Power strips have brought great convenience and benefits to our daily activities, as they are significant channels to transfer power to our devices. However, we should realize that appliances consume energy even when you are not using them, and someone calls it the ‘vampire energy’ phenomenon. Such a phenomenon occurs when a device is left on standby or turned to sleep mode when plugging in. Believe it or not, these ‘standby’ devices will account for hundreds of dollars on your energy bill every year. In this case, a smart power strip will help to minimize such waste of power. Also, we will discuss if we need to turn off the smart power strip after using it, and how smart power strips improve our environment.
Is It Necessary to Turn Off the Smart Power Strip After Using It?
For normal devices, we can always save money by turning off the devices after using them. Someone may wonder if the power strip itself draws power, but actually, the smart power strip will not consume any significant amount of power, while, the little LED that informs you the strip is powered on, will eat less than 1 watt. Thus, compared to leaving your TV, speakers, and other devices on standby, it is necessary to just shut down the power through your smart power strip. Furthermore, it is not necessary to physically shut down a smart power strip. Currently, smart power strips are capable to support turning on or off the power by following a schedule. So, we don’t have to spend too much time shutting down the smart power strip. Another question is, will it damage the device if we cut off the power through a smart power strip? According to studies, disconnecting the power through a smart power strip will have the same effect as unplugging the devices from the wall.
Are Smart Power Strips Environmentally Friendly?
It is estimated that the vampire energy consumed annually is enough for the U.S. to support 11 million homes. On average, a single U.S. home would release around 4K pounds of carbon dioxide. To sum up, the vampire energy consumed may result in a release of 44 billion pounds of carbon dioxide each year. It is a terrible figure that comes from such a small issue, but yet, power strips could save energy and improve this situation by reducing the vampire energy. As it is explained above, smart power strips could detect devices on standby mode and cut off the power supply. When you are looking for power strips, make sure what types of power strips you need. It is recommended to find a power strip online, where you can see all the specs and online comments about the product. Also, other buyers will share their experiences about how to arrange smart power strips for optimizing the connections to various devices. Some tips to know: make sure the length of the cable is matching the distance between the socket and your devices.
Conclusion
In conclusion, smart power strips could be supportive for energy saving. The smart power strip consumes little power itself, and it manages the devices with standby mode by cutting off the power automatically. In additoin, smart power strips could follow the user’s schedule to swtich the devices on or off without damaging the devices (same effect as unplugging the devices directly). Besides, by cut off the powere supply, smart power strips could control standby devices and then reduce the waste of energy.