TerraPass is rolling out a series of posts on green gifts for the holidays.
One that I’ve never seen before is a surge suppressor called the Smart Strip that lets you fully turn off power-sucking products that unnecessarily draw power 24-7. For example, if you’re computer’s turned off, it probably makes sense that your printer and scanner aren’t going to see any use, so they don’t need to be hovering around waiting to fulfill an assignment on a moment’s notice.
I decided to pick up a Kill-A-Watt. It’s a meter that helps you figure out how much energy your electronics are using. Maybe I’ll find out that our refrigerator is an energy hog, or that a stereo is costing us a bundle in sleep mode? I’ll report back on that once I’ve had a chance to try it. For $20, I have a feeling this will be a solid eco-investment.
When I lived in Seattle, we like to check out the waste-free holiday scene: http://www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/wastefreeholidays/participants.asp
You know, it’s one of those NW ‘green’ things.