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| November 2005 |
Feature |
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Watt's a WALL-SPIDER?Dr Garth CambraySean Pike is a conservationist, and has had an exciting life working on big name nature reserves in South Africa. During that time he has also invented the Wall-Spider - a clever little piece of plastic which will help to conserve many 'Watts' of electricity, hence the catchy title. The ProblemIn a world with more and more electronic gadgets, plug points tend to become rather crowded resulting in cables getting tangled or even lost in the mess. Many people solve this problem by just leaving everything plugged in, including chargers and power packs of devices not even being used. The Result: a huge amount of energy is wasted in terms of standby and no-load power waste. What is standby power waste? What is no-load power waste? 90% of standby power is wasted energy, consumed by unnecessarily energised components and inefficient power supply designs. Some standby power is necessary, in devices such as security alarms that remain on alert, ready to receive signals. Refrigerators rely on standby power to monitor temperature to decide when to switch on and off. What does this all add up to? The International Energy Agency estimates that worldwide, 5% to 15% of electricity consumption in households is wasted in standby mode. A figure which costs US households over $5 billion in electricity a year, and is approximately 5% of all electricity consumed in the country. Standby energy used per year in the US is equivalent to 26 average sized power stations! Figures elsewhere are far higher, such as Japan and some European countries, where standby power accounts for 10% to 15% of residential electricity consumption. Four nuclear power plants are required to supply the standby power annually consumed in Europe. By 2010, it is expected that 8 nuclear power plants will be required! The negative environmental and health impacts of power stations and nuclear power plants are well known. Even more devices will start using standby power within the next 10 years, as electronic controls and computer chips are incorporated into dishwashers, refrigerators and other "smart" appliances. Addressing this electricity wastage is a priority as the number of devices drawing standby power is rising dramatically, fueled by the explosive popularity of cellphones and consumer electronics products. Africa has still to catch up to other parts of the world in implementing legislation regarding improved energy use and reduced electricity waste. Yet, in South Africa, it has been predicted that we will very soon (in the next few years) reach the stage where energy demand exceeds supply. In the UK the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 states that local authorities must make a 30% improvement in energy efficiency in homes by 2010. The US is also following suite with similar laws. The inherent problem is that people leave unused chargers and electrical appliances plugged in for convenience, and for easy accessibility for the next time they are going to use them. No cords and plugs are left lying around to get in the way or get damaged. 'Watts' the solution?
Well, its called a WALL-SPIDER! The WALL-SPIDER is a simple, easy to use device which keeps your plugs and chargers tidy, together, and close to their power source. It is particularly useful in applications where lots of plugs converge at a plug point from all different heights and directions - a situation we find at most of our plug points! How does it work? All the electrical cords are kept separate, and thereby eliminate tangles and knots. The plugs are now off the counter and the floor, and in a position close to the plug point or power source. The WALL-SPIDER is suitable for use in conjunction with any size electrical appliance cord, with "spider legs" for both the thicker cords of household appliances, and the thin cords of devices such as cellphone chargers. The WALL-SPIDER is easy to attach, by simply positioning on the wall using the double-sided adhesive tape provided, which is strong enough to support a full compliment of plugs. It can also be screwed into the wall, in case of a poor quality wall surface, for extra strength. The idea originated 4 years ago in a workshop where Sean was getting extremely frustrated looking for different plugs as he was working from one machine to the next. With only a single plug point on the wall, and no interest in spending money on a large, expensive adaptor in order that everything remain plugged in all the time, he was often to be found scratching in the sawdust behind the circular saw for the particular plug he needed that day! And then inspiration struck and he made his first home made 'Wall-Spider' to solve the problem. How it's made
The WALL -SPIDER is manufactured using the injection-moulded plastic process. The plastic used is High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS), which eliminates brittleness by allowing a degree of flexibility, while still retaining its strength. This WALL_SPIDER is made by forcing melted plastic under extremely high pressure (35 tons) into a large mould, where upon cooling, the product is ejected. The WALL-SPIDER is protected by a Patent Cooperation Treaty, and has worldwide applications - anywhere where there are appliances and electricity, in households in the kitchen, study, bedroom and workshop, as well as in factories, offices and businesses. It is also great from a safety point. If you don't need everything plugged in, unplug them. No big messy adaptors with dangerous heat build up. For instance if you are going away on holiday unplug everything and leave it neatly arranged on your WALL-SPIDER. This ensures that you have no electrical worries, and can enjoy your holiday. The WALL-SPIDER has your plugs waiting, ready in place, to plug back in as soon as you walk in the door. The WALL-SPIDER is not only extremely useful on a practical, neatness and organisational level, but it also eliminates standby and no-load power wastage, by encouraging the unplugging of appliances. But as we mentioned at the beginning, Sean Pike, the inventor of the WALL-SPIDER, is a conservationist at heart. This is seen in the fact that this product can help to save millions of tons of carbon being released into the atmosphere each year. But it is also seen in the way he designed the packaging for the product while it waits on shelves around the world. Packaging and plasticAn important aspect in the design of this product is the packaging. The hangtag of any product is the printed card to which it is attached so that it may be hung on stands in stores. Most products are put in plastic bags and then attached to hangtags. By removing the plastic packaging, the consumer saves money. Up to ZAR 4.00 (R 4.00) can be added to the cost of a relatively small item, such as a tube of glue, to recover the cost of the packaging! The WALL-SPIDER's hangtag has been designed so that it (the WALL-SPIDER) slots securely into the cardboard, and is then very difficult to remove. No need for wasted plastic. After being used only once for packaging products, these pieces of mostly unnecessary plastic are disposed of to magically disappear in the rubbish bin. In the real world of plastics, the rubbish bin is not the end of the line. Plastic that is thrown away lives eternally in landfills, and light, thin packaging plastic is most often blown by the wind, going on to pollute bodies of water, endangering wildlife and lowering the aesthetic value of various habitats. A major source of ocean plastic pollution is human activities on land. Nearly every piece of plastic EVER made still exists today! Plastic bags ending up in the ocean kill as many as 1 million sea creatures every year. The WALL-SPIDER's plastic-free packaging is not only aimed at eliminating
waste, curbing pollution and saving the consumer money, but also encouraging
other manufacturers to minimise their impact on the environment by coming up
with solutions to reduce or eliminate unnecessary packaging of their products. More information:
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Sean Pike can
be contacted at: