Reduce the power used by all your gadgets
If your house is anything like mine you have a lot of electronics plugged in to the wall. I'm sure by now you've heard about phantom power loads and how your TV could be sucking up electricity even when it is turned off. If that's the case, what can you do to stop that energy consumption? Kelli B. Grant gives readers four ways to reduce the power consumption of your gadgets. Wouldn't you rather give up that big electric bill than all your cool gadgets? I thought so.
- Use power strips. Plug all the office or entertainment center stuff into one strip and turn the strip off when you are away from home or going to bed.
- Upgrade to a smart-home system. Installing smart sensors and outlets along with home management software can allow you to put items on a power schedule and even turn items off when you aren't home.
- Change your settings. Make sure you are using the energy saving settings on things like computers instead of having them on at full power all the time.
- Buy the most energy efficient models of new items. Look for Energy Star ratings on everything from a freezer to phone and MP3 player chargers.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-28-2008 @ 5:43PM
Pace said...
Control 4 recently got a platinum LEAD rating on a house they did in, i believe, California. Essentially, when the last person leaves the house in the morning, everything is shut down except the fridge, the main processor, the cable modem and the TiVo. When the first person comes home in the evening a driveway sensor triggers the home system and everything is back up and running before the homeowner comes in.
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9-30-2008 @ 10:19PM
Nisha said...
Actually you can go a step further and install smart power strips. Even when you turn off devices they still suck some power out of the outlet. A smart power strip can detect when a device is turned off and it will stop the flow of electricity to that device, kind of like unplugging it. With normal power strips you have to remember to turn the power strip switch off , but with the smarter variety, it does that for you!
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