One of the key points Professor Tim Flannery made to us last week during our interview is that one of the simplest things you can do to both save energy and money is switching off gadgets at the powerpoint. But in true geek style, there are gadgets that actually do that for you – do you use them?
The most striking example that comes to mind is Belkin’s lineup of Conserve power products. They have power boards designed to either let you remotely kill power to the majority of devices on the board, or alternatively have multiple ports follow a master connection, so that when that master device is switched off, power is cut to all other devices.
Both are incredible intelligent and simple ideas that make saving energy so much easier. But do you guys use them? I’ve been using the Belkin remote controlled powerboard in my home theatre setup since it launched – My TiVo is running through the always on port, but everything else gets switched off remotely at the end of the night, stopping any power draw on my system.
I have no idea how much money that’s saved me over the past couple of years, but I’m sure it has.
But the question is whether you guys use them? Considering that they will probably save you money in the long run, are you prepared to spend a bit of extra cash up front for an intelligent power saving device? Or is it so far down your priority list you don’t actually care? Let us know in comments.