Vampires. They take our women. They take
our blood. They steal the night and now their name’s been attached to stolen
power. When will it end!? Alright, so your phone charger isn’t exactly wearing
a cape or sporting fangs but its leeching substantial amounts of hydro from your
wall socket while you unwittingly believe that you’re phone is powering up. The
issue arises, as many do, from a lack of communication. You see once your phone
is all charged up it has no means of telling the charger ‘Thanks, but I’m
full.’ The result is a constant, consistent power drain. And while it’s not
going to break the bank, it’s still an unnecessary waste of hydro. But what can
you do about it?
Well if you’re a fan of cell phone
conglomerate Nokia then you’re already in the right camp as the KIT Eco Charger is
being released for Nokia handsets. So, how did they solve the vampiric charger
issue? Well, when your cell is fully charged it tells the charger to *gasp* turn
off! It’s all so simple now! And what a great way to legitimize that ‘Eco’ in
the product’s title (seriously, it is!). But how do you quantify the energy
savings made by such a solution? Well, according to a Carphone Warehouse
spokesperson:
“If everyone in the UK used a
KIT Eco Charger we would save approximately 300,000,000 kwh of electricity per
year. At an average cost of 28.5p per kwh, that would be a collective saving as
a country of £85m!”
Incredible! And how much does this miracle,
environment-saving charger cost? Why just £23! Eh? Yes, unfortunately saving
millions of dollars not to mention the planet itself costs as much as a
next-gen videogame or a new microwave.It’s a bleeping phone charger! Why must the industry persist in exploiting those with an environmental conscience? Automakers have already encouraged governments to subsidize hybrids rather than making an affordable model. We don’t need just the bourgeoisie to be green. We need everyone!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again;
the environment is too precious to exploit! Make eco-gadgets affordable!
Sigh, at least they’re finally taking steps though and if you can spare the change you might want to pick up one of these eco-chargers. Don’t worry, the cost will be offset by your energy savings…eventually.
