Standby Kill Chip: The End of Vampire Power?
We’ve seen lots of tools recently to stop vampire power— the power used by electronics when they’re off and still plugged in— but the Standby Kill Chip may be the best. The chip is installed directly in electronics or power strips. It uses an algorithm that senses when an electronic device is in standby mode and shuts it off.
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Of course, computer users who actually want their laptop to stay in standby mode might not appreciate this, but the chip’s inventors say their product works in any device featuring a standby mode— including cell phones, TVs, microwave ovens, and washing machines.
Best of all, appliances don’t need to go through start-up mode when they’re reactivated. When the “on” button is pressed, they go directly to standby.
The Standby Kill Chip is still in prototype mode, and is currently being tested by NH Hotels SA of Spain in 50,000 hotel rooms. If it works, you can bet I’ll have a bunch of these in my house.
Photo Credit: NREL
Interesting concept and I love the idea although I do wonder how much power the kill switch uses in order to kill the power.
Nink
http://www.greenpolicy.ca
Okay, maybe I’m confused..
If I have a computer that goes into STR (Suspend to Ram) mode, and the power’s cut, the data in the RAM will .. expire. How could I expect it to resume back in “standby” mode? Even if I used a heavier standby mode, the system won’t start rigth back up in standby.
My TV, for example. If I put it into power saving and then cut the power, when that power’s returned, it comes on. It doesn’t go straight into power saving.
Sounds like they’re planning on many (most? a lot?) of devices to change as well for that little “pro” for the device.
For DVD players and especially all those new digital converter boxes that people are buying as required by February 2009 this will be a great addition. I can tell you from experience that even when off those cheap converter boxes that everyone is buying run quite hot. Its a great idea but I’m not sure you can buy this yet. Although the article states that it is being tested in hotels neither the article nor company webpage ( http://www.gfy-gfp.com/eng/zero.html ) tell where you can actually buy this. Anyone know if this is the case?
[...] for another addition to the growing collection of devices that claim to stop vampire power (AKA power used while electronics are in standby mode): [...]