For years, environmentalists have warned that keeping electronics plugged in all the time wastes energy, even when a device is switched off. Even for less green-conscious consumers this lost energy can add up on the electric bill each month, so disconnecting unused devices or switching them off at the wall is really a good habit for anyone to get into. But let's be honest, it's hard to remember to unplug each gadget every single time it's used. To help with this, designers have created the PumPing Tap, a concept electrical socket that can detect an unused power cord and physically eject it from the wall.
The PumPing Tap is actually pretty simple in design. Sensors in the circuit detect whether the plug is actively using electricity, and, if it isn't, the light on the outside turns from blue to red. Ten minutes later, if the device is still switched off, a spring-loaded mechanism pops the plug out of the socket like a projectile from a toy dart gun. As far as methods for cutting down on power consumption go, this one is very direct. The PumPing Tap was even one of the winners of the Red Dot Design Concept award.
Of course there are some obvious drawbacks to this method of energy conservation. For one, most people have at least a handful of outlets hidden behind furniture specifically to keep them out of the way, so plugging an electrical cord back in could mean rearranging the living room. Plus there's the lingering question of how much energy needs to be used for the cord to stay plugged in. It's too easy to imagine a fully charged mobile phone's power cord being ejected from the wall, leaving the phone's battery to slowly drain.
Source: Yanko Design
And what happens to the \'old\' plug being replaced that works perfectly if you use common sense? Right... to the land fill.
If designers can design/invent/innovate something, doesn\'t mean that something needs to be invented. Common sense is the best invention a man would ever need before anything else needs to be invented/innovated.
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Since many power spike sensitive devices need to be left on, either completely or on standby, new housing should have duplicate wall sockets throughout, one with surge protection, the other without, colour coded appropriately. The non-protected sockets are all controlled by a single wall switch inside the house, and every device which doesn\'t need to left plugged in goes into the non-protected sockets, so flicking the single switch will automatically \"unplug\" every non-essential device throughout the house.
The householder can decide which device should go in which coloured socket and apply appropriately coloured tape insulation tape or paint or ... whatever.
The other alternative which I use is to have two power boards, colour coded, and just do the same thing. By just unplugging one board, I can turn off several items simultaneously. It\'s probably a less costly solution than having the house re-wired.
How about this... A completely automated way of unplugging and re-plugging in devices when not in use. It\'s called the Smart Strip. http://bitsltd.net/ These Surge Protectors will *Automatically* stop the flow of power to some of its outlets when one main device is not in use. Check them out. They protect your equipment while saving you energy and therefore money!
This thing is also dangerous around kids. What if there\'s something in the way (perhaps a backpack was left next to the outlet), and the plug only ejected half-way as a result? I could see some little kid sticking his finger or something in the half-ejected powercord and getting electrocuted. This product is already a bust.
Most power supplies for laptop chargers, phone and other battery chargers use a transformer which keeps drawing current when not in use. That is why its recommended to unplug these power supplies.
Lights don\'t use any power when off and like a previous person said, it would sure suck to have to plug a light every time you want to use it.
The ultimate solution is for power supplies to sense when the battery operated device is plugged in and use the battery power to close the incoming wall circuit to start the charge. It wouldn\'t work for non battery powered devices. Some body else can figure that one out.
Just my two cents.