From Glenn Croston's Fast Company Expert Blog:

We don’t usually pay a lot of attention to the power strips buried under our desk in the cord spaghetti but maybe we should.  Because an eco-friendly power strip like EcoStrip might just hold the secret to saving real money by harnessing the power of energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency remains a huge opportunity for homes, offices, and corporate sustainability programs to save resources and save money, estimated by McKinsey and Company in 2009 to represent over a trillion dollars in potential savings.  Solutions often involve long lists of things we should do like turning out the lights but the best solutions are simple and making savings automatic. One of these is EcoStrip, an eco-friendly power strip that saves energy and saves money all on its own without nagging anyone or sending memos about recycling.  If you’re in charge of producing solid results with your company’s sustainability efforts, EcoStrip is a solution to consider because the results are automatic, significant, and boost the bottom line. 

Studies have shown that all of the electronics around the office can suck up a surprising amount of energy even when people go home at the end of the day.  Standby power drains from electronics in the home and office are thought to consume billions of dollars in wasted energy each year.  Powering down your PC when you’re not using it is one step that helps, but what about the other devices that go along with computers like printers, scanners, and speakers?  When left on every night of the year, the cost of these adds up. 

Sometimes we’re looking for green solutions that are flashy and involve radical changes.  "What's amazing about the EcoStrip is it's a radical improvement of something we all use everyday and took for granted - until now,” said Marcos Cordero, co-founder and CEO of the Green Business Bureau.

EcoStrip works like a regular power strip most of the time, with several plugs for your computer and peripherals.  When you turn of the computer though, the computer controlled power strip turns off power to the other devices connected to it.  There’s not a big down side to turning off electronics that are not being used, and the upside is that with a small investment you’ll save a significant amount of money.  The creators of the patented EcoStrip estimate that one of their energy-saving power strips can save up to $100 a year, and pay for itself with an ROI as short as 90 days.  And if you have hundreds or even thousands of computers and peripherals, the opportunity for savings is that much greater.

For some the motivation to adopt changes like this is their concern about doing the right thing for the environment, while others may be focused on the money they save.  Even if you’re primarily interested in saving money, EcoStrip is still a great option.  "EcoStrip has created a revolutionary product that I am recommending to all of my green real estate investor clients,” said Jim Simcoe, President of Simcoe Consulting.  “This ingenious product saves money and energy while delivering optimal performance.”

EcoStrip is the kind of low-hanging fruit most green teams dream of, just plug it in and it goes.  If only getting people to recycle was that easy. 

Glenn Croston is the author of "75 Green Businesses" and "Starting Green", helping green businesses to get started and grow at Starting Up Green.

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