Even though our gadgets are fully charged, they’ll often continue to draw power.  This is not only a tax on your power bill, but isn’t environmentally friendly.  The resolve?  Score yourself a power strip that eliminates this shortcoming.   However, a power strip is hardly practical if you’re on the road and only have some much storage space in your pullman suitcase.

Enter Bracketron’s Mushroom GreenZero and Stone GreenZero wall chargers.  They’re pocket sized devices built to charge your portable device.  Both models feature a USB port and will automatically shutdown once your smartphone or tablet is fully charged.  The Mushroom model features a mushroom inspired cap that when pressed by your hand or foot, initiates charging.  The Stone is the smaller of the two and includes a small power button – it’s designed for those who are traveling, but either model should suffice.

Bracketron will sell a few different versions of both models with variable pricing depending on what cord is needed for your device.  The price will range from  $24.95 to $34.95 – the top price reflects a version that includes an iPhone cable.

AT&T has their fair share of advanced handsets, but the last thing I thought I’d ever see from them is a game changing wall charger, the Zero Charger. Wall charger you say?  Sure did.  What sets this one apart from the masses is that it draws absolutely NO power (i.e. vampire power) when plugged in and not in use.  Other wall chargers, however, suck down a tiny bit of power regardless of whether or not they’re plugged into a device. Oh, and it’s USB, so it will work for the masses, not just one device.

Currently there is no word on a price or launch date, but you can sign up (I did) to be notified when it is available.

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In the North Hall at CES 2010, DKO International was showing off their new energy saving HiSaver power strip.  Using a motion sensor to detect movement, or rather lack of movement in that it shuts down the power strip after 10 minutes of inactivity.

The strip also features a separate input for your computer so it can stay awake throughout shutdown.  Both the motion sensor (w/ 6ft cord) and the strip itself are mountable.  Capable of withstanding a powerload of up to 1,875 watts, you can daisy chain this with other power strips but you run the risk of blowing it out.

Two versions will be available, one for your TV and one for your PC.  The TV one shuts down in hourly increments of 1-3 hours and the PC one shuts down after 10 minutes.  Intended to save you between $65 and $100 a year in bills, both versions will sell for $99 and will be available soon.

Nowadays, saving energy is quickly becoming common sense as opposed to forward thinking.  More and more tech consumers are aware of vampire power and and there are plenty of products out there to combat this unnecessary use of energy.

Having recently been introduced to the TrickleStar products, I have found them to be easy to use as well as being relatively easy on the wallet.  What I can say right away is that you are not going to see a noticeable difference in your electric bill.  Not unless you are using a ton of them.  You’d really have to have your whole residence outfitted in order to see your bill go down.

Now that’s not to say that every little bit doesn’t count for something.  I’m sure it does work to prevent vampire power, you just have to have faith and believe in the product.  To help with that faith, the TrickleStar PC Energy Saver and Switch look very consumer friendly using a brilliant white glossy plastic and an attractive logo.

To explain what the TrickleStar PC Energy Saver and switch does is quite basic.  It limits the amount of stand-by power your computer and peripherals draw from the wall outlet when not in use.  When you power down or put to sleep your Mac or PC, the energy saver is activated.  Without the switch, the energy saver is automatically set into use upon shut-down, whereas you have manual control when you have the switch integrated with in the set-up.  I really have no idea why this wasn’t one product, but I’ll save that for gripe time.

The set-up process is really easy as well.  All you do is plug the energy saver into the wall and then plug the power strip containing your PC/Mac and all its peripherals (Scanner, Printer, USB Hubs) into the female end.  From there you plug the USB end into any port that reaches your computer.  The switch is the middle man between you computer and the energy saver and uses female and male USB plugs to make that connections.  Super easy.

I have a MacBook laptop so I am often using my computer away from my hard drives, USB hubs, and iPhone dock.  The TrickleStar PC Energy Saver and Switch worked perfect for this.  All I had to do was flip the switch and my whole surge protector  and hard drives were shut down.  The switch itself denotes power through a bright green LED.  For more permanent set-ups, the Energy Save plug is mountable and the Switch has a peel adhesive.

Simple as that, my only problem with these products is that they are not one product.  There’s really no need for this and it is much more practical to power your gear down manually, especially when using several chained hard drives.

Beyond that, the TrickleStar products work as advertised and will cost under $30 for the pair.  If you are looking for a way to assure yourself that your computer set-up is not wasting energy I strongly suggest you give these products a try.

Pros:

• Easy Set-Up
• Attractive Aesthetic
• Saves Energy

Cons:

• Products should be combined as one package
• No real way to prove it works without the help of MythBusters

Buy the TrickleStar PC Energy Saver Plug Here For $17!

Buy the Trickle Star PC Switch Here For $10!

Vampire power has long been addressed in power strips with the addition of individual kill switches per outlet, but what about those powered USB ports?  The BSH4A02 4-port USB hub from Buffalo features a power switch per port, ostensibly letting you disable select USB devices while saving power and preventing ports from being fried during start up.  Each switch features an LED light to indicate power and the hub itself is available in 4 colors.  No word on a US release date, but expect it to go on sale in Japan this October for $40.

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