Earth Day: Save the Earth and Money at the Same Time

by Lori Cunningham

Credit: woodleywonderworks

There is no doubt that we are depleting our Earth’s resources.  According to the Living Planet  Report report by WWF, “if our demands on the planet continue to increase at the same rate, by the mid-2030’s we would need the equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyles,” said WWF International Director-General James Leape. 1

The report continues “the world’s global environmental “footprint” or depletion rate now exceeds the planet’s capacity to regenerate by 30 percent. The countries with the biggest impact on the planet are the US and China, together accounting for some 40% of the global footprint.”1

The year 2030 is not far away.  For  an eye-opening good read, check out the WWF’s Living Planet Report to see, amongst many things, how the number of freshwater species are decreasing in vast numbers as our fresh water resources deplete.

In the meanwhile, electronics devises in the home are thriving.  In 2009, the average family owned 2.5 TV’s.  Nearly 1/3 of all households had at least 4 devices connected (cellphones, Bluetooth products, etc.).  With the introduction and rise of the tablet in 2010 you can be sure that this number has risen.

Save the Earth

With the celebration of Earth Day this week, there are tons of resources available to help you reduce your environmental footprint:

Calculate Your Footprint (let me warn you, you’re likely to get depressing results)

Tips for Going Green

50 Green Tips for Earth Day and Beyond

Environmental Tips from the EPA

Save Money

photo credit: Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth

Utilizing the tips above, you are certain to save money.  The less water and electricity you use, the less you need to pay.   There are many visible things we can do to reduce our consumption.  But what about the things we can’t see?

Vampire power is probably a term you haven’t heard of before, but you’re most likely familiar with the definition.  Vampire power refers to the electricity used by plugged-in devices that use energy even when they are not in use.  Surprisingly, vampire power is estimated to attribute to 1% of global CO2 emissions! 2

Other interesting vampire power facts:

• 12% of all residential power can be attributed to vampire power. 3
• 75% of all power used by plug-in devices is wasted because of vampire power. 3
• 35 is the average number of electronic devices in the home ( includes TV’s stereos, PC’s, cellphones, DVR’s, DVD players, electronic toothbrushes, etc.). 3
• 74 watts are how much an on-but-idle computer uses, 21 watts in “sleep” mode. 3
• 23 watts are how much a video came console uses in “ready” mode. 3

TrickleStar Power Products

While at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one particular “green” product caught my eye.  It looked like  a simple power strip at first.  But with further investigation I discovered it was a great answer to greatly reducing vampire power.  The product was made by TrickleStar and called the Avanced PowerStrip.  They also make a smaller version called the Smart PowerTap, which is a 4-outlet plug (wall outlet expander) you plug into the wall.

Both the PowerStrip and PowerTap work the same way and are ideal for computers or TV’s.  They provide advanced surge protection using ceramic casing.  Trickle Star states that as a result of the ceramic casing, their products suppress more energy and dissipate heat transfer faster than normal surge protectors.  Even better, the ceramic casing is fireproof can prevent fire during should a large surge occur.

To get started, all you do is plug your TV or computer into the Control plug and your other devices (stereo receiver, DVD player, scanner, printer, speaker, etc.) in the switched plugs.  That’s it.  Now, when you turn off your TV or computer, all of the devices plugged into your PowerStrip or PowerTap will also turn off, thus stopping vampire power.  Typically, there is one device you don’t want to turn off, like a DVR or wireless router.  No problem, there is also an “always on” plug you can plug these devices into.

Advanced PowerStrip

• 6 Outlets: 1 Control, 2 Always On,  3 Switched
• 6 foot incoming power cable with angled space saver plug
• built-in current sensing circuitry to sense when a Control Device is On or Off and then switch On / Off selected Outlets
• Secondary surge available on select models:  coaxial and tel/fax/data

The Advanced PowerStrip is ideal for garages, kitchens, and offices.

Smart PowerTap

• 4 Outlets: 1 Control, 1 Always On, 2 Switched
• built-in current sensing circuitry to sense when a Control Device is On or Off and then switch On / Off selected Outlets
• coax and data/tel/fax protection

The Smart PowerTap is ideal behind TV sets.

Normal retail is $29.95 for the Advanced PowerStrip and $31.95 for the Smart PowerTap.  However, Amazon has the best prices, as always.  The Advanced PowerStrip retails for $19.31 + $6.98 shipping and the Smart PowerTap sells for $28.53  plus free super saving shipping from Amazon.

A Mom’s Perspective

Wow, and that’s just by households using one of these power surge strips.  So you see, there are little things we can all do to save energy while saving money.  I have used both of these devices in my home and they work very well.  It gives me great comfort in knowing that I’m being smarter about saving energy while not giving up convenience.  I love the fact that once I turn of my TV with my remote control, my Xbox, AV Receiver, and DVD player will turn off too.  It works the other way as well, once I turn on my TV, the other devices turn on.  Basically, with the energy savings the TrickleStar products generate, they pay for themselves in less than one year of use.

Changing our energy consumption is hard to do all at once.  But committing to reducing consumption in certain areas at a time will save money and provide great education for our kids.  If we are trending to deplete our worlds’ resources by 2030, we owe it to our children to begin making earth-sense changes now.

*  TrickleStar provided me with the Advanced PowerStrip and Smart PowerTap for my evaluation and review.  All opinions are 100% mine.

1 http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1594776/reckless_consumption_depleting_earths_natural_resources/

2 http://www.rd.com/slideshows/6-surprising-earth-day-statistics/6/

3 http://www.tricklestar.com/US/Resources/US%20Vampire%20Power%20Brochure_single.pdf