Big Green Smile Eco Button - Auto Shut Down PC's and Laptops

I'm not normally one for buying gadgets or watching the C5 programme The Gadget Show, that type of thing is always left to my Husband. However a few weeks ago when he was watching the show something caught my attention, they were talking about saving money around the home by reducing the electricity usage which I am very keen on doing. One of these gadgets was the Ecobutton, a little green button that attaches to your computer or laptop and every time you need to leave the computer you click the button and it puts it into an energy saving mode.

So after some investigation on the internet I found the www.eco-button.com and had a quick read and decided yes I wanted one of those. So I then set about finding the cheapest website which sold this button.

The button came in a cardboard sleeve with the button sitting in a plastic cover. There's only a small instruction leaflet which tells you to visit the website www.eco-button.com, where you download the programme the button uses.

Basically the button is a large round plastic white button about 6cm in diameter attached to a cable about 1 meter in length with a USB plug attached to the other end. The large white button sits in a green base with ecobutton written in green and a picture of the earth in blue it is made from recycled plastic. The button flashes green when plugged in.

I found the website every easy to use. Once on the website I selected my country which then took me to a page containing three areas, firstly setting up the button, next is download the software and finally is FAQ. I read through the setting up information which basically tells you how to download and then how to connect your button. I then clicked on download, firstly I needed to register my purchase and all that involved was entering my email address, a few seconds later I received an email from eco-button asking me to click through to complete the registration process and to keep the email in case I need to re-install the software, this email also informed me that I would receive an email informing me of any updates. Once I had confirmed my email I then went to the download page, clicked download and the wizard made the process very easy, it took me about 1 minute and the button was up and ready to use. Plugged in the USB attached to the button and away I went.

The programme

Once you have downloaded the programme it automatically sets up a shortcut on your desktop. Clicking on the shortcut brings up the system parameters. This shows and allows you to set up the parameters consistent with your computer or laptop. Firstly you set the device power consumption by setting the typical monitor power consumption in watts, it gives you the option of either CRT or LCD monitors with 4 sizes of either 15", 17", 19" or 21" via a dropdown selection or in my case I set LCD and 17" then clicked a laptop computer only button which ticked that box. Next it gives you an area where you set up the average cost of your electricity. I logged onto my electricity company website to add up my two costs, and then divided the figure by two which gave me 16p per unit which incidentally is the figure that automatically comes up with the Ecobutton programme. Next you can then set the power unit conversion to either kilograms or pounds which then gives you a carbon unit per kilowatt setting. Under this is an optional box for you to tick full system.

Below this area are some boxes where you can set the System Power Management, which when I click on takes me to the select power plan within my laptop and another box for system information which again takes me to the information set within my laptop. Lastly there are another 4 boxes of save changes, cancel changes, set defaults or show savings. The show savings button gives you headings of Interval, Hours Suspended, Power Unit Saved, Carbon Units Saved, Power Cost Saved. Then down the left hand side it lists, last time, today, this week, this month, this year and to date. Each column shows all the information in money and units saved.

Using the button

So you just plug in the button into your USB socket and within a few seconds the button flashes green. Every time you walk away from your computer or laptop or leave you computer or laptop idle just push the button. This then switches your computer onto the lowest electricity usage possible. Unfortunately when I click the button it all happens so fast I am unable to read what the screen says before it goes into closedown. When I come back I just press my on button on my laptop it then goes to my welcome screen where I click on my name and it takes to the green coloured eco-button screen which states, "One Small Click, One Big Change" below this it shows you two cloud shapes separated by a picture of the world. Within these two clouds, one cloud says today and shows how much money you have saved £0.0000 and CO2 saved 0.000KG, the other says to date money saved £0.0000 and CO2 saved 0.000kgs. I then press any button and it then takes me back to where I had last left off.

My usage.

I must say I am amazed at how much I used to leave my laptop idling with going to the loo, going for a crafty ciggie, making a sandwich. In fact it has made me realise that I don't just maybe go to the loo, whilst I am upstairs I may do a job that needs doing which means I can be gone for 10 - 20 minutes or just making a sandwich, I will just do a little job in the kitchen or filling the dishwasher or emptying the dishwasher, letting the dog in the garden , feed the cats, anything, so this 2 minute job once again turns into 20 minutes of leaving my computer on doing nothing, wasting money or should I say lining the pockets of the fat cat bosses of the electricity board, which I hate!

My button was delivered on 12th February via Postman Pat, I immediately set it up and at time of writing this review 28th February (16 days) I have saved £1.4617 and 3.9284 in CO2. That may not sound much at an average of 9p a day but over a course of a year it can work out to around £30.00. So even though I am happy to save the world with this button I am much happier saving money. It cost me just under £10.00 but in about 6 months it could have paid for itself

Do I really need one?

My Hubby says no. Just shut the top down on your laptop which yes I do do when I'm leaving my laptop for a long time, to may be pick my daughter up from pre-school or am going to cook dinner or do a job that I know will take me while. But to be honest I never think about shutting it down when I'm going to the loo or a ciggie or even making a hot drink which can take a few minutes to do. However for me I find the big green button flashing at me reminds me to press the button.

Would I recommend it?

I'm in two minds on that one, yes if you always forget to press a night button on your computer or if you forget to shut the top on the your laptop down then this is handy for reminding you but once you get into the habit of switching off you don't need anything to remind you. This is basically a cheap gadget for which somebody is making money out of making you believe you are changing the world and saving money. Don't forget the carbon footprint of manufacturing this product, packaging and then delivery via a van that also has a carbon footprint. Is it taking more from the world than it is giving back? Who knows, even writing this review has added co2 by using electricity on my laptop which is down to the ecobutton!

I have found when my 4 year old uses my laptop she finds it easier when she has finished to press the button instead of putting the top down and she now knows when she has finished whatever she is doing then she needs to press the button to save money.

If you own a business with a few computers which you notice are left on by employees going off to do other things I may be worth considering. Whilst I was working I never ever thought about switching things off, lets face it, it wasn't my money I was wasting!

For me I don't necessarily think about saving the planet, for me it's about one thing and that is saving money. Unfortunately my Husband is one of those people that leaves lights on when he leaves the room and leaves other things switched on when he is not using them, I normally follow him around switching things off, which is why our electricity bill has reduced over the last few years

I Want One.

If you do want one of these, it is certainly worth checking various websites to get the best deal. The Eco-button website sell these for £14.99 with free delivery within the UK using Paypal, on Amazon you can get them for £5.99 with £4.99 postage or £7.88 with £1.99 postage, I got mine through the Play website for £9.99 with free delivery through the iPoints website to boost my iPoints and who are also available through various cash back sites.

From reading the eco-button website it states that it is suitable for use with Windows 2000, XP and Vista and has won a number of Green and Eco awards, its aim is to re-educate people to switch their machine off when you are not using it. The website also states that it can save you around £50.00 per year in electricity usage. This Eco-button is available around the world (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and various European Countries) and on the site I found a video clip of the Eco-button being promoted on Fox News USA. Unfortunately I can't find where the Eco-button is made but I believe the company may be in Leicestershire somewhere.

For further information visit www.eco-button.com.

Many thanks for reading. Anna