Gizmodo: energy saving

Energy Saver One-For-All Remote Waves Bye-Bye to Standby

Kit Eaton — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:01:54 EDT

There're a few gadgets out there that try to reduce your energy consumption by switching off all your gizmos properly, but none perhaps as convenient as this new Energy Saver Universal Remote from One-for-All. It's a four-in-one device to reduce your collection of remote controls to just one, and has a "green" power-off button. This communicates with an adapter in a wall socket that can turn off all your gear using a power strip plugged into it. So you won't be leaving so many things on standby, hurting both your wallet and the environment... and you get to do it all without stretching your legs. Available in the UK and Germany for now, for around $78. [Red Ferret]

Surge Power Strip: Your Power Wastage In Plain Sight

Kit Eaton — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EDT

The Climatized Objects Project think there's a simpler way to make you save energy than clever sockets: "Surge" plops your power sockets and thus energy consumption in open view. Shaming you, and dominating your home. Yup: I'd certainly be tempted to unplug my "on standby" devices if this red surge-protecting beast was draped over my desk, behind my TV and down the stairs. Oh, no: wait— of course I wouldn't, because I'd never use this crazy crapness in the first place. I kind of see what they're getting at, but I'm distinctly glad this will remain just an eco-concept. Spilling coffee with it around would be fatal. [Dvice]

Super Green Ecobutton Puts PCs into Extra Deep Sleep

Kit Eaton — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:45:00 EST

Give the USB plug-in Ecobutton a thump when you pop off to lunch or a meeting, and it puts your computer into an electricity-saving deep sleep. While snoozing in "ecomode," the Windows PC will draw less power than if you just left it in sleep or screensaver, which can be nothing but good for your electricity bills and the environment, right?

If you want to know exactly how good you're being (you eco-geek, you), the Ecobutton's software tells you how much energy and carbon units you've saved. It's PC-only for now, and is available for $12-$18.

Note: If you're truly environ-mental, you've probably realized that Ecobutton is mainly a software fix, so the manufacturing of the plastic component is itself a needless waste of our earth's precious resources, even before packaging and shipping—but who's keeping score anyway? Oh, right, this is. [OhGizmo]

Power Aware Cord: Glowing Guilt

Charlie White — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 08:52:28 EST

Maybe if you could actually see how much energy you're using, you wouldn't leave that PC running all night. That's the idea behind the Static Energy+Design Network's Power Aware Cord, a power strip whose connecting cable glows and pulses. Its electroluminescent wires embedded inside get brighter when more power flows through, pulsing and scintillating with various patterns that are difficult to ignore.

While this appears to be just a design concept so far, it looks purty and might just remind us of what power-sucking bastards we are. We're usually trying to hide power cables, wall warts and power strips, but this eye-catching design might give us an excuse to leave that spaghetti bowl of wires right out in the open. But don't the lights in the cord suck up even more energy? Maybe not much. – Charlie White

More pics after the jump.

Power Aware Cord [Interactive Institute]

Jinglehorse EcoSystem: Energy-Sipping PC

Charlie White — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 13:11:35 EDT

Laptop manufacturers take advantage of the energy efficiency of the Intel Core Duo processor to extend battery life, and now computer maker Jinglehorse uses that same efficiency to allow its EcoSystem PC to consume 75% less energy than its Pentium 4 counterparts. These electricity-sipping boxes only use about 44 watts while they're sitting still and 75 watts with the pedal to the metal.

Plus, all that energy savings results in less heat, requiring smaller, quieter, and less frequently-running fans. For those of us who leave our computers on 24/7, this $895 computer might just pay for itself after a few years. Good deal. – Charlie White

Product Page [Jinglehorse, via treehugger]

DaySwitch Turns Off the Light For You

Charlie White — Mon, 08 May 2006 11:31:56 EDT

DaySwitch claims to reduce lighting costs by 30% by using a simple concept: when it gets bright in the room, turn off the lights. Why people can't do this themselves, we don't know, but it might have something to do with getting up off their lazy asses every once in a while.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center who designed the light-sensitive switch say that it's so inexpensive, it could pay for itself in a year. There are already dimming systems available, but they're expensive and difficult to program and install.

Scientists Develop Simple Alternative for Harvesting Daylight and Saving Energy [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, via treehugger]