Last year, a company called ABI Research named AT&T the greenest wireless carrier in North America. They earned that title by meeting or surpassing ABI’s metrics in several areas, including carbon reduction, green innovation, and research and development. AT&T also has a comprehensive cell phone recycling program called Reuse & Recycle, which accepts phones, batteries and accessories, regardless of manufacturer or carrier, and either recycles or disposes of them in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards and guidelines. Now they’ve added another item to their ever widening line of environmentally conscious programs and products—an eco-friendly phone charger.
You may have heard of “vampire” appliances, which are nearly any device in your home that runs on electricity. These days, when you turn off your television, it’s not really off. Maybe there’s a little red light on the front that stays lit, indicating the TV is actually in standby mode, making it easier and faster to turn it on with the remote. Or perhaps rather than shutting your computer down every night, you figure you’ll save yourself the time it takes for it to boot up and just keep it in sleep or hibernate mode.
Even though the TV, the computer, and the computer monitor may not actually be “on,” they’re still drawing electricity to stay in those standby modes. And that small amount of electricity they’re sucking from the wall can add up to hundreds of dollars a year on your electric bill. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that this power drawn in standby mode accounts for up to 20 percent of energy used in homes every year. Take 20 percent off your electric bill and think about how much money you could be saving by simply unplugging your electric appliances.
It’s the same with phone chargers. Many of them also have a little indicator that lights up when they’re plugged in to let you know they’re “on” and ready to charge your phone. And that light stays on, meaning they’re still drawing power, even when your phone is not attached and actually charging. They may be small, but if you leave a charger plugged in all the time for convenience, that small amount of electricity it’s using is adding up. That’s where AT&T’s new environmentally friendly phone charger comes in.
It’s called the Zero Charger, and it has a sensor that tells it when a phone is disconnected from it, allowing it to turn itself off. AT&T estimates that if 80 percent of wireless customers—all customers, not just AT&T customers—left their chargers plugged in for one year, those charger would consume enough electricity to power 24,000 homes for one year. By releasing this Zero Charger, they hope to curb that electricity usage, and help customers be a little more environmentally responsible.
Wednesday, AT&T announced the Zero Charger will be on sale starting in May, for $29.99, and it will be sold in packaging made from recycled paper. The carrier hasn’t yet released a list of phones which will be compatible with the new charger. For now, regular chargers will still be sold with cell phones, and the Zero Charger will be sold separately. Hopefully they, and all carriers and handset makers will get to the point where this type of charger is the standard, and is included with all makes and models of cell phones.
Photo courtesy AT&T
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