Reducing the Power Consumption of Your Gadgets

Things plugged into wall sockets continue to draw power even if they are off. Chargers plugged in continue to draw power even if the associated device has been charged or unplugged. Until recently, I had not realized this; I doubt many other people really think about or act on this information regularly. There are two products that aim to help solve this problem.

The first is a new set of Nokia phones (Nokia 1200, Nokia 1208 and the Nokia 1650). After the phone is charged it will send out alerts that signal it is time for it and its charger to be unplugged. Realizing that many people will not act on this information, Nokia has already been reducing the unnecessary power consumption and aims to have the charger consume 50% less energy by 2010 when it does not have a device to charge. Personally, I wonder why they can’t just detect that the device has been unplugged and stop the draw.

Smart Power Strip

The second is the Smart Power Strip. It will shut off the power draw of peripheral devices when the main computer is shut off. Just like Verdien (Radar post) realized, there is a real need amongst computer owners to save power. The manufacturers recommend Lights Out, a Mac app that gives you more control over your machine’s energy consumption, to supplement the power strip.

[Via Gizmodo via Red Ferret]

Soon energy-saving measures will be common place in consumer electronics. If this topic interests you the blog, Electric Metric, has recently appeared. It focuses on measuring the draw of household items and energy-saving news.

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