Powering Down

So, continuing on the thoughts of computers and lights, I thought I'd talk about all the other things we plug in daily. Cell phone chargers, printers, computer peripherals, gaming consoles, and a host of other things that really don't need to be on all the time. Even if you're not charging a phone on the end of that charger, its still drawing energy. And that is wasting your money and a decent amount of energy. Theres a couple neat fixes for this, and a couple cheap ones. I'll start with the neat ones.

There are these nifty things out on the market called smart strips. Theres a couple of different kinds. The first kind has a few different colored outlets. One is blue, 3 or 4 are red, and the rest (different numbers depending on the size strip you get) are white. The white strips are uncontrolled, like your normal power strip. Plug in, recieve power. The blue outlet is known as the control outlet. The strip can monitor power consumption from this outlet, enabling it to know when whatever is plugged into it (in our case, lets say a computer) is off or on. When the device is off for a user-defined period of time (30 seconds to 30 minutes) the strip cuts power to the items plugged into the red outlets (in our case, lets say a printer, speakers, and a monitor). Pretty neat huh? And since you can time how long before it cuts power off, you can safely reboot your computer without turning everything off, but you can be sure you're not drawing power when you're in class.

Another kind of smart strip has what's known as an occupancy sensor (like a motion detector, but for inside your home, not outside). Most of the outlets (about 6 of them on an 8 outlet strip) are controlled by the sensor. When you walk in your room, just imagine your computer, monitor, speakers, printer, desk lamp, and PS3 all turn on at once, without you touching a button. Pretty cool, huh? And then after the sensor determines you've been gone for a period of time (again determined by the user, 30 seconds to 30 minutes) it all turns off.

Now, the basic smart strip costs about $25 to $30. The one with the occupancy sensor goes for about $80. Your basic surge protector (I happen to love my squid) costs around $20. If you're a person who will remember, why not just daisy chain two protectors together (plug one strip into another)? The one plugged into the wall can have all the items that need to recieve power constantly, and the second can be unplugged when you walk out of the room! (If you're in the martket for a new power strip though, I'd go ahead and buy a smart strip.)