As I’ve mentioned here before, I do my part to conserve energy not just to help the environment, but also to try to save a little money. Several years ago, I started turning off surge strips at night and then last year I bought some APC Power Saving SurgeArrest powerstrips that automatically turned on and off.
This, however, didn’t solve my needs for my desk where I come in every morning, turn on the powerstrip work all day and then turn off the strip. While this is a simple task, when we moved, the strip that I attached under my desk was no longer a good fit, so I placed it on the floor. For the last 4 months, I’ve been getting on the floor and turning the strip on each morning and repeating at night, except for the nights that I forget. I had seen some of Belkin’s new surge protectors and due to my laziness, I decided to pick up a Belkin Conserve Surge Protector with Timer
The Belkin powerstrip is pretty much like every other powerstrip in that it has some outlets and a few spots for bulky power adapters. However, it had a wired button that I could put on my desk. Turning on the powerstrip became as simple as pressing the button; same goes for turning it off. If I forgot to turn it off, there was a timer that automatically turned it off after 11 hours which turns out works well for me. I turn it on in the morning and it goes off at night.
There isn’t a whole lot more to say about this except that it makes shutting off vampire power supplies a bit easier than having to press the switch on the strip.
Pros
- Easy to use.
- Timer helps the forgetful.
- Has 2 outlets for always on devices.
- Has 2 outlets for bulky power adapters.
Cons
- A little pricey.
- Timer isn’t configurable.
Summary
While it isn’t going to pay for itself anytime soon, I’m pretty pleased with the product. It makes it so much easier for me to turn things on and when I walk away from my computer, I can easily turn things off to save even more energy. I’d love to see more people using products like these (or just shutting off powers trips when not using them) as we could cut a lot of energy usage that is simply wasted.