Max Power

I've braved delving around the dusty areas behind the back of my desk, in order to make some wiring changes that should help to save the planet.

After all, I care about the monkeys and toucans and dolphins of the rainforest, and I want to ensure that their valuable and vibrant homeland is preseved in a good state for many years to come. Plus, of course, electricity costs big money these days, so saving the planet saves the pound in your pocket. There's nothing not to like about that.

So tonight I indulged in a little re-wiring. I've got one of those "intelligent socket" things - had it for ages actually, but never done anything with it until now. Anyway, what it does, it's got six power sockets on it, and one of them is special, because if the thing plugged into the special socket is turned on, it turns all the other sockets on. And if the thing plugged into the special socket gets turned off, it turns off all the other sockets at the same time.

I've got my PC plugged into the special socket. So when I turn it on, all the other things turn on - the modem, the scanner, the laserprinter, the monitor, the network switch, the network storage drive, and some other network doodickeries that are too boring to talk about here.

So far so good. After all, turning all those things on has never been a problem before - but that's the point. Normally they're plugged in all the time. Which wastes electricity, even when they're not doing much.

Now, when I turn off the PC... boom! Out go the lights. Off goes the laser printer, along with the modem and the scanner and the monitor and the network switch and all the other things. It is very satisfying, and I now very much enjoy turning off my PC at any opportunity, in order to be filled with the frugal feeling of all the money that I'm saving. Oh, and the happy dolphins, of course.

This comes at a good time. After all, this time of year is traditionally a time when the sun puts its hat on and comes out to play all day, making everyone hot and sweaty. Very much a nuisance, and more so if you're in a room full of computers and laserprinters and network trouser presses which go heating the room up in a most unwanted fashion. So during this warm season I think I may try to turn my computer off at every opportunity, in order to keep cool while saving valuable pounds.

I'm just waiting for someone to come along and say "Oh, it's not good for electronics, turning them on and off all the time", but if that means my boxy old CRT monitor will finally go wrong so that I can replace it with a nice flat panel, then all the better. Who wouldn't be delighted with such a thing?