics, become radioactive during use. When removed, they generally become safe to handle within 50 to 100 years, which is much shorter than the thousands of years needed for fission waste.

Fusion also avoids the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation that comes with fission. Fusion systems do not use fissile material, so there is no uranium enrichment, no plutonium production, and no chain reaction that could be used for weapons. This is one reason the NRC decided that fusion’s risks are more like those of particle accelerators and medical isotope facilities than those of traditional nuclear plants.

The Environmental Caveats

Saying fusion is environmentally clean does not mean it has no environmental impact. There are three  concerns that anyone interested in sustainability should consider:

• Tritium is scarce. Worldwide, civilian tritium stocks are only about 25 to 30 kilograms, mostly made as a byproduct of Canada’s CANDU heavy-water fission reactors. Many of these reactors are set to retire this decade. A 1-gigawatt fusion plant would use more than 50 kilograms of tritium each year. The industry plans to make tritium inside the reactor by lining the walls with lithium, but this has never been proven to work at commercial scale.
• Lithium-6 and the Minamata problem. To breed tritium effectively, reactors need lithium enriched in the rare isotope lithium-6, which represents only about 7.6 percent of natural lithium. The old industrial process for separating it, called column exchange or COLEX, uses a lot of mercury and is now banned for new use under the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Right now, only Russia and China are thought to produce enriched lithium-6. Cleaner methods are being developed, but supply chain issues remain a real challenge.
• Neutron damage and decommissioning. The 14-MeV neutrons generated by deuterium-tritium fusion damage reactor materials more than fission neutrons do. Reactor walls and components will need to be replaced from time to time, producing low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste that must be managed. Over a plant’s lifetime, fusion produces more waste by weight than fission, but the radioactivity fades much faster.

Where Commercialization Stands in 2026

Fusion is now much more than a single lab experiment. According to the Fusion Industry Association’s 2025 Global Industry Report, there are 53 private fusion companies that have raised a total of $9.77 billion. Of that, $2.64 billion came in the 12 months ending July 2025, the second-largest yearly increase since the report started. The F4E Fusion Observatory said that by September 2025, total global private fusion funding was about $15.2 billion.

Three U.S. companies are now further along than the rest:

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (Massachusetts and Virginia)

Commonwealth, which started at MIT, is building a tokamak—a doughnut-shaped magnetic chamber—called SPARC at its Devens, Massachusetts, campus. The demonstration machine is about 75 percent finished and is expected to start operating by late 2027. If SPARC achieves net energy gain, the company plans to build the 400-megawatt Fall Line Fusion Power Station in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Google and the Italian energy company Eni have already signed agreements to buy power from that plant. An application to connect to the grid filed in April 2026 is the first step in a process that will take four to six years before approval. Without the grid connection, there’s no place for the electricity generated to go.

Helion Energy

Everett, Washington-based Helion uses a different approach called a field-reversed configuration, which aims to generate electricity directly from the fusion reaction’s magnetic field and avoids using a steam turbine. It has signed the world’s first fusion power purchase agreement, promising to deliver 50 megawatts of fusion electricity to Microsoft data centers starting in 2028. Helion began construction of the Orion plant in Malaga, Washington, in July 2025 and obtained its Conditional Use Permit from Chelan County in October 2025. Its prototype, Polaris, has reached plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius. Many see the 2028 deadline as ambitious.

Inertia Enterprises

Inertia was founded in 2024 to bring the laser-driven inertial confinement method, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility, to market. In April 2026, it announced a $450 million funding round and one of the largest public-private research partnerships in the history of DOE national labs. The company is working with LLNL to scale up the fusion-target manufacturing techniques used in NIF’s December 2022 ignition shot, which was the first lab experiment to achieve target gain by producing 3.15 megajoules of fusion energy from 2.05 megajoules of laser energy.

ITER and the International Track

ITER, an international tokamak project involving 35 countries and being built in southern France, updated itsrelease schedule in 2024. The first plasma is now expected in the mid-2030s, with operation starting in 2035 and full deuterium-tritium fusion beginning in 2039. ITER will not produce electricity, but it is still the most ambitious test site for the physics and engineering challenges that future commercial fusion plants will face.

The Regulatory Picture: Fusion Is Not Fission

In April 2023, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission unanimously voted to regulate fusion machines under 10 CFR Part 30 — the byproduct materials framework that already governs particle accelerators, medical isotope facilities, and industrial irradiators — rather than under the regime that governs fission reactors. Congress reinforced this approach in the bipartisan ADVANCE Act of 2024.

In February 2026, the NRC released its proposed rule to formalize this framework. The rule focuses on regulating tritium handling, neutron-activation products, and waste streams, instead of emergency cooling systems, because fusion machines do not create the leftover heat that fission reactors do. This is a significant policy change that addresses fusion’s real risks directly, which can speed up permitting for serious developers but also means those developers must clearly show their safety plans.

The Skeptical Case

Fusion’s commercial supporters are confident, but not everyone agrees. Daniel Jassby, who spent 25 years as a fusion researcher at Princeton’s Plasma Physics Laboratory, wrote in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that fusion plants will need a lot of support infrastructure, even when the reactor is not running. He also says they may need more workers than fission plants of similar size and could create more low- to intermediate-level waste than fission, although the waste is much less radioactive.

The Sierra Club’s 1986 policy on fusion is still in place; it raised concerns about tritium release, decommissioning costs, and whether fusion is a better investment than renewables. A more recent Sierra Club essay says things have changed enough to reconsider fusion, but questions about cost, fuel-cycle viability, and how soon fusion can be deployed are still unanswered.

Even within the industry, 83 percent of fusion companies surveyed in 2025 said securing investment remains a major challenge. They estimate they need another $77 billion to build the first commercial plants, which is about eight times the money raised so far.

What This Means for the Energy Transition

The reason to pay attention to fusion in 2026 is not that it will solve the climate crisis this decade. Solar, wind, batteries, geothermal, and existing nuclear plants are already helping, with falling costs and a 15-year head start. The real point is that the next decade’s electricity demand, driven by AI data centers, the electrification of heating and transport, and industrial decarbonization, will require a diverse mix of reliable, low-carbon sources.

If fusion works at scale, it can provide reliable electricity with low emissions over its life, create little long-lived waste, and carry a low risk of nuclear proliferation. Whether fusion makes it to the grid by 2030 depends on scientists, funding, and regulations aligning. Maybe Helion, possibly with a smaller-than-promised first delivery, will win the race. Commonwealth’s Virginia plant in the early 2030s will need its grid interconnection process to move on schedule. Other players will follow later. None of these events is a sure thing.

The post The State of Fusion Energy in 2026: Real Reactors, Real Grids, Real Caveats appeared first on Earth911.

Source: Water Resources Research

This is an authorized translation of an Eos article. 本文是Eos文章的授权翻译。

如果人类想要在太空生活，无论是在航天器里还是在火星上，首先要解决的一个问题就是如何获取水，来满足饮用、卫生需求以及为维持生命所需的植物提供水分。即便只是将水运送到近地轨道上的国际空间站（ISS），也需要花费数万美元。因此，找到在太空中高效、持久且可靠地获取和再利用水资源的方法，对于长期在太空居住至关重要。

目前的系统，比如国际空间站上的环境控制与生命支持系统（ECLSS），为闭合式水回收提供了蓝图，但它们还需要改进才能适应未来的应用。与此同时，近期的技术和科学进步正为在严苛环境下寻找、净化和管理水资源开辟新的途径。在一篇新的综述中，Olawade等人概述了地外水资源管理的现状，以及该领域的前景和挑战。

作者指出，太空水系统需要具备闭环、高效和持久耐用的特性，同时还要满足低能耗的要求。目前，ECLSS能耗过高，其效率可能也不足以满足长期任务的需求。未来建议采用的过滤和回收方法包括：利用光催化技术通过光线净化水，利用生物反应器过滤尿液和废水，利用离子交换系统去除提取水中的溶解盐和重金属，以及利用紫外线或臭氧消毒杀灭病原体。每种方法各有优缺点：例如，生物反应器中的微生物燃料电池可以发电，而光催化净化则能耗较低。

在月球或火星这样的地方获取水，要么需要从风化层中提取水，要么需要钻探冰体。如何为水回收系统提供足够的能源也是一个问题，因此开发节能系统是需要优先考虑的事项。水系统的耐久性也很重要，既要保护宇航员的安全，又要能减少繁重的维护工作。

新兴技术有望应对其中许多挑战。作者们指出两个具有巨大应用前景的领域，一是纳米技术的发展，它可用于制造定制化程度更高、过滤效果更佳且耐污染的膜材料，二是人工智能（AI）技术在水系统自主管理中的应用。(Water Resources Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR041273, 2026)

—科学撰稿人Nathaniel Scharping (@nathanielscharp)

This translation was made by Wiley. 本文翻译由Wiley提供。

Read this article on WeChat. 在微信上阅读本文。

Text © 2026. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

There are over 283 million cars cruising the United States, and over 90 percent of them are still guzzling gas. Apart from the obvious environmental problems, fuel prices also continue to skyrocket thanks to the ongoing war in Iran. The average price for gas is currently around 33 percent higher than it was before the crisis, and there is little sign that those numbers are going down anytime soon.

The strain is forcing many drives to reconsider how they get around—and they’re getting creative with it. In Georgia, a 30-year-old handyman is showing everyone how to properly adapt to uncertain times. According to a recent Reuters profile, Mali Hightower has retrofitted a discarded, bright pink Power Wheels Barbie Dream Camper with a two-gallon, one-piston engine for his shorter commuting needs.

“I drive this when I can,” Hightower said on May 19. 

To get it going, a driver simply pulls the rip cord that’s attached to the former power washer engine. At less than four-feet-tall, the Dream Camper may not be the most comfortable ride for a full-grown adult,but it’s definitely cheaper. Hightower likely still prefers driving his 1996 Mercedes-Benz convertible, but with a full tank costing him around $90 right now, he’s more than willing to use his Power Wheels alternative for errands like grocery runs.

While somewhat surreal to see at a gas pump, the DIY solution underscores a more important issue: the need for more people to divest from fossil fuel rides in favor of public transportation and electric vehicles (EVs). Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done for many people. The U.S. is dramatically underfunded when it comes to options like commuter bus routes and trains, while EVs are still out of many people’s price ranges. The Dream Barbie Camper may be one-of-a-kind right now, but there’s a good chance that similar, intentionally constructed alternatives are on the way. At least those will be able to comfortably fit the driver.

The post Handyman adapts Barbie Dream Camper to handle soaring gas prices appeared first on Popular Science.

The groundbreaking experimental aircraft known as Solar Impulse 2 has met an untimely end. According to a National Transportation Safety Board report, the completely solar-powered plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico during an autonomous test flight on May 4. While there were no injuries or fatalities, the wreck of the Solar Impulse marks an unfortunate end for one of the most impressive and inspirational planes in aviation history.

Solar Impulse was first conceptualized in 2003 by Bertrand Piccard, the grandson of Swiss deep sea pioneer Auguste Piccard and the son of Jacque Piccard, the first person to reach the Mariana Trench. Piccard never intended the vehicle for commercial use, but instead envisioned it as a way to raise awareness for sustainable energy by building the first solar-powered plane capable of circumnavigating the globe. The first iteration, Solar Impulse 1, completed its inaugural test flight in 2009 followed by multiple additional trips over the next few years.

Construction on Solar Impulse 2 began in 2011. Even with a 232-foot wingspan that made it wider than a Boeing 747, the completely carbon-fiber frame ensured the plane only weighed about 5,100 lbs, making it about as heavy as a standard SUV. The 130-cubic-foot, nonpressurized cockpit included oxygen reserves and additional environmental equipment to enable a pilot to travel long distances at a maximum altitude of 39,000 feet. According to sUAS News, a total of 17,248 photovoltaic solar cells offered a peak power output of 66 kW to four electric motors and four lithium-ion batteries weighing nearly 1,400 lbs. Basic autopilot technology also allowed its sole occupant to sleep in 20 minute intervals.

Solar Impulse 2 made history in 2016 as the first fixed-wing, entirely solar-powered plane to circumnavigate the Earth. The feat was accomplished over the course of 16.5 months, with Piccard alternating piloting duties with Foundation co-founder André Borschberg and making 17 stops along the route. Solar Impulse 2 cruised at a ground speed between 31 and 62 mph, relying on the slower pace during evening portions of the trip.

In 2019, the Solar Impulse Foundation announced the sale of Solar Impulse 2 to Skydweller Aero for an undisclosed sum. The Spanish–American company’s plans were very different from the plane’s initial purpose. Instead of focusing on its solar capabilities, Skydweller hoped to pursue its military-related surveillance potentials, which included “carrying radar, electronic optics, telecommunications devices, telephone listening, and interception systems.”

After supplying numerous modifications, Solar Impulse 2 completed its first autonomous flight in Spain in 2023. The first entirely uncrewed, autonomous flight took place at Stennis International Airport near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the following year. At the time, Skydweller also confirmed its larger goal was to develop and supply a fleet of uncrewed, solar-powered planes capable of nonstop flight at latitudes between Miami (26°N) to Rio de Janeiro (23°S). These near-continuous operations would involve military and commercial contracts, allegedly at a much lower cost than current satellite options. The overhauled flagship aircraft reportedly crashed after losing power while flying over the Gulf of Mexico on May 4.

“We learned through social media about the crash of the Skydweller solar drone,” Piccard and Borschberg wrote in a statement provided to Popular Science. “The Solar Impulse team is saddened by the loss of an important technological flagship.”

Skydweller representatives did not respond to Popular Science at the time of writing. According to the Swiss news outlet SWI, part of Solar Impulse Foundation’s original sales contract with Skydweller stipulated the aircraft would eventually return to Switzerland for installation in the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.

“Very often when we speak of protection of the environment, it’s boring,” Piccard told Popular Science in 2013. “The first airplane [had] the technology of 2007. The second airplane [had] the technology of tomorrow.”

The post World’s largest solar-powered aircraft crashes after losing power appeared first on Popular Science.

Want to save time, money, and energy all while adding convenience to your life? Something as simple as using smart plugs throughout your home can help achieve these goals.

The average U.S. household has roughly 65 devices plugged in around the clock, quietly drawing about 770 kilowatt-hours of phantom power every year, about enough to run a refrigerator for nine months. At today’s average residential electricity rate of 17.47 cents per kilowatt-hour, that’s roughly $135 a year wasted on devices nobody uses.

Smart plugs are the simplest, cheapest way to stop electricity waste. The arrival of Matter, the cross-platform smart home standard backed by Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung, and the maturing of the low-power Thread wireless protocol mean a smart plug bought today should outlast the app it shipped with and work across whatever smart home ecosystem you switch to next. This updated article covers what changed, what to look for now, and which models are worth installing in 2026.

This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item through one of these links, we receive a small commission that helps fund our work.

How Smart Plugs Work

A smart plug sits between a wall outlet and whatever you plug into it — a lamp, a coffee maker, a space heater, an entertainment center. Inside is a relay that opens or closes the circuit on command, plus a wireless radio that listens for those commands from your phone or a smart speaker. Some plugs add an energy meter that reports real-time wattage and cumulative kilowatt-hours back to the app.

Older smart plugs relied entirely on 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and the manufacturer’s cloud services, which meant a server outage or a Wi-Fi hiccup could leave you unable to turn off your lamp. Matter-certified plugs communicate locally over your home network and continue working even when the internet drops. Thread-based plugs go further, forming a self-healing mesh network in which each plugged-in device acts as a relay for the next, extending range and cutting response time, so there’s less waiting for your smart home app to make your smart home work.

In late 2022, the Connectivity Standards Alliance released Matter 1.0, an open, royalty-free standard meant to end the era of locked smart home ecosystems. Matter-certified plugs pair with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings simultaneously, and it is configured by scanning a single QR code. No brand-specific app required, no separate hub for each platform.

Matter has matured quickly. Version 1.4 added home energy management as a first-class device category and introduced certified routers and access points that double as Thread border routers. Version 1.5, published in November 2025, expanded support to cameras, soil moisture sensors, and additional energy management features. As of 2026, Thread border router certification requires Thread 1.4, which lets security credentials to be passed between platforms, so a plug added through Apple Home can also be controlled from a SmartThings hub.

A Matter plug bought in 2026 should still work in 2030, even if you switch from an Amazon Echo to a HomePod or add a SmartThings station. By contrast, a proprietary Wi-Fi plug from a brand that goes out of business or sunsets its app is a paperweight. That’s a real consideration in a category where startups have come and gone — Wink, Insteon, and others left users stranded when their cloud services shut down.

How Much Energy They Actually Save

Smart plugs save energy only when you use them deliberately. The plug itself draws roughly 1 to 2 watts of standby power, so each one adds about $1.50 a year to your bill before it does any work. That cost is recovered many times over if the plug is used to schedule, monitor, or kill standby loads.

Three smart plug features do most of the work:

1. Cutting Standby Loads

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Natural Resources Defense Council estimate that standby power — the electricity devices draw when they’re switched off but still plugged in — accounts for 5% to 10% of residential electricity use, and as much as 23% in homes packed with always-on electronics. The NRDC estimates the national wasted energy spending at about $19 billion a year, or roughly $165 to $440 per household. Older devices, gaming consoles, set-top boxes, and audio equipment are the worst offenders.

A smart plug with energy monitoring lets you spot which devices are draining power in standby and either schedule them off overnight or kill the circuit entirely. One reviewer found an old gaming console drawing 50 watts in standby mode, which costs is about $45 a year at average rates.

2. Scheduling and Off-Peak Shifting

Scheduling a coffee maker, towel warmer, or seasonal lights to run only when needed is the simplest savings case. The bigger one is shifting flexible loads — EV chargers, dehumidifiers, pool pumps — to off-peak hours when many utilities offer lower rates and the grid is running on cleaner sources. Earth911’s reporting on vampire loads walks through which household devices are worth targeting first.

3. Smart Plugs can Catch Failures Early

This is the underrated benefit. A refrigerator that suddenly draws 40% more power, a sump pump that’s cycling too often, or a freezer running 24/7 because the door seal failed will all show up in an energy-monitoring plug’s history before they show up on your utility bill. For appliances that fail gradually, the plug is a cheap diagnostic tool.

2026 Performance Standards: What to Look For

The smart plug market has consolidated around a handful of meaningful specifications. A plug bought in 2026 should meet most of these:

• UL or ETL safety certification. This is non-negotiable. Uncertified plugs from unknown brands have been linked to overheating and fires; in 2023 the CPSC announced a recall of Emporia smart plugs over electric shock hazards, and counterfeit electrical products remain a documented risk. Look for the printed UL or ETL mark on the device itself, not just the listing page.
• 15-amp / 1,800-watt rating. Standard for U.S. plugs and sufficient for nearly any single-outlet appliance. Be cautious about controlling space heaters with smart plugs, even at this rating; high-draw devices running for hours can stress the relay.
• Matter certification. Look for the Matter logo (three arrows forming a triangle) on the plug packaging.
• Real energy monitoring. Look for plugs that report actual wattage and cumulative kilowatt-hours, not estimated usage based on assumed device profiles. This is the feature that turns a smart plug into a savings tool rather than a convenience gadget.
• Local scheduling stored on the plug itself continues running when the internet drops. Cloud-only schedules don’t.
• Compact form factor. Older plugs were bulky enough to block the second outlet on a duplex receptacle. Slim designs from Kasa, TP-Link Tapo, and Eve now fit two per outlet.
• Thread support is optional but useful. Thread plugs use less power than Wi-Fi, respond faster, and strengthen your mesh as you add more. They require a Thread border router, which is built into most current Apple, Google, and Amazon hubs.

Recommended Models for 2026

These picks are organized by use case rather than ranked overall. Prices and availability checked April 2026; verify before purchase.

Best Cross-Platform Pick: Kasa KP125M

The Kasa KP125M was one of the first Matter-certified plugs with proper energy monitoring and remains the best balance of features in 2026. It works with Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, and SmartThings via Matter to track real-time and historical wattage in the Kasa app. It stores schedules locally and is compact enough to stack two in a duplex outlet. UL-certified, 15A/1800W. Around $20 per plug in 2-packs and 4-packs. The Chinese manufacturer, TP-Link, has had its U.S. market presence scrutinized for security concerns — worth considering if that’s a priority for your household.

Best for Apple Home and Thread Mesh: Eve Energy

Eve Energy (Matter) runs over Matter and Thread, joining a Thread mesh automatically to act as a router for nearby devices. Eve’s privacy posture is unusual: no cloud, no account registration, no telemetry, so you can use it without fear of digital surveillance of your home. The energy monitoring is granular enough to capture small changes in appliance behavior, and the app provides detailed cost projections. UL-certified, 15A/1800W. Premium-priced at closer to $40 per plug, but the Thread support and privacy stance justify it for households committed to a local-first smart home.

Outdoor Use: Wyze Plug Outdoor

For holiday lights, pool pumps, garden features, and string lights, the Wyze Plug Outdoor offers two independently controlled, weather-sealed outlets with energy monitoring, a built-in light sensor, and IP64 water resistance. It works with Alexa and Google Assistant, operating from -4°F to 120°F. Typically priced between $25 and $30. Note that Wyze has had several security incidents over the past few years, which is worth weighing for indoor cameras, but matters less for an outdoor plug controlling lights.

Simplest Alexa-Only Setup: Amazon Smart Plug

If your household is already deep in the Alexa ecosystem and you want zero-configuration setup, the Amazon Smart Plug pairs automatically with Echo devices and works through the Alexa app, with no separate setup required. While it provides n o energy monitoring, this Alexa-only costs around $20. The simplest option, but the least flexible if you ever switch ecosystems.

The Bigger Picture

Smart plugs are a small intervention. Cutting standby load might save a household $50 to $200 a year — meaningful, but a fraction of the savings available from more efficient HVAC, water heating, and appliance choices, which together account for the majority of residential electricity use. The case for smart plugs is less about that one number and more about the visibility they provide. Most households have no idea which devices are responsible for their bills until they get the data.

The category also has a larger-grid story. Smart plugs that can shift flexible loads to off-peak hours give utilities and grid operators tools to balance demand without building more peaker plants, particularly relevant as electrification of heating and transportation drives residential demand growth. Check out our conversation with ecobee’s Sarah Colvin, which to go deeper into how distributed smart devices are starting to function as grid resources, not just consumer conveniences.

What You Can Do

• Audit before you buy. Walk through your home with a notepad and list devices that run on standby, such as entertainment systems, gaming consoles, printers, set-top boxes, microwaves with clocks, or anything with an LED that stays lit. Those are your first smart plug candidates.
• Start with one Matter plug with energy monitoring. Use it as a diagnostic tool for a week on each of your top suspects before installing a full set. The data will tell you which loads are worth automating.
• Build schedules around the loads you actually use. A coffee maker that runs from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m., an entertainment system that powers down at midnight, and holiday lights on a sunset-to-11 p.m. window. Aim for the plug to spend most of its time off.
• Check for utility rebates. Many U.S. utilities offer rebates on energy-monitoring devices and smart home products that participate in demand-response programs. Your provider’s website or ENERGY STAR’s rebate finder is the place to start.
• Don’t put high-draw appliances on smart plugs. Space heaters, window AC units, and other devices that draw near the 15A rating for hours at a time stress the relay and pose a real fire risk. Use a hardwired smart switch or a smart breaker for those instead.
• Verify safety certification on the physical product. The UL or ETL mark should be printed on the plug itself. If it’s not, return it.

Editor’s Note: Originally written by Sandi Schwartz on March 29, 2023, this article was substantially updated in April 2026.

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