Green Daily

Does the Ecostrip cut phantom electrical use as well as turn of the peripheral applicances? Does it cut off phantom electrical use to the computer as well? Does it use power just to be in use? In reading all the comments and actual specs of the Ecostrip it is unclear whether it is just for people who cannot remember to cut off the extra appliances or if it in fact eliminates the phantom power use also? Thanks so much.

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While I like all of the little solar gadgets, I doubt that they are truly efficient in the manufacturing sense. Less than an hour of cell phone use does not require much energy off the grid, but manufacturing tiny solar panels does. I really like the ecostrip because it is something you would buy anyway and it adds efficiency at little cost to the user. The pedal power devices are pretty nifty too.

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With the very big exception of the EcoStrip, all the products on this list are more counterproductive than helpful. The environmental and energy costs to create and transport a hand-cranking charger far outweigh the, what, MAYBE 1 megawatt hour you'll get out of it in 2 years' use.

The Wattson is a neat idea, and might be useful if it wasn't so prohibitively expensive.

Still, worth reading if only to learn about the EcoStrip. Thanks!

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