Girlawhirl already makes it a point to turn off her power strip when she leaves the office, ensuring that her computer, printer and all the other devices hooked into it don't continue to consume energy throughout the night. It's easy, the strip is basically at her feet and she can flip its switch with her toe. It's become her signal of sorts that the day is over...
But until recently she hadn't thought to apply this type of thinking to her electronics at home. Truth be told, she doesn't plug in her personal laptop unless she's using it, so she didn't think it was all that much of an issue. As it turns out, it is. Her TV and its devices – cable box, TiVo®, DVD player – are consuming energy that she's paying for while she's out all day, and while she's sleeping at night.
A new Smart Power Strip solves the problem. She can plug her TV – or computer if she wants to – into the “control” outlet and all the peripheral electronics go in the “automatic” ones. When the device in the control outlet is shut down, the strip automatically shuts down the others as well. There are even three additional outlets for “always on” electronics that aren't associated with the main one, like lamps and clocks.
 |
Girlawhirl found her new Smart Power Strip in her online shopping mall at gaiam.com.
related articles:
| Jun 28, 2006: | girlawhirl finds a way to help the environment with energy efficient lightbulbs. read full entry |