AT&T Takes A Bite Out of Vampire Power

According to the EPA, a shocking ten percent of all power used in the United States is wasted — sucked from your wall socket into devices that are plugged in but not being used. This "vampire power" adds up to $10 billion a year, money that could be saved just by unplugging a few pieces of electronics.

One of the biggest, least known "vampires" is the humble cell phone charger. Most chargers continue to use energy as long as they are plugged in, long after the phones they are hooked up to are fully charged. (And if your phone is disconnected but the charger is still plugged in, it keeps on sucking that energy, and money from your wallet.)

In the US alone, cell phone chargers waste enough electricity to power 24,000 homes for a year, or brew three to four million cups of coffee each day. That's a lot of coffee.

AT&T wants to help put a stop to this. Yesterday, the mobile giant announced the new AT&T ZERO charger, which "does not waste power when left plugged in, and improves charging efficiency when powering a device." The ZERO will be available at AT&T stores in May and will work with most current AT&T phones.

The ZERO automatically senses when your phone is fully charged, or when it is not hooked up to the charger, and then cuts off its power use. It also works more efficiently than most competing chargers, which will help you to save even more energy and money.

Another important innovation: you can keep the ZERO charger for years, no matter how many times you upgrade your phone. Think about it, how many times have you gotten a new charger with a new phone? All of those old chargers end up as trash, so this innovation can help reduce the amount of cell phone-related waste that ends up in landfills.

Speaking of waste, the ZERO will come in a package that uses 100% recycled paper, and continues AT&T's commitment to reduce the amount of its plastic packaging.

But wait, there's more. In addition to the ZERO, AT&T wants you to help them cut down on even more waste by signing up for paperless billing. If 1 million AT&T customers switch to paperless billing, it will save 400,000 pounds of paper per year. Want another incentive to go paperless? For every customer who signs up for online billing, AT&T will plant a tree.

Want to find out more about vampire power? Check out Vampire Power Sucks for great tips on reducing your energy consumption and saving money in the process.

Photo courtesy of AT&T ZERO.