Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Neato

So I have been trying to get into the habit of unplugging my electronics and appliances when not in use. So far I've only been successful with the coffee maker, coffee grinder and toaster.

This awesome submission to the Greener Gadgets design competition would be really helpful. The name is pretty clever too: WattBlocks. Think about it.

"Few consumers understand that many of today's electronics consume power while not in use. These energy vampires can account for $100 of a home's yearly power cost, wasting up to $10 billion annually in the United States. The WattBlocks kit is designed to reduce this wasted energy. It consists of several WattBlocks, which are plugged in between wall outlets and vampire devices, and a master step switch that plugs into an outlet near the entry/exit of the home. As the user exits, tapping the step switch sends a signal through the home's power lines, telling all WattBlocks to block power to the vampires." (via greenergadgets.com)
Okay, off to finish my Madtown Nutbrown.

2 comments:

The Rotary said...

That is a tough habit to get into. I was managing to unplug the toaster oven (by far our least used appliance) for a while. I think I managed to keep that going for 3 weeks at most. I like the sound of these Wattblocks!

Mariss said...

That's awesome! I like all the ideas on the link you posted. We did a study at work using something called the Wattstopper or something (I'm waking up...) It's an power strip which has 2 zones. Half of the outlets are designated for things that cannot be turned off automatically, such as your PC. The other half are for things that can be turned off, such as tasklights, electric pencil sharpener. When you leave your desk, it has a motion detector and turns the things that don't matter off automatically within 1-30 minutes, depending on your setting. But it senses when you come back, and turns those right back on. It's good for the people who are too lazy to turn their lights off in office buildings. Really lazy....

P.S. Thanks for the sweet comments on my wrapping paper :)