EnviroGadget » energy saving kit

Bye Bye Standby System – Ultra-Simple Energy Saving

Anita (EnviroGadget Writer) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:00:27 +0000

The Bye Bye Standby System is a collection of devices that can help you to turn off your electronic devices quickly and easily. By totally cutting off the power to electrical devices when not in use daily energy usage is decreased. The connected devices can be turned on or off with ease using either a remote control or a wall switch.

The Bye Bye Standby System can help you reduce your bills. It is thought that an average household has up 12 electronic devices on standby or on charge at any time. By simply turning charging devices off once they are charged and cutting the power to devices on standby the average household can save around 10% of their electricity bill.

The system comprises of smart sockets that you plug into your mains power points and then you plug your devices into these sockets. The smart sockets cut the power to the device(s) plugged into them. The smart sockets can be controlled with a remote control that can be brought with a socket or separately. The remote allows you to control different groups of devices together or individual devices if desired. The buttons for the remote can be set to whichever smart socket you desire, or to several, giving you freedom to turn off exactly what you want to quickly and easily.

The Bye Bye Standby System also includes a wall switch. The switch is able to turn off all smart sockets that are in range at once. The wall switch has a 30 m range and can work through walls. This can then allow you at the flick of one switch to turn off all unneeded electrical devices at once within a house. Unlike a remote it will always be where you left it!

The Bye Bye Standby System allows you to prevent wasteful electrical use by items on standby or by chargers that are left permanently plugged in. By using a remote or wall switch the system is easy to use to fully cut power to whichever device you wish, or to turn it back on. By saving electricity in this way you will reduce your electricity bill and your carbon footprint.

The Bye Bye Standby Wall Switch is just £10.99 with free delivery. You can also get a pair of Bye Bye Standby Wall Sockets for £12.99 (with free delivery), and a starter pack with 1 Bye Bye Standby Socket and 1 Remote for £12.08 (with free delivery).

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Bye Bye Standby System – Ultra-Simple Energy Saving article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2011 EnviroGadget.com. You can now keep up with the latest eco-gadgets on the EnviroGadget Facebook page. Why not help us to spread the word?

Share and Enjoy:

Leech Plug – Self Disconnecting Plug Concept

Anita (EnviroGadget Writer) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 09:00:23 +0000

The Leech Plug is a concept design by Conor Klein. The Leech mimics the behaviour of its namesake, once it has let the device connected to it to have its fill of electricity, the plug physically disconnects itself from the power supply.

The Leech Plug has been designed to help alleviate the problem of power drain. All devices when plugged into a socket continue to pull small amounts of electricity, chargers for devices such as phones keep taking these small amounts of electricity even when the device plugged into them is fully charged. These small amounts add up to quite a large problem and remembering to remove the chargers from a power supply can often be a lot of hassle and need continuous checking.

The Leech Plug concept idea is that by using a mix of a timer circuit and electromechanics you can get a plug to drop its cord once the device has been charged fully. The plug fits into a normal socket, with a cord to a plug socket to be used by the charger. The Leech can then drop this line when needed, physically cutting the device from the power supply and so stopping any additional electrical draining.

The only real problem with this idea is having to go around and plug the cord back in again when a device needs charging, or having dropped leads everywhere. However with some consideration to how it works the device should work well in any household, and would stop a lot of unnecessary electrical usage.

Source: Engadget

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Leech Plug – Self Disconnecting Plug Concept article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2011 EnviroGadget.com. You can now keep up with the latest eco-gadgets on the EnviroGadget Facebook page. Why not help us to spread the word?

Share and Enjoy:

Energy-Saving Eco Computer Mouse

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:00:55 +0000

The Eco Mouse features an eco button that will put your computer into standby mode when you press it. The button puts a computer into a special eco-mode, which is a state where your PC uses the least possible energy whilst still being switched on. The idea is that when you’re leaving the computer idle and switched on for a period of time, you put it into eco mode. When you need the computer, you press the button again to wake the computer up.

The eco mouse comes with special software that estimates your energy and CO2 emission savings as a result of using the eco mode. I doubt that the software takes into account the actual power consumption of your computer, therefore all calculations are just estimations.

The only trouble I see with this mouse is that you’ll accidentally activate the eco mode when you don’t mean to due to the location of the button. I think that the separate Eco Button is a much better idea. However, if you are leaving your computer switched on for a little while, it seems like a good idea.

Prices for the eco mouse start at £15.66 each, but that’s due to the supplier being a branding company. The Eco Button costs just £14.95.

Source: RedFerret

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Energy-Saving Eco Computer Mouse article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2011 EnviroGadget.com. You can now keep up with the latest eco-gadgets on the EnviroGadget Facebook page. Why not help us to spread the word?

Share and Enjoy:

Kill-A-Watt Electricity Usage Monitoring Power Strip

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:00:29 +0000

Knowing how much electricity you’re using is the best way to identify ways of saving energy. There are a number of energy monitoring devices now, such as the Kill-A-Watt device and the energy detective. The Kill-A-Watt Electricity Usage Monitoring Power Strip expands on the Kill-A-Watt device, allowing you to monitor a range of gadgets and applicances at the same time.

The advantage of tracking energy usage for a range of appliances at the same time is because we tend to use a number of gadgets at once. Good examples include using a DVD player with the TV, or a monitor and scanner with a PC. The Kill-A-Watt Power Strip (PS) will tell you energy usage at any given time and forecast the cost of running those devices for the day, week, month and year. That makes it really easy to determine how much your devices are costing you.

The Kill-A-Watt PS also has a number of other advanced features such as checking the quality of your mains power by monitoring voltage, line frequency, amperage, leakage and a few other things too. It’s basically just like having a multimeter connected to your gadgets all day long. The Kill-A-Watt PS also has a blue backlit display, which means you’ll be able to read your meter in the dark. Really useful if you’ve switched off your lights to save energy!

The Kill-A-Watt PS is particularly suited to enthusiastic gadget owners who want to keep an eye on their energy bills. It provides simple and advanced features that should keep any eco-warrior amused for hours.

Source: The Get Green Store

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Kill-A-Watt Electricity Usage Monitoring Power Strip article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2011 EnviroGadget.com. You can now keep up with the latest eco-gadgets on the EnviroGadget Facebook page. Why not help us to spread the word?

Share and Enjoy:

Energy Usage Tracking – The Energy Detective

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:00:15 +0000

The Energy Detective is an energy consumption monitoring eco gadget that joins a growing line of energy monitoring kits that are appearing on the market. However, where this kit really stands out is the option to have their own full-featured computer interface kit that gives you all kinds of statistics and monitoring information. Something missing from pretty much all other electricity monitoring kits.

The basic technique for installing the electricity monitoring kit is to clamp an inductive loop around the mains power supply to your home. However, the installation of the transmitter unit requires a qualified electrician to install, as the power wiring of the transmitter unit goes directly into the distribution unit. This means there are no batteries involved with the kit.

The wireless receiver unit will then give you an accurate measurement of the energy consumption of your home, with new data every 2 seconds. You can set up the receiver with all of your electricity tariff settings so that it gives you a very accurate calculation of what you can expect your energy bill to be.

The real value in this kit is the special software that you can also get, that gives you detailed log information (examples, PDF format). This log information can give you a better understanding of your usage and what devices in your home are the most energy deviant. By identifying the worst offending devices in your home, you can massively reduce your carbon footprint by getting rid of them.

The only downside about the kit is that the USB meter with the software costs around $190. It does save a lot of hassle compared to other units when it comes to energy monitoring, but you’ve still got to get an electrician to install the transmitter. Other units I’ve seen you can do yourself as the transmitter is battery powered. A great kit for novices I think though.

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Energy Usage Tracking – The Energy Detective article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2011 EnviroGadget.com. You can now keep up with the latest eco-gadgets on the EnviroGadget Facebook page. Why not help us to spread the word?

Share and Enjoy:

Easy Starter Kit for being Greener

Dan (EnviroGadget Writer) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:00:42 +0000

If you’re having trouble getting started to living a greener life, then the Green Tomato Kit is an inexpensive starter pack ideal for giving you a head start. The kit contains a range of green gadgets, energy saving radiator reflectors, a toilet systern water saving pack, a reusable shopping bag, energy saving light bulbs and some useful eco-reminding stickers. Even the packaging is compostable!

So what’s in the kit? With the drive away from using plastic bags, the cotton-based bag will certainly last longer than most supermarket plastic bags, even the re-usable ones. The energy saving light bulbs are available everywhere these days, but getting people to convert to using them is tough. Did you know that for the same energy required for two 100W filament light bulbs, you can light a whole house with energy saving lightbulbs (typically rated at 8W, 11W or 15W).

The radiator reflectors will dramatically increase the amount of heat reflected back into the room rather than being radiated into your walls. The thermometer will help you to determine if you really need the heating on or not. The water saving bag will reduce the amount of water needed to flush by 1 litre each time. And the stickers are reminders to switch appliances off as well as reminders for “No junk mail” and “Don’t forget your bag”.

If you know someone who seems reluctant to save energy and water, then this kit is ideal. For £8 (around $16) you can help someone save hundreds of pounds on their bills whilst doing their bit for the environment at the same time!

Source: Green Tomato

Want to buy this gadget? Check out the Easy Starter Kit for being Greener article on EnviroGadget to see the lowest prices for this gadget.

© 2008 to 2011 EnviroGadget.com. You can now keep up with the latest eco-gadgets on the EnviroGadget Facebook page. Why not help us to spread the word?

Share and Enjoy: