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05.19.07

Brady Forrest

Brady Forrest

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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Comments: 7

Andi   [05.19.07 05:28 AM]

Energy Savings on this micro-level is too important to be trusted to end users. This is another marker which exposes the relative irresponsibility of the various manufacturers.

Joel Norvell   [05.19.07 09:40 AM]

I hadn't thought about this. It's very useful. Thanks!

Ben Lidgey   [05.21.07 12:30 AM]

As a basic power saving device I use one of those timer switches that you use when you go on holiday to turn lights on and off to turn my power strip on and off overnight. Obviously this is OK as long as you don't want to run the computer/wifi/router/broadband overnight...

DiscoverSD   [05.21.07 01:23 AM]

So that's why my power bills aren't getting any lower! Good thing I came across this very informative post. Thanks!

Gerv   [05.21.07 01:34 AM]

"Personally, I wonder why they can't just detect that the device has been unplugged and stop the draw."

If the charger is drawing no power at all, how could it notice that something had been plugged back in again? :-)

Pauric   [05.21.07 09:49 AM]

Gerv, you're right, if the charger is off and the phone is dead where do you get juice?
There is a solution in that it keeps a capacitor charged, plug in a draw, short the cap to trip the device on. However, this is a costly solution.

Gerv   [05.21.07 10:38 AM]

Yes - you could have a solution where physically connecting the device made a circuit which powered up the charger. But you have to design your plug and socket to have the necessary extra connections.


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