When looking into saving energy using green products, have you forgotten those little 3 inch square power supplied in almost every power socket in your home? Those little black supplies are consuming power whenever they are plugged in.

Every time we purchase some new green products, phone, small portable vacuum cleaner, radio, battery charger, computer speakers or audio surround sound speakers to name a few they come with these little power supplies. When you look around; you will be surprised how many you will find plugged in.

Another area to look at is audio/video equipment, TVs, video games, converter boxes, computer equipment or the latest green products. This equipment comes with a standby or power down mode of operation.

In business small and large alike we all have those little power supplies connected to our printers, USB hubs, network hubs, desk lights and a few personnel items wither they are green products or not. Each one of these devices and even many of those new green products are consuming power even when an electronic device is not connected to it.

The consumption continues to occur after the lights are turned off. Under every desk, is a little power sucker or two draining energy all night. For example, a normal cubical with a desk and a computer may have 3-5 of the little black power supplies plugged in. Multiple those by 100 employees and you have 300-500 plugged in every night continuing to use electricity all night long.

How much can one power supply use?

Most utilities will state that close to 15% of your electric bill is those little power supplies and standby electronic equipment. That will amount to $65-$95 dollars wasted per year.

So what does green products, video components and black power supplies have in common? They all have a step-down power supply connect to the power grid. What is a step-down power supply? It is hundreds of feet of small copper wire. Both sides of this wire are connected to the plug and when the unit is plugged into the wall socket, it is using tiny amounts of power. Don’t believe me? Feel one that is plugged in, its warm isn’t it?

This consumption of electricity is directly related to the ON/OFF button on your remote control. In order to sense when you press the button the TV/Audio/Video equipment must be supplied power to run the sense components, even the new green products that are on the market still need some power.

So how do we prevent all this power consummation?

One of the best and simplest ways is to turn the TV/audio/video equipment off by using a power strip with an on/off switch.

Power strips were designed with a mechanical switch to disconnect the appliance from the power source (the wall plug). Do this and no power is transferred or used until the switch is turned on. Walla, no power consumption.

I agree, it does seem inconvenient or it did until I saw the change in my electric bill. All from using a power strip.

Is it worth the investment or should I just buy more green products?

I pass my electric meter daily and see it spinning away even though I am using many new green products. I have also noticed my neighbors meter rotating about 1-2 rotations per minute when there is nobody home.

I bought 4 power strips with ON/OFF switches. I plugged in all my green products, audio/video equipment, then did the same in the area I do recharging, the computer area and some odd electrical equipment.

After turning off the power strips I checked the power meter, instead of the 1-2 times a minute I had dropped to one rotation every 2 minutes. That is a vast improvement and money I don’t have to pay the utility company.

This is something you can easily try for yourself. I could save you some money and reduce your carbon footprint and help when you buy some new green products.

Michael