New electrical charger could save up to 7 gigawatts per year

With a newly developed charger for mobile devices, the consumption of electricity in the UK could be reduced by seven gigawatts.

Different to current chargers, the new technology does not use any energy while a device is not connected. In the past the amount of energy wasted by those chargers could be minimized, however it is still not zero. So if you leave the charger plugged in, it constantly ‘steals’ a small amount of energy.

The new technology works with a so-called microswitch; if you connect your mobile phone to the charger, the microswitch turns on the primary circuit. This is connected to the socket and provides the energy for charging the device. If you take the phone off the charger, the microswitch turns the primary circuit off and no energy gets wasted.

Professor Sanowar Khan from City University London, who developed the new charger, calculated the amount of energy wasted in Britain with the old chargers added up to seven gigawatts a year.

But why do so many people leave their chargers plugged in when they are not using them? Sockets are often at a place that is not in your eye level – behind a bookshelf or under the table. “It is an extra effort to kneel down to switch it off” explains Prof Khan. His invention takes this responsibility from the user and makes it easy for everyone to live a little bit greener.

So far this charger is only a prototype; not yet available in stores. Although Prof Khan points out that his invention could provide an unique opportunity for every manufacturer to present themselves as “the greenest”, no one seemed interested.

Prof Kahn is now hoping for the future European standardised mobile phone charger. This would make it possible to use one charger for many years and many phones instead of using a new one for every new phone. However, without the support of an influential politician or a manufacturer, Prof Kahn believes that it will be difficult to bring his invention to the market.