Energy saving power-strip cuts the waste

French designer Gilles Belley has come up with an ingenious concept for power distribution and conservation, simply called the "Energy Saving Adaptor". The system uses modular plugs which link together to form a power-strip of connectors, these hang from the side of a desk (where they can be added or taken away as necessary), and each module monitors the energy status of a single device and displays that information via blue LED lights on the surface. When a connected device goes into "standby" mode, the lights alert the user, and within three minutes the module automatically shuts down, thus conserving otherwise wasted energy. Additionally, these modules look roughly a thousand times better than the power-strips we've all been buying at the dollar store, which never hurts. No word yet on when or if these will be made commercially available.

[Via Akihabaranews]

[Unregistered @ Jul 6th 2007 1:56AM]

Just in time for Live Earth! 07.07.07!

[murray @ Jul 6th 2007 2:04AM]

Oh I am gonna knock that thing right off my table.

[Jordan Running @ Jul 6th 2007 2:15AM]

If you look closely (or visit the site) you'll see that it doesn't hang from the desk so much as clamp onto the edge. The "main" unit (the one that plugs into the wall) has a crank on the bottom, and the other units attach (presumably securely) to that.

[Alvin @ Jul 6th 2007 2:23AM]

Erhm... it's called Standby mode for a reason. If I don't need/want a device to go into standby, I will turn it off. Usually though, standby is preferential, if not necessary. Aside from allowing devices to "boot up" quickly, the constant flow of current usually holds user settings if the device doesn't have a battery. I know of more than a few devices in my house that need custom settings redone after lenghthy power-outages. But hey, at least this thing looks cool. :)

PS: Don't buy your power strips at the dollar store unless you want the smallest of surges to fry your gear! ;-)

[SnowingCookies @ Jul 6th 2007 2:38AM]

You do realize that while some devices which plug-in are visually seen as being turned off, they still consume power. For this very reason is why power-conservation advocates advise you to not just turn off electrical devices that are not in use, but to also unplug them - to conserve as much power as possible.

[Alvin @ Jul 6th 2007 2:48AM]

Yes, I do realize this, which is why I still would not prefer the electricity to be completely cut from my device(s). Sometimes (but not always), even if a device appears to be off, the small current flowing through it is helping to hold some sort of user settings. When the power is completely cut, the device must switch to its backup battery to retain the settings. While saving some serious wattage in the long run, this device will ultimately cause the usually-cumbersome-to-replace backup battery to drain rather quickly.

[murray @ Jul 6th 2007 3:03AM]

SnowingCookies (that's a nice image) is right. Even many gadgets that don't have a standby mode are still consuming power when plugged in, because their power switch is after the transformer. Even when a transformer isn't under and load, the primary is drawing a small current.

A few things on my desk that come to mind which would be drawing power even though they're 'off': PC speakers (wall wart p/s), printer (soft power off), monitor (brick p/s, soft power off), external drive (brick p/s).

I think part of the reason for this is that chunky 120/240v switches just aren't sexy enough for today's gadgets. We like soft switches you just touch or tap to turn a device on or off.

[Vegetable @ Jul 6th 2007 2:25AM]

Energy saving adapter saves energy! The problem is, it uses energy.

[L. Cyphre @ Jul 6th 2007 3:16AM]

lol for truth.

[LordFarkward @ Jul 6th 2007 3:26AM]

as long as it's using less energy to help me save the energy that i could've saved, i'm more than happy to use that less energy to help me save the energy that i will save

[JBDragon @ Jul 6th 2007 2:36AM]

There are many problems with it that I see.
#1 It's clamped on the side of your desk. Well you can't really easily SEE IT to know how much power is being used.
#2 Most people want their power supply in back hidden.
#3 Anything more then a few devices and it'll be to long for a lot of peoples desks.
#4 That thing wouldn't even be able to clamp onto the side of my computer desk in the first place.
#5 Personally I think it's pretty ugly.

[Steve @ Jul 6th 2007 3:06AM]

How much power does this thing consume??? I'd be much happier if it just had wired-in switches that dont consume power when they're idle

[absurdio @ Jul 6th 2007 3:07AM]

To reiterate and add to the list of troubles:
1) Like Vegetable said, it USES power, too. Perhaps not as much as it saves? Still, a bit counterintuitive.
2) Wtf? Since when does industrial design include the philosophy of "let's let these leds drift away all willy nilly"? Seriously. What the crap.
3) Okay, it's nice to be able to hide the power strip...but it seems to me that this also makes it a lot harder to hide the cords leading TO the power strip. Like JBDragon pointed out, most people hide their power strips; putting the powerstrip in an obvious place also means putting all those wires in an obvious place. ugly.
4) The base unit has a clamp. None of the others do. If you get even the four power outlets pictured, it seems to me that the non-base-unit end of the "strip" is going to be AWFULLY easy to knock off the desk, and I doubt that one base-unit clamp is gonna have a lot of ability to prevent that from happening.

I applaud the idea, but there's some pretty good reasons this isn't on shelves yet.

[Unregistered @ Jul 6th 2007 4:02AM]

Re: murray @ Jul 6th 2007 3:03AM

I just reached over and yanked the power cord off my printer that's been switched off. :)

[murray @ Jul 6th 2007 4:19AM]

Buy me a beer with the savings :)

[fini @ Jul 6th 2007 5:34AM]

A UK company (featured on Dragons Den) already has a patent on a power pack that switches off the power to the device when it goes into standby (and can be turned on by said devices remote control) so I don't see this French company getting this into being an actual product without paying the English one or something.

[Chamatkaribaba @ Jul 6th 2007 5:44AM]

If you look closely (or visit the site) you'll see that it doesn't hang from the desk so much as clamp onto the edge. The "main" unit (the one that plugs into the wall) has a crank on the bottom, and the other units attach (presumably securely) to that.
http://talkingforum.wordpress.com

[Romain @ Jul 6th 2007 7:11AM]

You Can take a look at the designer's website, there is a lot more pictures of the power-strip and also some others concepts.

http://www.gillesbelley.fr/fr_Edf/Edf_coupe-veille_1.html

[Tomahawk @ Jul 6th 2007 9:24AM]

Why can't someone do this for an UPS battery......I have yet to find any UPS battery that isn't ugly!

[Ken @ Jul 6th 2007 9:35AM]

So...

This guy made a device using petroleum based materials that are supposed to piggy-back your current power usage to tell you that you are using power (most likely miniscule amounts). I'd say this is a most ironic product.

[Sanskrit @ Jul 6th 2007 10:20AM]

I find these to be a fascinating and great idea, although, as Tomahawk says, a UPS version wouldn't be a bad idea.

[grenavitar @ Jul 6th 2007 1:15PM]

I understand that vampire power usage by appliances is a problem... but, each of those things works for one device. So, how many hours of standby must this strip turn of to make up for the energy used to manufacture and ship one of these? I really have no idea... but if it's 500,000 hours then maybe this really isn't so efficient.

[Cal @ Jul 7th 2007 10:11AM]

Even at a lower trickle voltage in standby mode it still saves energy !! That could be a great cost saver for large corporations and even us lowly users.

[Cal @ Jul 7th 2007 10:11AM]

Even at a lower trickle voltage in standby mode it still saves energy !! That could be a great cost saver for large corporations and even us lowly users.

[Rose Xu @ Jul 15th 2007 2:20AM]

Dear sirs,

We are led lamp manufacturer in China,we supply good quality and competitive price products at prompt delivery all year.If have any interest, please contact us via Skype Orientalrose-led lamp or MSN [e-mail] to know more, any enquiry will be replied promptly in detail, looking forward to hearing from you !


Best regards


Rose Xu


Tel:[phone]

Fax:[phone]

Led King Co.,Ltd