With everyone being constantly exhorted to use less power so as to produce less carbon dioxide and therefore lessen global warming, I got to thinking.
Currently I don't know of any government that mandates the inclusion of a master switch system in domestic, or commercial, electrical wiring systems to allow a complete shutdown of all but non-essential appliances and lights.
The "Green" Switch would be a... green-coloured, obviously... knife switch mounted next to the front door of each house. As you are about to leave the house you flip the switch and it takes down all devices on standby and all lights you haven't switched off. It would leave the fridge on (different circuit) and your DVD recorder if you're recording your favourite TV show, etc.
I've seen something similar in modern, commercial highrise buildings but even they are usually only for lighting circuits and not the computers, monitors, photocopiers, et al that are usually left on overnight and on weekends, greedily sucking the life out of our planet.-- UnaBubba, Oct 01 2008 Similar, but for aircraft http://www.atlasboo...2excerpt3chpt2a.pdfPDF document [UnaBubba, Oct 02 2008] GBCA http://www.gbca.org.au/ [williamsmatt, Oct 02 2008] + Excellent!! All this summer, I shut off my furnace to stop it from making hot water all day while we were not home to use it! We really do need to observe every way in which we waste energy=money!! I'd like to order one of these.-- xandram, Oct 02 2008 Sounds like a lot of clock re-setting to me.-- DrBob, Oct 02 2008 Not necessary to reset any clocks if the appliance is fitted with a battery to keep the clock running.-- UnaBubba, Oct 02 2008 Easy to do in a new build. Pair up the power outlets. Label them "Normal" and "Sustained". You could even put a small UPS in to feed the "sustained" sockets. Put a low value MCB on the sustained circuit to limit the load to a few hundred watts.-- 8th of 7, Oct 02 2008 You're right. It's a surprise that it's not mandatory. I swear it would add less than a year's power bills to a house construction cost and pay for itself inside of three years.-- UnaBubba, Oct 02 2008 and the fan for the natural-gas water heater, and the clock-radios in each bedroom and the computer that's going to wake up and download something at a certain time, and the A/C unless you want to come home to a furnace, and the furnace, and the automatic energy-saving water sprinkler and the home-security system components, and the "we're home, don't rob us" lights, and the automatic kitty-litter box and the garage-door opener and the microwave set to start defrosting an hour before you get home and the telephone answering machine....-- FlyingToaster, Oct 02 2008 [FT] so then don't flip your switch as you exit your house towards your V12 8.0lt SUV. I love this, and won't be surprised if we see this or a more malleable software version (to cater for the [FT]'s) soon.-- 4whom, Oct 02 2008 In order to work with any semblance of "properly" you'll need devices that are capable of telling the "green switch system" what their individual continuity requirements are... and manufacturers that are willing to go along with it; you've added a layer of complexity, which generally increases cost and reduces reliability and mtbf.-- FlyingToaster, Oct 02 2008 I did something similar - my circuit breaker box had a spare breaker, so I got the electrician to wire that one up for the fridge plug. I didn't turn everything else off every day (because of clocks etc), but if I was going away for a few days it was good. Then I moved the fridge...-- MadnessInMyMethod, Oct 02 2008 //In order to work with any semblance of "properly" you'll need devices that are capable of telling the "green switch system" what their individual continuity requirements are//
No, you'll only need to have two circuits... one for essential services and one for non-essential. Green outlet plates for one circuit (non-essential) and white or red plates for essentials.-- UnaBubba, Oct 02 2008 I think Andrew Denton mentioned pretty much this idea a few weeks ago. Good idea though. Don't you mean all but *essential* appliences etc?-- spidermother, Oct 02 2008 U r right to say that master building systems have 'green switches' or at least powerdown modes, however these never take account of tenant fitout items such as desk lamps, on floor lighting, computer systems etc etc. the intelligence of such a system could be easily implemented, but the problem will be knowing what is plugged where as noted above. as per your note a set of green powerpoints distributed around the house/tenancy as opposed to a single white colour would be all thats needed. although this ups the install cost over not having it. although who wants green powerpoints. maybe just a green dot. you should write to the green building council about this idea as per link.-- williamsmatt, Oct 02 2008 I spoke to my architect buddy, Chris, about this one again today. Since we first discussed it back in January he's been designing it into low-energy homes for a while. None of them have finished building yet, but they'll be coming online soon.-- UnaBubba, Oct 05 2008 Ideally, at every plug socket you could have two switches- one on/off (if applicable), and one green/red.
Then you can set up every socket as an individual preference, eg. if your computer will be downloading then switch it red. And remember to switch it back afterwards!
Also avoids the problems associated with moving appliances.-- CJF, Oct 05 2008 That's a really good idea.-- UnaBubba, Oct 05 2008 I thought of this idea as I was leaving the house today. Lo - it has been thunk before. And so bread. But I am sad I will not get to use the word "lugubriating" as my posting of this idea would have. I will save it for later.-- bungston, Feb 04 2009 If one had X10-style appliance modules which didn't themselves draw any significant amount of standby power, one could plug into such devices any appliances which should be off when nobody's home. Not sure if the electronics would fit in a typical junction box, though.-- supercat, Jul 22 2009 It should also have a small LCD to tell you how much power/money you've saved.-- Lord Kyler, Jul 25 2009 My house has a switch by the front door that turns off power to the lower socket in every power outlet in the living room, kitchen, and dining room. I keep the essentials (fridge, computer, answering machine, and intruder alarms) plugged into the upper sockets, and switch off the lower sockets (tv, vcr, dvd player, printer, shredder, microwave, coffee pot, toaster oven, and phones) when I leave the house. Saves a bundle, and kinda Bakes this idea methinks.-- 21 Quest, Jul 25 2009 Great idea, though we would need to look into a way of preventing an even more annoying form of ''ding dong ditch''. Possible a combination.-- danman, Jul 25 2009 nice idea but i think retrofitting might present challenges. to help with this i think a wireless relay switches that can be bought from your hard ware store (new idea) could be applied between the sockets of non essential items and their power cables. upon activating the green switch a radio signal transmitted would trigger the wireless switches to turn off the power to the parent appliance.-- codrakon, Jul 25 2009 halfbakery