It doesn’t suck power. As in vampire power, the new buzz term for chargers that continue to slurp electricity even when they are not actively charging your phone. AT&T’s soon to be released ZERO Charger automatically shuts down when it is not in use, eliminating 100% of vampire power. The ZERO is an AC charger with a USB socket, allowing you to use it with all sorts of devices that can be charged via USB. There’s no info on price or release date, but you can sign up to notified via email when it’s available.
[Via Gadgetreview]
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Vampire power is not as bad as they make it out to be. The electricity that is supposedly wasted is actually turned into heat, so these things help heat your house. Except that they don’t put out as much heat as your head.
Right on. A typical phone charger takes a watt or so. But a typical car takes 150,000 watts, converted from gasoline power. You can leave all your phone chargers plugged in for decades before their power will create the same amount of emissions you create driving on a weekend trip. Sure, it’s better to save power than not, but concentrating on phone chargers as the problem is an easy distraction from focusing on much huger issues!