Like most Americans, we have an "entertainment center" in our living room -- our TV is hooked to a DVD player, external speakers, an amplifier, and a DVR cable box, which in turn is connected to a wireless router and cable modem for our computer, and all of them draw energy even if they're turned off. The energy they use is called a "phantom load," and anything with a clock (such as a microwave, DVD player, cable box), a remote (your TV, stereo, even some ceiling fans), timer (like our dish washer, which I can set to start in 2, 4, or 6 hours... nifty!), or memory (like our answering machine) creates phantom loads. (Any appliance that is continually plugged in -- washing machine, toaster, hair dryer, printer, paper shredder, electric razor, etc., etc. -- draws some energy even when off, but appliances with an "instant on" feature like one of the four categories above draw a significant amount of energy.)
According to The Green Book, "Ten percent of the electricity used in your home is burned by communication devices and appliances -- when they are turned off!" (page 36) Our electric bills were sometimes over $400 per month last winter, so saving any piece of that wasted $40 sounds like a great idea. But the solution in the book -- to use power strips and turn them off when not in use -- wasn't very practical for our entertainment unit appliances for several reasons: the major one being that the power strip for all of those appliances was behind the TV in a completely inaccessible place, but we'd also lose the Tivo-like feature of our cable box if it wasn't getting power (can't have that happen!).
So I was intrigued when I read about the Smart Strip and decided to buy one about two weeks ago. It has 10 outlets and looks pretty much like a standard power strip, but when the appliances connected to 7 of the outlets are turned off, they are truly off and draw no phantom power. One of the outlets is the "control," and when that appliance is turned off, it turns the 6 "automatically switched" outlets off, too. For us, the control is our TV -- now when I turn off the TV, the DVD player, amplifier, and speakers are turned completely off, and none of them draw power. Conversely, when I turn on the TV the automatically switched appliances turn on, too, but in stand-by mode (the same mode they would have been in 24 hours a day if using a standard power strip). There are 3 "always on" outlets, which I use for our cable box, wireless router, and cable modem, so the DVR keeps recording as we want it to and we can connect to the Internet without having the TV on. Using the Smart Strip is as simple as plugging everything in and deciding what appliance to use as the control. My only (very minor) complaint is that it makes a quick clicking noise when I turn on the TV, but that's truly the only downside I have identified so far. A+ for this device!
Comments