Power Strip? Smart Strip.

Generally, I never do this.  I received a package in the mail for Christmas.  It was in a standard cardboard box and I knew where it came from - Smart Home USA - and pretty much knew what was inside, but I opened it anyway - yes - five days before Christmas.  So…shhhh…I shouldn’t be opening and enjoying our new gift yet, but why not - its for conserving energy, so why not start sooner than later?

We got a Smart Strip.  If you’re down with the “movement” then you probably know what a Smart Strip is even if you don’t own one.  “Its a power strip, I get it.  What’s the big deal?”  This isn’t your ordinary power strip.

There are three main sections on your standard Smart Strip.  The blue outlet is your control (example: PC).  The red outlets are your “always on” outlets  (example: cable modem/router).  The white outlets are the switched outlets.  So when you turn off your computer, it will automatically sense the current stopage and turn off the control and the switched.  For example, you turn off your PC and the speakers, monitor, printer, etc. are turned off - not leaking power in standby mode.

If you think about appliances in your home, they are using power whether they are turned on or not.  A great example is a microwave.  Close to 99% of the power consumption of your microwave if from the digital clock.  Sure the power consumption is greater when you cook with it, but most of the time the appliance is sitting idle.  Your TV is similar - when you turn off a modern television, it is still sucking power.  All night long, your electric meter is spinning, round-and-round. 

Every television, vcr, dvd player, TiVo, computer, mobile phone charger is sucking power from your walls and money from your wallets.  That’s why they call it vampire power.  So stop sucking and do something about it.

Source: Economist