Green Daily

You can find power strips all over my apartment. I use one for my computer, printer, modem and router, and another for my television, DVD player and stereo. There's a third in the kitchen for the toaster and coffee grinder. (My French press requires no energy, and the coffee is better to boot.) A gadget's phantom power needs equal about 75-percent of the power needed to use your gadget at full-power.

But my Catholic upbringing has caused me a pang of guilt each time I leave my place and switch the power strips off. Am I really cutting standby power on my electronics to zero by switching the power strip off instead of unplugging it? The answer appears to be yes. Plenty Magazine and Greenpeace both indicate that a power strip switched off does cut the drain of phantom power. Entirely? I can't seem to find an answer on that. But likely not.

But power strips can be ugly, hard to hide and difficult to switch off, especially if you've managed to tuck them behind furniture. Thankfully, designers have been hard at work on power strip designs.

For the techie there's STATIC!'s Power Aware Cord. the cord on the power strip lights up and pulses as power is being drawn, creating a virtual power monitor.

Eject Power Strip is a redesign on the usual power strip. Instead of a single switch, Eject links each outlet on the strip to a foot pedal that controls the power reaching the socket. Pedal on for power, depress again to shut the outlet off.

Smart Strip has gotten a lot of attention for its automatic shut-off. Smart Strip Power Strip senses the flow of electricity, through each socket. When a device is not in use the strip cuts power to the plug. The strip itself is still using power, but at much lower rate. For those of your with hidden power strips, this might be a good bet.

For the kitchen, and anywhere else in your home or office there's Belkin's Conceal power strip and Revolve strips. Eubiq's Power and Cable management tracks can be purchased with a tap off power adaptor to cut power consumption. Their products are ultra-high end, but they are also sleek, safe and award-winning.