Here at Planet Forward, we have certainly mentioned energy vampires before. The struggle against appliances that leech power even when on standby is real and it’s hard to remember to unplug every single device you aren’t using. That’s where power strips come to the rescue, cutting the flow of power at the plug.

What many people don’t realize is that a power strip with no switch functions the same as the wall outlet. The power strip doesn’t just magically save energy, you have to actually turn it off. Even writing this, I realize I’m personally guilty of forgetting to turn my power strips off. I will admit that I, too, thought that somehow the Energy Star label on my strip meant that it would miraculously solve my phantom energy woes. But the real solution is the act of flipping the “off” switch that functionally unplugs all those devices at once.

The good news is that you can save energy for under $10. You don’t need to go buy a fancy power strip when a cheap one will serve the same function just as well. If you don’t want to buy a power strip with a switch, you can simply unplug the whole strip from the wall for roughly the same effect. Of course if you want some high-end tech, there are advanced power strips that can even manage your devices for you.

(Image at top by Firstfreddy/Creative Commons)