Lifehacker Tip: Optimize Your Power Strip
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.10.07
TreeHugger often suggests that turning off your power strip can save a lot of energy consumed by the phantom loads in so much electronic gear. I just did a quick check of my desk and found twelve devices plugged into three power bars with no rhyme nor reason; no wonder I don't practice what I preach. Gina at Lifehacker came up with four great suggestions:
-Separate the always-on devices from the shutoffable ones.
-Label the plugs.
-Put the stuff you unplug often in easy-to-reach positions.
-Position your gadgets for optimal usage.
Get the detail behind these simple and logical steps at ::Lifehacker
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Perhaps you should purchase one of those smart strips.
Just hooked up my third strip to the third computer station in our house. They work great!!!!
To label the plugs, reuse bread bag ties.
Following that link I see "The energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline is 33.53 kWh of electricity (GGE). However, 1 GGE of electricity in an EV takes you 110 miles. Over 2 times farther than an HEV . . ."
Burning one gallon of gasoline makes about 20 lb CO2. So if we go 110 miles in an HEV we'll burn 2 gallons and make 40 lb CO2. Using the US national average electric grid, which is about 50% coal-fired generation, the emissions are 1.43 lb carbon per kWh. So 110 miles in an EV will make 33.53 * 1.43 = 48 lb carbon. That's the equivalent of 46 mpg, a far cry from zero emissions!
So the advantage of present-day EVs is they're small and efficient, not because they're powered electrically. And if they keep souping up the components to make EVs (a la Teslas and dragsters) bigger and more powerful, they'll lose that advantage. What we need are lightweight, efficient, aerodynamic vehicles.
Hybrids are a great idea because every kWh that goes into the battery was recovered from braking (normally wasted). Plug-in hybrids might make sense from a grid management perspective, by using cheap off-peak power, but let's not sell them as zero emissions. That energy has to come from somewhere, and if it's from a plug then there's coal smoke behind it.
Sorry to blow that one so badly. Wrong post.
Off is good. Off rocks. Better off. Power strips help us to find off (I have a TV that draws 18 watts when "off").
I'll leave now . . . sorry again.