Get All Your Plugs in Reach with the Electric Table
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 09.10.07
TreeHugger knows that the easiest way to avoid phantom power is to keep your power strips organized and unplug everything when you aren't using it. This isn't always the easiest task, when you have twelve cords snaking about, plugged in to strips that are hidden away beneath desks and behind shelves so they're out of the way (and really hard to reach). The Swedish design firm Broberg & Ridderstrale Design & Architecture has come up with an interesting concept to help you avoid this back-breaking, Twister-like task: put the plugs in the table, so instead of crawling around behind the table to flip the switch, you can just pull the plug from the side of the table. Plug a "Smart" power strip into the table, and you might just be able to stop idle current in its tracks for good. ::BRDA via ::UberGizmo
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...Or you could just not be lazy and turn the switch off at the socket when you're not using it. While I can see that making it easier for people to avoid phantom power might help alleviate the problem, I am concerned about promoting consumerism as a way of addressing a problem. Buying a second hand recycled table is preferable to buying a new one.
I wonder what the life-cycle analysis would be? How much embodied energy is there in this electric table compared to the phantom power that it might save? And if the table really does result in overall energy savings, then it might also be an idea to install a meter that tells you in real time how many watts the appliances are drawing.
It's a nice idea, but do we really need it?
Most sockets outside the UK don't have switches.
"Most sockets outside the UK don't have switches".
Wow. I had no idea.
I have encountered sockets without switches in some countries but assumed that it was the exception rather than the rule.
Here in Australia all sockets have switches, and my propensity to off switches has recently started developing into an obsession. I guess I just assumed that there were switches everywhere.
Which then begs the question: Why don't they?!? I presume it is some safety standard or something, but switches here seem not to have safety problems. Maybe it is a cost cutting measure.
Countries of the world - adopt switches!