One tip I recently became aware of was that unplugging chargers (i.e. cell phones) when not in use can save a good bit of power.
When you think about it, this really makes sense. Because the charger typically has a power converter on it which converts the wall current into what the device needs, whenever the charger is plugged in the current is being converted, regardless of whether the device is on the other end. The end result is power constantly being consumed. This same logic applies to virtually any device which utilizes a charger, laptops for example.
So when your device is fully charged, unplug the charger. Doing so not only saves energy, but can save you some money as well.
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I wouldn’t tell anybody not to unplug, but all the number and math that I could find on the subject tells me it’s not exactly a significant savings. Especially when we are talking about cell phone chargers and the like. The “phantom power” those adapter use is extremely small. Unplugging them probably won’t save more than a few dollars over a year. I’m not millionaire but that isn’t exactly much savings.
Actually, looking at the $$ value may not be much of an incentive but try looking at it through green eyes, any power consumption means a great deal. one thing is your own carbon footprint. But the bigger one is the footprint left by the power supplier and its needs in creating that power.
But I also realize that we as humans are naturally lazy, not meant as an insult it is simply a fact, and yes I am including myself.
HOWEVER, I found a much easier way to be both a penny pincher, Earth conscious, and lazy I simply run every type of item I have like this though power strips, that way when I do not need them I only have to press one button and take care of several chargers, or other electronic items that have residual power consumption.
Lastly after almost two years of doing this, I got news for you, you CAN tell a difference in the cost factor. enough to get my lazy bottom up and turn it all off every night. So you might wish to rethink the above mindset as your actually talking a few “hundred” dollars if you do this with 90 percent of the items that have the silly LED light and chargers, and stereos with the light shows and so on and on….
one work: timer.
that way the power gets cut off (saving $, C02, etc) and allows you to follow the 4 hour charge guidelines for your phone battery,
Carbon footprint of the power producers is only going to change if we make large changes to our power use. Power production is entirely speculative. They have to produce the power whether we use it or not, IN CASE we do. so actually, NOT consuming power is worse environmentally because it means that the power companies are producing electricity which is not being consumed – which is much more wasteful than keeping our chargers warm while we wait to plug back in.