If you want to do it as a way of patting yourself on the back, go right ahead. The problem with it is people actually think they’re making a difference, then proceed to drive to work and use more energy in their car in one trip than they save all year unplugging their phone charger.
That naivety is the problem; people think stupid little gimmick tricks like this will actually solve our energy problems, so when real solutions like nuclear power come up they won’t support it. “We don’t need more nuke plants, we just need to get everyone to put powerstrips on their electronics!”.
It doesn’t hurt to unplug you cell phone charger and I don’t think anyone here believes its the sole solution to the our energy problem…so really what is your beef with this suggestion?
It hurts no one and helps a little, not much, but still.
I’m ok with Nuke power, I just think it should be used in combination with renewable energies like wind and solar.
most valid point of this thread. direcTV, dish network and cable box’s pull power ALL the time on or off. so unless it is a DVR and needs to be on to catch recordings flip that stuff off and you will see a difference.
that said I want a KW meter on my phone so I can track the amount of power it has used in its lifetime. kind of like a odometer on a car. That would be neat.
Look for something called a “smartstrip”. it is a power strip with both a filter and surge protection. It has a control outlet (tv) consent on outlets (dvr) and switched outlets.
when you turn your TV off it reads a reduction in power usage and auto shuts off the switched outlets (good for audio and game consoles.
They work really good, and if you can find the ones at wegmans that were part of the program I work in you can get them on clearance for about 8 bucks.
I totally agree with your point on Nuclear Plants but at the same time there is nothing wrong in getting people to be aware of these things in their daily lives, care about it, and make an effort to help. Conditioning people to “give a shit” is beneficial regardless.
Exactly what I was about to say. I dont think someone ever intended to suggest that we could solve our energy problems by unplugging a phone charger, but rather use that example to get people thinking about small things you can do to not waste energy. Americans use double the power per day as Europeans do, and I dont doubt a lot of that is because a) most Americans do have the “I dont give a shit thats not going to make a difference” mentality b) Its much cheaper for us, therefor impacts us less c) everything here is BIGGER (i.e. bigger cars, bigger homes, longer commutes, etc)
I think it is of the utmost importance that our country invests heavily in green technologies. It is no mystery our country produces less and less every year, and the only way to maintian our economy and the lifestyles we are used to living is to begin producing things again. Efficient new ways of creating/saving energy is and always will be in demand globally. As more auto plants shut down, and manufacturing jobs move overseas it is imperative to create new jobs here in the US.
Like I said before, if it makes sense do it but, this kind of bs just turns people off.(No pun intended)
Sidenote: I just heard that Al Gore is worth $100 million but when he left office he was worth $2 million. When he sells “go green” I guess was talking about his career/wallet.
HEY, GUESS WHAT - YOU UNPLUGGING 4,872,010 IDLE CHARGERS SAVED JUST ENOUGH ENERGY FOR MY MONITOR TO DISPLAY THIS THREAD! THANKS! UT OH… NO WE’RE BEHIND AGAIN.
