Energy Saving USB Charger for iPhone

Nearly everyone I know has heard something about Vampire power loss, but in case you're new to the subject. Vampire draw is a term that describes when energy gets sucked out through chargers and converters that are left plugged for extended periods of time, much the way a vampire would suck blood from its host. These wall chargers draw power even when their associated electronic device is turned off or completely detached and they release excess energy in the form of heat. Vampire draw culprits include everything from mobile phones, to blue ray players and Xbox's and they aren't just a problem here in the US. Anywhere you plug in older chargers or converters you're probably being impacted.

Thankfully AT&T is developing solutions to Vampire draw relating to mobile phones. AT&T recently took first prize under the Green Solutions category, from the Wireless Association CTIA, for it's new ZERO Charger for the iPhone! This eco-friendly charger uses advanced energy saving technology to automatically shut down when any connected device is fully charged or unplugged. It eliminates 100% of the vampire power loss that impacts traditional phone chargers and stays cooler as a result.

According to AT&T, conventional chargers, when left plugged in or not actively charging, can draw as much as 5x to 20x the energy that is actually stored in a cell phone or other device's battery. These snippets of energy start to add up when you consider all the devices plugged in at any given time and especially over months and years of use. The ZERO Charger cuts this waste down to zero and is especially efficient because it can charge any USB connected device or mobile phone. In this way, not only does it cut waste on your iPhone, it will also save you from buying extra adapters... which saves plastic and shipping energy.

According to the US Department of energy "In the U.S., the total amount of electricity that flows through internal and external power adapters is nearly 470 billion kWh per year or about 12 percent of the nation's annual electricity consumption. During the process these devices consume about 120 billion kWh per year of electricity and turn it into heat, costing the nation over $12 billion in electric bills." that's a lot of power we could be saving and it's great to see companies like AT&T stepping up.

The ZERO Charger hasn't hit the market quite yet but should be arriving soon and the AT&T website is currently taking signups for an email alert that will be sent out when it's available. From the mockups I've seen this charger looks compact and fairly stylish. The two pronged 120V plugin folds nicely into the body of the charger which makes it easy to pack and hard to break.

here are other similar devices out today which cut down on Vampire draw including built in wall sockets that sense electricity use and automatically shut off any device but the ZERO Charger is especially useful for portable charging or if you're a renter like me and can't put in new wall sockets. Also worth consideration are solar charging devices like the Solio or HYmini and kinetic chargers like the YoGen. Now... if AT&T could only find a solution to vampire signal loss, we'd be set.