Cutting down vampire power

Appliances running in standby mode may not consume much power, but it all adds up. Companies are developing gadgets to reduce the waste -- including some UK companies

A Spanish company called Good for You, Good for the Planet has "patented an algorithm that can detect when an appliance is in standby mode and automatically switch it off completely," says a report in The Wall Street Journal. The idea is to reduce the "vampire power" consumed by appliances when they are not in use, which can account for 10% of a European household's power consumption.

The company has developed a chip and is "talking to electronics manufacturers about incorporating it directly into their new devices". The story says:

Other companies have come up with products to address the problem. James Dunne, of ElectraTech Ltd. in the U.K., has developed a power strip he calls the Savasocket. The device "learns" the infrared signal from the TV remote and switches off the entire bank of plugs when the standby button on the remote is pressed. The Savasocket is to be introduced in the U.K. next year at a price of about £20 ($30).
"The interest in the product has been phenomenal," says Mr. Dunne, a civil engineer from the British city of Leeds. "I'm very happy with the orders that are coming in."
One Click Technologies Ltd., also based in the U.K., sells the £17 Intelliplug, which cuts power to computer peripherals such as printers, scanners and speakers when a personal computer is shut down.

Although only small amounts of power are saved per device, there's a large potential saving -- especially in the US. The story says: "a study by the University of California, Berkeley, found that such snoozing machines consume as much as 26% of electricity used in gadget-stuffed homes in California."