Remote plugs pretend to cure the standby energy leak

Here in the UK at the moment there’s been a lot in the press about measuring your carbon footprint, and trying to reduce your own little cloud of emissions.  One of the big culprits, we’re told, is leaving the increasing amount of tech in our homes and offices on standby - every time we’re lazy a dolphin, panda or poplar tree dies.  Inevitably products spring up (or are rebranded) to take advantage of this new socio-environmental conscience, and inevitably a large number of them miss the point.

This is, basically, a set of remote control plugs and a wireless switch to activate them.  It’s been called “Bye Bye Standby”, and the idea is that you plug your TV, set-top box and the like into them and, before you go to bed, hit the switch to save all that lovely energy.  Of course, the reality is that nobody turns off their TV or set-top box because the information-wiping pixies would sneak into them overnight and clear all the settings.  What we need is manufacturers to design better appliances that can retain their programming even without a steady electricity supply, not some plugs that have been hastily rebranded. 

Domia [via Automated Home]