Smart plugs, dumb plugs, and dumb designs

I read a lot of emails, and articles in the magazines I read, about the next way to save electricity.

Some of these are related to the problem of passive power loss. This occurs when an electrical appliance is plugged in but is not actively in use. If designed well, then they will not use any power when they are turned off -- but what is off?

Any device that can be turned on by a remote is not completely without power. Any device that maintains an active clock (not powered by batteries) is not completely without power. And, in today's world, that makes up a large percentage of the electrical devices in our houses.

A "smart" electrical strip is designed to have one unit on a power monitoring circuit. The remaining outlets are triggered to provide power only if the monitored outlet starts consuming electricity beyond a certain level. For example, a television might be plugged into the monitored outlet. When it is "off", it only requires a certain level of power but, when on, it greatly increases the electricity needed. At this point, the other outlets become active. A DVD player, for example, might be plugged into a "client" outlet and the television into the monitored outlet. Until the television is turned on, no power is given to the DVD player (and the remote will not work with it).

Unfortunately, this is very limited in its uses. A DVR cannot be plugged into a client outlet because it runs timed events (an active clock). Same is true with a VCR. It MIGHT be useful with an amplifier or receiver but not with a satellite receiver which requires passive checks for updates of data over the phone lines. Every potential scenario must be carefully examined.

I purchased a "Kill-A-Watt" power monitor via a "Gold sale" on amazon.com. It seems to be designed well (with a few not-too-important caveats) but I have been unsuccessful in tracking down the largest electrical uses within the house. I thought that my study -- with four computers, a printer, LAN, and quite a few other individual devices (such as hard drives and powered disk readers) was surely the culprit. But it wasn't -- so the "Kill-A-Watt" was useful to disprove that. I now believe that the main drains are the pool pump and the house fans -- usually direct wired and often badly inefficient and expensive to replace.

So, how to reduce electricity use? Unplug those items not in use (some DO use power even when "off"). Run as many items though an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) as possible in a study -- a UPS will act as a buffer for items on reduced power demand. Reduce the number of internal clock devices. Keep the lights off when not in use. Use fans that have energy star ratings if possible -- and keep energy use in mind when purchasing new items.