It's Time to Slay Vampire Chargers Discussion

[Ed Hardy]

Anyone who cares about energy independance or the Green Movement is likely wondering if there's anything they can do to help. There is an easy thing all phone users can do: unplug their charger.

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[hal]

Very simple action, Ed. Most people, when deciding on green awareness, get easily disappointed because many of the great targets are simply too far away from the commoners' possibilities. Like selling the car just like that and getting a hydrogen car, or choosing the bicycle instead of the car to get to work (may work for many but not when you live 20 miles away from work and with several highways in between), or installing a whole solar paneled system for the house (just ask for a quote and see the figures). Not to speak of riding a cargo ship to either pole and defend the local fauna from illegal hunters (like if nobody's gonna miss you at the office next Monday).

Unplugging the idle chargers, in all fairness, will not mean a significant drop in your power bill. The electrical principles under which a charger works allow this technology to be one of the most efficient ones in all history of mankind. However, just as my sig states, even though it doesn't depend on moving parts, the charger will wear and efficiency will drop. The amount of energy loss is minimal, unless we're speaking of a very crude manufacture, which BTW happens to surface here and there. Anyway, seen in the minimal scope, the loss can mean nothing to a household's bill, the point here is that if all the idle chargers worldwide were added, the power sum would mean something really big. Where does this power come from? From assorted power plants, many of which burn something in order to generate said power. Electricity, remember it people, is only green power on the user side of things.

This is the kind of things that the common people can do in order to follow the Green Movement. In the big picture, the addition of individual and very simple actions can have a very powerful effect.

[Varjak]

hal, I have to disagree here. It might not make a difference in the household bill; the stats of energy savings overall (in the USA at least) are astonishing. I don't recall the figures; but I remember being blown away by equivalents like how many cars off the roads it represents. It's an accrual thing. That said, why don't makers design chargers that don't draw power when not in use (but plugged in).

[hal]

hal, I have to disagree here. It might not make a difference in the household bill; the stats of energy savings overall (in the USA at least) are astonishing. I don't recall the figures; but I remember being blown away by equivalents like how many cars off the roads it represents. It's an accrual thing. That said, why don't makers design chargers that don't draw power when not in use (but plugged in).

Yes, Varjak, that's what I'm talking about. The difference in the small scope in null, but in the big scope it's rather significant. And you're right pointing out that it's a worthy habit to unplug the chargers just for the case of the energy waste in the US. I kept my view to the global example, but yours is good as well.

One aspect of the design of chargers is that, theoretically, they shouldn't draw any power at all if the circuit isn't closed in the business end. However, you do a pretty basic measure and you find out that they do draw power. That's because when taken off the drawing board and into the manufacturing plant, this and that itty imprecisions collect for phenomena that end up drawing power in the final application. And the elements affected by wear are of microscopical scale, so when said wear starts to appear, replacement is more feasible than repair. The inductive concatenation that make these devices work has to be achieved alongside components prone to draw power in minimal amounts, but draw power indeed.

The most simple solution is just to unplug the thing. The others, already reviewed in the Brighthand article, are providing some additional component that essentially puts a switch to the avail of the user. BTW that's my personal choice. I got this power strip on the back of my desk, and whenever I need to, I just extend my arm and push the button. All goes dead instantly. Sometimes, if you allow me a brief derail off topic, what stops people from using so simple solutions, are the complexities of affixing a power strip to the right place at the work station, or the desk at home or wherever. Things like a little DIY with a ruler and a drill in order to fix a set of screws right where you need the power strip and keep it handy, safe and comfortable. This is not a critic, I know that not everybody is profficient with a drill, or even being so, they don't have everything right at the office. However I do think that so simple solutions should be accomplished allowing these simple habits to take place, regarding energy savings.

Another solution is already a reality: the chargers like that one by Palm in order to charge the Pre, remember? Essentially, those are pretty good cause they can't draw power when the device is not set in place (theoretically, I admit). Essentially, you rise the device to take it with you, and you keep part of the charger itself, it's not complete in order to work. I think that this solution should become mainstream. That said, I'm pretty sure that they also have an efficiency ratio and it's unlikely to be 100%. Perhaps they just relocate the issue to yet another point of the working line.