Inhabitat

love the observation: green moving into user experience and visual representation. cool! great blog btw

What a great idea…we should be much more aware of our energy usage.

This is very cool. How much is it and where is it sold? Julie

Ah yes another interpretation of energy usage through blinking lights. I like the idea this object seeks to address, but I am not comfortable with the notion of having a blue glow (or worse, pulsing lights) enveloping my bedroom with its, ironically, energy consuming presence. As I have had glowing and pulsing USB cords, I can say that they are annoying and make sleeping impossible (for me). Those that cannot take the lights, blinking or otherwise, would be limited to plugging in products that are not on all the time (i.e.- fridge, computer, etc.). Hence, I wish the “indication” emitted by the cord was a tad more subtle. I think the cord should blink 2 different lights; one for the product plugged into it, and one for the cord itself. (I would almost rather see the cord become a lamp in itself- hanging from ceiling mounted outlets or multiple cords twisted together forming a sort of chandelier.) Energy usage, in my opinion, is best “attacked” at its root. If a home is “green” and self sustaining in its energy CREATION, then the energy usage of products (in it) becomes less impactful on the rest of the environment. If we persist in creating products that “address” energy consumption whilst ignoring the base of the issue, we in fact render “band-aid” solutions and will continually do so until the “splinter” is removed. I do like this product in concept, but it does walk a teetering line to becoming injection molded “green” kitsch being sold at Goodwill in a box of unwanted powercords. (Don’t hate me, I am just playing devil’s advocate- props are still given)

What a great way to actually ’see’ how much energy we are using!

This is a very neat product, but I agree with Energ8t – it seems like a sculpture rather than a power cord. It would be a very cool sculptural lamp or chandelier – and an annoying plug in cord. This is my first inhabitat experience and I love the cutting edge you represent. I will be back —–

Won’t that just use *more* energy?

A short film showing the pulsation would be nice

It certainly is a great concept, turning something as hard to conceptulaize as energy into something visible to the average person. However, The Green Guide (www.thegreenguide.com) has looked into these power strips and they aren’t currently being manufactured on a wide scale. The company has only created prototypes suitable for European outlets, and when we spoke to them at the end of September, they were still planning on introducing the product in Europe first, with a North American model coming out at some unspecified point in the future.

Even so, if enough people express an interest in the chords to the designers, perhaps they’ll speed their manufacturing along.

This sounds great but when will they be availiable?

cool, but arent you just wasting more energy to light the fucker up

[...] inhabitat 對它的介紹 [...]