Mobile phone chargers are energy vampires

IDG News Service - A group of mobile phone makers is out to raise awareness that battery chargers consume energy when left idle but plugged into an outlet.

Around two-thirds of the energy used by mobile devices is wasted in this way. "It may seem like it's a very small thing when you think of an individual charger, but given the number of chargers that are out there, [unplugging chargers can deliver] large energy savings," said Susan Smith, communications manager at Nokia.

To raise awareness LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson have developed a new rating system to show how much energy various chargers use when they're in standby mode. Five stars designate the most-efficient chargers -- those that use 0.03 watts or less. Chargers that consume more than 0.5 watts get no stars.

The ratings are based on the European Commission's energy standards for chargers and the internationally recognized Energy Star standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The vendors will display the ratings on their Web sites.

The program is mostly about making people aware that there is a problem, said Gartner analyst Annette Zimmermann, noting that she doesn't expect consumers to go out and buy energy-efficient chargers if the ones they currently use don't receive high ratings.

"The first thing is to make people aware that there are these issues around chargers, and that there are certain ones that are more energy efficient," said Smith.

But she also expects that consumers will make energy use one of many factors they consider when they're shopping for new phones in the future.

It's also possible to reduce waste by giving people the option of not purchasing a new charger with every new phone. NTT DoCoMo already has such a policy.

"It is something we are researching and looking into, but we haven't made any decisions yet," said Smith.

Going forward, there will be more announcements about eco-friendly mobile phone equipment, according to Zimmermann.

"We will see more mobile phones that use, for example, recycled materials and bioplastics," she said.