Our sister-publication Consumer Reports tested them to see if they were accurate.
]]>Don't conserve electricty! It's a scam! Because the utilities will cry to the public utilities commission that their revenue is down due to everyone using LESS energy. Guess what happens next? Yep, they raise your rates! I've seen this happen time and time again. Don't be fooled. It's a trap!
]]>some pc speakers do eat energy while idle. but generally i've found not that much is worth putting a power strip on. let alone a tv, thats too much trouble, esp if you lose settings.
]]>Agreed. Just posting a video is worthless. It certainly can't be considered reporting.
]]>Assuming a 50% efficiency rate (that is very bad, but would be reminiscent of power supplies designed decades ago), multiply the amount of power your supply provides by 2 and you have an absolutely maximum amount of power it will use.
It is, however, far likelier it uses 1/4 of that number or less, since your device shouldn't draw the full current at all times and, if it is a switching supply (many are now) the supply therefore will match its draw to its output, and will be more efficient to boot (75% - 90%).
So, your USB charger (should) output 5 volts at 500 mA maximum. Power = Current (I or A) * Voltage (V or E). 5 * 0.5 = 2.5 watts. 2.5 * 2 = 5 watts ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM.
Or, at 10 cents per kWh, if the supply were run at maximum all year and were only 50% efficient, it will use 5 * 24 * 365 / 1000 * 0.10 = $4.38 of electricity in a year. And that's a ridiculously high number. There is no way it will draw that much when there is nothing connected to it, so that $4.38 would require you to use a very old power supply at it's maximum output constantly for the entire year.
The waste from inefficiency is converted to heat output in all power supplies. So, if you want to guesstimate efficient your power supply is, feel for heat. The hotter a lower output supply is, the less efficient it is.
]]>Don't unplug things the way they show you in this video. It is a fire hazard. Always grip the body of the plug itself, never the cord.
Thanks, over and out.
]]>Incidentally, my home came with many/most of the outlets still switched. Because when it was wired in 1950? THERE WAS ONLY ONE OUTLET PER ROOM AND NONE OF THEM WERE THREE PRONG. (And hardly any rooms had ceiling light fixtures.) Cost us $1500 just to get it close enough to code to get insured!
You can even get those cute little hats for the switches you don't want to accidentally switch off.
]]>Interesting facts:
I loved the pulling o' the cord!
My HP 50" plasma draws 38 watts. That's almost half the power my 40" Sony LCD draws when ON. If you have to know, under 2 watts off (Energy Star)
Real hog: Dish 622/722 DVR. And that I can't turn off.
]]>I prefer the APC Power Saving SurgeArrest. It provides more surge protection (3KJ) and, being in IT, comes from a company I trust more. They are also just a touch cheaper.
]]>One big example of how it's affected my usage is with regard to my computing habits. I sold my desktop in favor of using my laptop as a desktop replacement and purchasing a netbook to meet my basic needs that I used my laptop for before. The desktop drew upwards of 400 watts on average:
full-size gaming tower self-built for performance, 325 watts
17" lcd monitor, 25 watts
4 powered speakers w/amp, 40 or so
whereas the laptop draws 65 watts for everything (well not the speakers). The netbook maxes out at around 14, no matter what. Net result is that I use my netbook more often than my laptop now, and my electricity savings (as far as I can estimate) are upwards of $300/yr since I use my computer over 15 hrs/day for school and work, easily covering the cost of netbook within just over a year even if I were to ignore the money gained through sale of my old computer.
Other things that matter: gaming consoles, TVs, COFFEE POTS (they're terrible and noone remembers to turn them off), microwaves vs. toaster ovens, etc etc
]]>@oneandone: I'd like to be able to shut off a lot of my devices completely (though I understand why some people like to have them on standby to maintain settings, etc). The problem is that unplugging them, or even flipping a switch on a surge protector, is difficult when you have to get behind furniture to do it.
You might want to look into a Power Strip/Surge Supressor with a (wall mountable) remote control, like the one I found on Amazon:
Haven't tried it myself, but I'm thinking about it myself now..
Also, for those interested, I found the "Smart Strips" on Amazon as well (although I'm sure you could probably find them a bit cheaper elsewhere) - [www.amazon.com]
Just for those interested.
]]>I've got one on my entertainment center setup, allowing the cable box to stay on, so as not to lose settings, and everything else powers up if the TV is on (DVD player, Wii, PS2, Stereo... I think that is it.)
In my room, where there is no cable box, I've got my alarm clock on the always on outlet, with my TV and a few other things on that one.
I love 'em!
]]>Once you have it set up, you don't notice a thing except that a) "boy, that other power strip sucks, it totally never remembers to shut down my printer" and b) "crap, i have to turn the TV on to eject that DVD."
Everyone we know who's tried one -- or seen ours -- has ended up hooked. My youngest brother actually put it on his Xmas list. :)
]]>Replace your furnace/AC filter every month, too.
]]>I left the clocks, VCR's, etc, plugged in though. I'm NOT reprogramming everything all the time.
]]>I have found that most electronics devices, such as computers, that can operate on voltage in the range of 220 to 240 volts actually do use LESS energy when operating at that voltage. This is probably mostly due to the lower current (amperage) producing less heat in the wires. But for most Americans, that would mean adding a new electrical circuit.
]]>It may cost you $25 initially but if it changes your attitude house-wide (and office-wide), then you stand to save a LOT more over the course of a year.
]]>I'd like to be able to shut off a lot of my devices completely (though I understand why some people like to have them on standby to maintain settings, etc). The problem is that unplugging them, or even flipping a switch on a surge protector, is difficult when you have to get behind furniture to do it.
It would be much easier if offices & residences were wired so that every outlet had a wall switch connected to it. Let the user decide if they want the devices in that outlet on or off completely. I don't know what's involved in electrical wiring, but a lot of older & foreign homes have outlets that can be easily turned off. Maybe contractors now figured that people don't want to accidentally 'kill' their computer, tv, etc with just a light switch?
Whatever the reason, it should come back in fashion. I'm sure the cost of extra wiring & switches is very little compared to even surge protectors, and much less than the energy cost.
]]>@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): I've been intrigued by the SmartStrip for some time but no one I know uses them. It sounds like it's useful - but is it user-friendly? Friendly enough that suspicious roommates will adapt quickly to it?
]]>@Coles_Law: DeltaTee has a good point. The fact that the substance of the video was also in a text article should be a little more clear.
And it would be great if videos without text articles could be summarized, so that people who are Deaf or hearing impaired can get the info. (Not toally relevant in this case, but I think it's worth keeping in mind).
]]>They're spendy, but mine paid for themselves in about a year. From that link you can find them in different sizes, etc. (You can also sometimes find them on sale.)
My local hardware store -- Do It Best -- also carries them now.
]]>So much for expecting something useful out of this article... LAME!! No good information. Not even a summary of the stupid video which is embedded. LAZY!
]]>@ Eyebrows McGee (reply still not working for me!):
Where did you get said smart strip? I need. would be very helpful for our desktop.
]]>@Pasketti: My thoughts exactly-not too hard to find a summary.
]]>It's a better option than what my housemates and I did when we were renting an apartment together. We're kinda crackheads when it comes to knowing this stuff and this was before these devices were readily available so we went outside at night with a flashlight and watched the power meter after turning off all the breakers in the apartment. Then we would turn one back on and plug in the thing that we wanted to check while staring at the little rotating disc for 5-10 minutes.
The interesting result was that we found that the power company had labelled all of the meters incorrectly so apartment 1 was paying for apartment 8's power and vice versa. Same for 7 and 2, 6, and 3, etc... We ended up having to pay an additional $400 for our curiosity when we told the power company about the mixup and founf out that we had consumed quite a bit more power than we had been billed for over the previous 6 months.
Looking back, I probably should have confirmed that they issued apartment 8 a $400 refund...
]]>sorry 'bout that
]]>So when our TV is "off" (but still drawing power to maintain settings), the VCR, DVD, Wii, etc., are now "allowed" by the control outlet to draw power. Only when the TV is "on" and drawing a normal amount of power are THEY allowed to turn on. And I really don't care if my DVD clock is right. (You could even put a strip of electrical tape over the blinking if it annoys you that much, but mine doesn't blink.)
There are also "always hot" outlets so the TiVo can stay on even when the TV is off and not letting anything else draw power, or so you can plug in a lamp, or whatever.
The only downside is that to eject a disc, you have to turn the TV on to let the DVD draw juice, and I'm forgetful that way. :)
Two of these -- one on our TV array and one on my desktop array -- save us around $6/month on our electric bill. Not bad.
]]>Example: I found that the battery charger on my cordless drill was pulling a constant 10W. That's the equivalent of leaving a 60W bulb on for 4 hours a day. It stays unplugged now.
]]>@segfault: Be interesting to see what happens if you swapped that 60 watt bulb for an LED lightbulb though.
]]>In a server room environment it's important to remember you pay twice -- once to provide the power to the system, and once to remove the resulting heat from the room.
Where I work we just replaced some servers with more efficient ones, not because we wanted to save on power use, but because we were out of A/C capacity. Devices like the Kill-A-Watt are handy for calculating this, too, because converting from watts to BTUs is very straightforward.
]]>I was so close!
]]>We used them to caculate the cost of running our server room with some now power-hungry machines. I got two for about $30 off of eBay. It turns out that even we replaced the systems with much more power-friendly units, it would take about 10 years to recoup the money spent on the new systems in power savings. That's not including the time it would take to transfer/migrate/setup the new systems.
Additionally, the old systems would have to be disposed of, creating a whole other level of waste so we decided to keep each one until it fails (yes, tons of automated backups.)
So they're useful for not just saving power, but assessing where those savings are best put to us. We can save over $150 per year per edit suite simply by sleeping them in the evening and using wake-on-lan to power them up remotely if we need some data in a pinch. Those savings were immediate.
]]>I bought one a few months ago to check on the power consumption of some of my devices in "standby" mode, including my computer, monitor, PS/3, WII and a few other things, as well as checking the power consumption of my refrigerator, freezer (etc.) to see what they're REALLY costing me on a daily basis (vs. what the little yellow "fact sheets" SAY they consume), and it did give show me indeed how much power each of my devices consumed..
Such as it costs me (at my current electricity rates) around $15 a month to keep my computer on 24/7 (more if I don't turn off the monitor), and the PS/3 -- well, we don't even want to go there. Suffice it to say I keep that sucker completely unplugged unless I'm actively using it now. :P
]]>My TV needs to be reset to get the right signal when it's been unplugged. And all modified settings have to be changed. So ya, no thanks.
]]>Sam: Lol! The brought back so many memories of my mom always hounding me to stop unplugging things by their cords. Of course being the good daughter that I am, I did it just to annoy her.
]]>Unless there is a clock on it, or other solid-state circuitry, 99% of
toasters
washing machines
dryers
hair dryers
blenders
can openers
can be left plugged in, with zero energy loss.
@segfault: What is the maximimum that Kill-a-watt can measure? My computer has a 700 watt power supply, and I'm curious how much of that is actually being drawn.
]]>A quicker way to check is to leave the charger plugged in for a while, but not plugged into the device, and then feel it. If it's not warm to the touch, it's not wasting power.
]]>Most 'modern' TVs which meet the latest Energy Star standards aren't going to use more than a few watts when off. And if end users are total idiots and take this advice while they have a DVR you are asking for a whole host of problems.
A computer itself uses around 100 watts while on. So turning it off is basically like turning off a lightbulb. Just make sure you are completely shutdown before you do it.
]]>It was interesting to see the difference that my three 1500W ceramic heaters used in electricity, low was from 400W-1200W, high from 700W-1500W.
]]>A ploy to push traffic over to CR? Maybe.
]]>Also, in what regional dialect is 'electricity' pronounced 'electrizity'?
]]>What about equipment that "forgets" when it's unplugged? What's MY TIME worth reprogramming these things every time I want to save 1/15th of a cent?
]]>Yes they work but you can use a surge protector instead. There - I just saved you 1:39.
]]>