We waste so much energy in the US that it always intrigues me to see how people are saving it elsewhere. My hotel has this interesting energy-saving feature that I found extremely clever, so I thought I’d write it down.

Behind my door is a little holder thing for my keycard. If the keycard is removed from this holder, the lights and power switch off. In this way, you can’t leave the room and forget to turn off lights; they turn off automatically when you remove the card. Unfortunately, the power connected to my iPhone charger also turned off, so I guess it’s not possible to let something charge while away unless I’m missing a switch somewhere. Anyway, I thought this to be a very clever idea and wonder how much american hotels could save if they implemented something similar?