How many chargers do you own? One for your cell phone? Another for your
laptop? Yet another for your tablet, podcast player or even electric
toothbrush? It adds up.
If you've ever felt a charger when it's doing its job you know how warm
they get. That's because they're inefficient: wasting electricity as heat
as well as feeding the battery. But new standards recently adopted in
California aim to change all that.
Earlier this month, the California Energy Commission voted to adopt minimum
energy efficiency standards for these ubiquitous devices. The Golden State
alone boasts 170 million such chargers-not including the team in San Diego-
or more than four for each resident of the state.
The new energy efficient chargers will save Californians an estimated $306
million a year in electricity costs, as well as enough electricity to power
350,000 homes for a year.
Of course, replacing the plethora of different chargers with one universal
charger for a particular type of gadget might be even better-and cut down
on e-waste. But until that day, stronger charger standards give a nice jolt
to energy efficiency efforts.