This is a welcome development and joins the steady drive to upgrade lighting that is also well underway. It appears that the next generation of battery chargers will no longer be power parasites.
It should not need more than five years for this to sweep through the system and become standard. Even better, you will now have a compelling reason for disposing of all those unused chargers in the closet.
The technology for lighting is also continuing to advance as color quality improves and energy costs drop. We can now safely predict that we will be trading out our entire lighting inventory over the next twenty years for better lighting and an energy cost a full order of magnitude less than presently incurred.
We will likely compensate by using more but that is normal.
The point is that consumer products are responding to a huge investment into energy efficiency that is also improving quality and product flexibility. No longer do we see a product produced and the research team retired.
AT&T and Superior Communications Announce Availability of the ZERO Charger
Mobile phone users probably don’t know it, but a charger left plugged into a wall wastes electricity – enough to power 24,000 homes for a year, or brew three to four million cups of coffee each day.1 Today, AT&T* and Superior Communications invite AT&T customers to be a small part of a big difference with the AT&T ZERO charger. Available only at AT&T stores nationwide in May, the AT&T ZERO Charger does not waste power when left plugged in, and improves charging efficiency when powering a device.
The AT&T ZERO Charger will also make life easier for customers, with a ‘block and cable’ design for maximum interchangeability, allowing them to use the same charger for future handsets and will, over time, cut the number of chargers produced, thus reducing future landfill waste.
“In an effort to provide environmentally friendly and simpler solutions for our customers, AT&T worked hand in hand with Superior Communications to create the first practical and user-friendly zero-draw charger for mobile phones,” said Carlton Hill, vice president of Devices and Product Development for AT&T's wireless operations. “With the size of AT&T’s customer base, providing solutions like these helps our customers make a big difference.”
When the ZERO charger goes on sale in May, it will cost the same as existing replacement chargers, which means that customers do not have to spend more and can even save money over time because of the interchangeability of the design.
The AT&T ZERO Charger has a 5-star efficiency rating, which exceeds the standards set by GSMA. The GSMA initiative can be found on the GSMA Website at www.gsmworld.com/our-work/mobile_planet/universal_charging_solution.htm. The ZERO charger is AT&T’s first step toward full GSMA compliance.
“We were happy to accept AT&T’s challenge to design and introduce the worlds first automatic zero draw charger. Innovations like this help everyone take those small steps which will, in the end, lead to a better environment for all,” said Solomon Chen, chief executive officer and founder of Superior Communications.
The AT&T ZERO charger works by automatically sensing when a mobile phone is not plugged up to the charger and cutting the power supply from the wall socket. The charger will be sold in packaging with 100% recycled paper. AT&T recently announced a transition to smaller and more eco-friendly packaging for the wireless device accessories sold in AT&T stores. This change will eliminate more than 60 percent of the paper and more than 30 percent of the plastic previously used for AT&T’s accessory products.
The ZERO charger will be available in May at AT&T retail locations nationwide or at www.wireless.att.com. For more information on the ZERO charger, visit www.att.com/ZERO.
The AT&T ZERO charger has been named a finalist in the green solutions category in the CTIA Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Awards. CTIA’s fifth annual E-Tech Awards program recognizes products in 15 categories in the areas of mobile consumer electronics, luxury mobile, applications, enterprise, green solutions and network technology. The AT&T ZERO charger will be on display in the Superior Communications booth, number 2500.
For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com
For more information about AT&T’s sustainability efforts, please visit www.att.com/sustainability or www.att.com/csr.
1 Energy saving calculations based on the following assumptions by AT&T: 277 million wireless users in U.S., minimum one phone per user; user charges device 3 to 4 times per week for 8 hours; 80% of users leave charger plugged in wall socket; average charger wastes 170 mW (0.17 watts) when idle.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
