AT&T Launches First Vampire Powerless Charger
AT&T has launched the first wall-based USB charger that shuts itself off when not refilling a cell phone. That means no more vampire draw if the charger is left plugged in!
Ever wonder why your cell phone charger feels warm when plugged into the wall, even if there’s no phone attached? This is a classic example of vampire power – the power your electrical devices use even when they are turned off or in standby mode.
Also known as phantom load, vampire power is no small blip on your energy bill. In fact, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that vampire power accounts for 5 to 10 percent of all residential electricity use.
AT&T has recently released a new ZERO Charger that shuts itself off when a device is removed, even if the charger is still plugged into the wall. The charger uses a USB outlet, making it compatible with any phone, mp3 player, digital camera or gaming device (regardless of brand) that can be charged in a USB port.
Chargers are typically equipped with a sensor to determine when a device is attached, but in many cases that sensor has to be powered by electricity in order to work. That means if your cell phone charger is plugged in all day with no phone attached, you are using up to 10 watts of energy per hour to power nothing.
The ZERO Charger’s sensor is battery powered, meaning the energy supply is disconnected when the device is removed. However, tt will still draw energy if the device is plugged in and fully charged. In regards to cell phone charging, the charger has received Energy Star level V certification because it is 74 percent energy efficient.
AT&T says it will discontinue selling any other wall chargers except those for Nokia phones, which require a larger supply of power than the ZERO Charger can provide. The two companies are working together to address compatibility in the future.
While the ZERO Charger offers potential energy savings, it may not make a huge difference on your energy bill in the short term. Keeping a phone charger plugged in at all times will likely cost only $1-2 per month.
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As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
Jeremy Starritt
posted on August 11th, 2010 at 9:12 am
LOVE THIS!!! I am very impressed if it does indeed work.
Michael Bluejay
posted on August 12th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
My article doesn’t say what you attributed to it. First of all, there’s no such thing as “10 watts per hour”, as I explain on the page about misquoting my site: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/misquote.html It’s either “10 watts”, or “10 watt-hours per hour”, but there’s no such animal as “10 watts per hour”.
Second, I never said that *phone chargers* use up to 10 watts of vampire power, I was talking about vampire power in general. Phone chargers are certainly *not* on the high end of the spectrum for vampire-power devices. I doubt there’s a phone charger on the planet that uses 10 watts even when it’s charging. There’s probably not one that uses even 5 watts. Mine uses 1.
Third, the $1-2/mo. figure for leaving the charger plugged in is way off. $0.10 is more realistic.
Putting this into perspective, someone getting the new charger (or simply not leaving their phone plugged in all the time) will save a whopping 0.08% of their household energy use. Have we saved the Earth yet?
Brian
posted on August 13th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Michael Bluejay likes to bicker – ignore him.
Glad to see AT&T has a device that doesn’t waste power. I don’t care about the cost $.10 vs $1, waste is not a good thing. I wont go buy one as my current cell has a energy star charger, but if Verizon offers it when I get a new phone I will take it.
PG&E our local utility in California runs commercials on TV all the time about Vampire power coming from all types of equipment including cell phone chargers. They do not list a cost involved, they just ask you to unplug the device when not in use.