House Switch Off
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 06. 1.07
This is a design for a universal on/off switch for your whole house. Anything non-essential could be wired through it, enabling you to easily turn off all those standby devices in one hit.
"Push the button to turn your house on when you get home; push it again to turn it off when you leave. Aiming to make the ‘green’ way the most convenient way, the ‘House-off’ Switch was part of a larger project to encourage 'green' action among the environmentally disinfranchised."
However, judging by some of the comments left on the site, these are already a fixture in some European homes. Do any TreeHugger readers have them? :: Yanko Design
See also :: U.K. To Outlaw Standby Buttons On Electronics :: Is Phantom Energy Haunting Your House?
I wish my home had an off switch.
I don't have one at home but we do have a "Last Man Out" switch at work that turns off all non-essentials in the building.
How would this work with breakers or fuses? You would need to wire all of them in seperatly. Only useful for new construction.
"Only useful for new construction"
Not true, it could be adapted to existing homes/businesses right at the breaker box. Wire it all to a remote-controlled relay, and then you can put the "master switch" anywhere you want it.
Does anyone know of slick products to maximize efficiencies by loading and offloading electricity draws from multiple green energy sources. ie. solar panels, small wind, and possibly fuel cells. Any help with interaction of these elements on a real time basis would be helpful.
Another option is install wireless home automation solution. Than all you need is replace your dimmers, switches, and outlets with RF (Z-Wave) dimmers, switches, an outlets and install home control device. This will allow you to have multiple macro buttons on the control screen. Not just all on/ all off, but anything in between and include temperature control in your solution.
Since it's wireless - it works the same for new cnstruction and retrofit.