Gaming Systems & Power Suck?

Paul Smith from GreenSmith Consulting contacted me yesterday with an interesting article that I wanted to share with you all. With all the "Green" talk going around don't you wonder how you can save at home? We've all heard that the things we leave plugged in and not actually use will suck the power more than we know. Things like cell phone chargers, laptops/desktops, printers, VCR/DVD players, TV's, iPod chargers, etc. What about gaming systems? Do you unplug yours when you're not using it? We should, but does anyone actually do that? NO!

Here's a solution:

A Smart Power Strip. I've never seen these before. Genius! Here's how it works:

The BITS provides 7 outlets; two of which always have power, and four of which turn themselves off whenever there's a 10% or more drop in the power being required by the primary two outlets. So, you can plug your computer, which needs the permanent surge protection, into the main outlets and plug your printers and speakers and everything else into the controlled outlets - Then, when you shut your computer down, the BITS Power Strip will sense it and also shut down all your peripherals. It'll also turn everything back on when you turn your computer (or whatever you choose to plug into the main outlets) back on.

Click here to check it out and watch the short video. Very insightful. Can you imagine how much money you could save if you had these all over the house? I could really use one for the entertainment center, one for the computer station, one for the kitchen electronics and one each for our 4 bedrooms. The boys have a bunch of stuff plugged in; alarm clock, TV/DVD player, Leapster charger and lamp.

They analyzed gaming systems for this article and here's what they found:

	In use	Idle	Standby
Wii*	20w	15w	2w
Xbox 360**	189w	155w	3w
Playstation 3***	193.6w	177.2w	1.9w

WOW! We have a Wii and I'm happy to see that it scored the lowest in the amount of power it sucks. It's plugged in constantly though, right now it's in standby mode. I see that little yellow light taunting me, saying "I'm costing you money!". That and my cell phone charger's tiny red dot. Now I'm thinking of the toaster, toaster oven, coffee pot, microwave and blender in the kitchen all plugged in right now. Not good. Money is too precious to throw away, and that's pretty much what I'm doing. I'm sure we're all doing it. I'm disgusted.

I think it's time for an investment in savings. Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? You know what they say "You have to spend money to make money", in this case "You have to spend money to save money."