iGo Green Power Smart Tower

Energy consumption concerns can only get greater as the cost of power is set to rise and rise. Larger businesses have complex energy management schemes in place, but smaller companies, and those individuals who work from home, often go for simper strategies. It is that market at which the iGo Green Power Smart Tower is aimed.

The iGo Green Power Smart Tower is billed as an energy saving power management system. It has eight power outlets and two USB charging outlets.

As its name suggest, the device takes a tower like arrangement. It measures 30.5cm tall, and stands on a base that is 10cm x 15cm in dimensions. It is rather more elegant looking than the floor resting gang sockets which many of us use, and has obvious space saving potential.

The two USB charge sockets sits on its front edge, where there is also a power switch and another marked ‘instant on’, as well as what looks like a speaker grille but is in fact provision for four status lights. On the back there’s a little plastic lip through which you can run cables – as an attempt to keep things tidy.

The iGo Green Power Smart Tower incorporates a surge protector, but its claim to green credentials come with its ability to automatically power devices down, saving, says the blurb, up to 85 percent on power.

Don’t be too lured by this, though. Of the eight power sockets on the device, four are always on. These are ranged down one side of the tower and are designed, not surprisingly, for devices that always need power. In a typical office setup that might include landline telephone, and anything with a clock which needs to be kept ticking over.

The other four power sockets sit on the other side of the tower, and are divided into two pairs. The idea is that you group devices with similar power requirements together – because the pairs of sockets are controlled independently, but as pairs.

So into one pair of sockets, suggests the leaflet accompanying the iGo Green Power Smart Tower, you might plug devices like your desktop computer, monitor or printer. The other pair could cater for a mobile phone, Bluteooth headset or digital camera.

Plug everything in, and make sure it is all turned off or on standby, then press the Instant On button on the front of the iGo Green Power Smart Tower. This lets the Tower work out that everything is plugged in, but not taking power.

Thereafter the tower will enter ‘green mode’ when it knows connected devices are attached but not drawing power. It checks every half hour to see if anything connected needs to draw juice, and if necessary, switches on the pair of sockets that provide it. You can manually override this by pressing the ‘Instant On’ button.

Now, we’ve not had the iGo Green Power Smart Tower set up for long enough to learn if it really saves energy. That would require a fairly long term test and bill comparison. But the annoyance factor of hitting the Instant On button is palpable particularly because the tower sits on the ground under our desk – where our gang plugs were situated before it came along.

We like the general design, and the two USB outlets – though actually we’d have preferred four. The surge protection is welcome too. But power saving? We aren’t sure. All of our devices that don’t draw power all the time are either only plugged in only when we need them or plugged in and switched off till required. In our one-person office, even our printer is in that situation. And when we leave the office everything gets unplugged from the mains.

We’re likely to stick to that regime, and give the £49.99 iGo Green Power Smart Tower a miss.

Sandra Vogel