This weekend I was watching Modern Marvels on the History Channel. This episode was focused on “Green” technologies and one of the products they featured was the GreenSwitch. The base system comes with four slave outlets that you install anywhere you have devices you want to kill power to when you are not using. The slaves hook up with a master control unit that is installed say near the door to the garage. Before leaving the house for the day just power off the main switch and it kills all the slaves too, saving you from unnecessarily wasting energy. Savings that could add up to 25 to 45% according to the company.
I thought it was a tremendous idea, so I hopped on the interwebs to do some more research. Then I found out the cost of the system. Astoundingly, the basic kit came in at a whopping $1200! Your electric bill would have to be hundreds of dollars a month for this to make any sense and if the bill was that high, it is probably because you are using your gear, so a kill switch is not going to do you much good.
Even so I still liked the concept, so I kept looking around and came across the Energy Saving Power Strip with Autoswitching Technology by Smart Strip. It works in much the same manner, killing power to devices when they are not in use. This model goes a step further by doing it automatically. For instance, plug your TV into the control outlet and the your DVD player, receiver, etc into the auto switched outlets. Turn your TV on, your components come on too. I especially appreciate the three “always on” outlets for devices like your TiVO or cable box to maintain their recording capabilities. Oh yeah and this one is only $35 bucks…
Grab It: Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Power Strip with Autoswitching Technology
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