New Devices to Eliminate Phantom Power Losses
by Kristin Underwood, San Diego, CA on 08.20.08
Image source: Digital Home Thoughts
Digital Home Thoughts recently posted several reviews on new devices aimed at eliminating phantom power losses. (Phantom power, you may remember, is the electricity you're paying for from all of the appliances plugged in but turned "off.") The Bye Bye Standby and the SmartHomeUSA's Smart Strip Power Strip offer a meet-in-the-middle-solution for folks interested in going green but frankly don't want a bunch of extension cords everywhere and are not ready to plug and unplug appliances every 5 minutes.
How does the Bye Bye Standby manage to say goodbye to pesky phantom power? Well, it adds a remote to your power strip, that way instead of turning your tv off with a remote, you turn the unit off with the power-strip remote. Phantom Power eliminated. Don't worry about having a stack of remotes on the arms of your couch - each remote controls up to 12 outlets at a time. For the longer review on the Bye Bye Standy, check out the rest of the Digital Home Thoughts review.
What makes the Smart Strip a smart option? Well, it monitors when your appliances are in use and powers them down, i.e. your computer, when not in use. Ideally you plug your computer in the main outlet and put all trivial appliances in the secondary outlets on the strip and the when the computer is not in use, then neither are the other appliances. You can also fine-tune this with a small dial to make sure that the strip is set at your desired level of sensitivity. SmartHome estimates the strip will pay for itself in energy savings alone within 6 months, depending on your usage. For more on the Smart Strip, see the review on Digital Home Thoughts.
Digital Home Thoughts also used a Kill-A-Watt meter during their product test to determine whether the two power strips actually eliminate the power as advertised.
:Bye Bye Standbye::SmartHomeUSA Smart Strip Power Strip
Thanks Tipster Chris.
More Options to Eliminate Phantom Power
Another Stake Through The Heart of Vampire Power
Kill-A-Watt
Fight the (Phantom) Power: Belkin's New Conserve Surge Protector at CES
Eco-Tip: Eliminating Phantom Loads
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Green Glossary: Vampire Power
- iGo Debuting Energy Efficient Chargers at CES 2009
- "New" Technology Detects and Kills Vampire Power Suckers
- How to Find Green Energy Anywhere
how about just unplugging stuff rather than buying more 'green' gadgets which will end up sitting in a landfill when they break/dont work in the first place. consumerism is what helped get us here in the first place.
In Australia, at least in Sydney, you can turn the outlet off entirely--there's a little switch. Simple as that. Even the old houses have these things. It's heaps smarter than a new gadget. I have no idea how we missed the boat on this in the States. Same with the duel flush toilets.
I'm still trying to find something exactly like the Bye Bye Standby that is controlled by an infrared remote instead of an RF remote. Anyone seen something like that in the same type of price range ($25ish)?