Effects of Cell Phone Chargers on the Environment

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Effects of Cell Phone Chargers on the Environment

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Cell Phone Chargers and the Climate Crisis by Laura Goyer

If you're like me, you have more than a handful of chargers for your electronic devices. I have one for my personal cell phone, another for my office blackberry, still another for my PDA, and one for the batteries that go in my digital camera. If these chargers are left plugged in when they aren't in use, they still use power.

On it's own, the power wasted by a single device is typically very small, but if you add up all of these devices around the world, it becomes much more significant. The easiest way to address this problem is simply to unplug any chargers that aren't in use. For greater ease you can plug all of your chargers into a single power bar and then just switch it on only when you need it. This simple step can save you money and cut down on energy use, which will in turn reduce CO2 emissions that scientists say are causing global warming.

Standby power (or phantom power) is another source of wasted energy around the home. The term refers to the electricity used by electronic appliances while they are switched off or in a standby mode. Common culprits include VCRs, DVD players, microwave ovens, computers, power adapters, and printers. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, "the typical American home has forty products constantly drawing power. Together these amount to almost 10% of residential electricity use."

Once again, the solution is as simple as unplugging these appliances when they aren't in use.

Get Clean, Go Green and Make Money Doing It. This article is written by Laura Goyer:

http://greenchumandme.com

http://greenchumandme.blogspot.com

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