Smart Energy = No More Wall Warts

Wall warts are those external power adapters that come with everything electronic these days. We know they suck. First of all, they're energy vampires, sucking 4 percent of all electricity used in the average US home even when they're not in use. They consume 52 billion kilowatt hours of power annually, the same amount of energy produced by 20 average-size power plants.

They also suck in terms of design. Many are too big and use up both sockets. Some are too heavy to stay in their sockets.

Doug Palmer of Calit2 at UCSD thinks there's a better way. He's designing a prototype for a Universal Power Adapter, or uPower adapter, a "smart" device that would supply both power and communications to consumer electronics.

Palmer's adapter would serve as a single power supply for one or more mobile devices, "requesting" the voltage needed, when needed, and delivering that and nothing more. This makes sense when you think that many modern electronics use only 3 to 12 volts yet have to deal with wall sockets that deliver 220 or 100. In theory, even hybrid cars could be plugged into the uPower adapter.

The smart design might also improve conditions in the developing world. Palmer is collaborating with Calit2's India Initiative, which works with the Indian government, universities, and NGOs to create collaborative projects. One of India's most pressing needs is reliable energy in a country that lacks a reliable power grid. Paired with a low-cost solar panel, the uPower adapter might provide lighting to some of India's 1 billion for the first time.

See? When we actually use our much-vaunted intelligence, the future looks better.

Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal Award.

Comments

I had no idea they used that much energy; do they all use that much energy, or is it just the ones with fancy lighting and fuses?

Posted by: Fair Trade on 07/08/08 at 12:24 AM Respond

Should we be unplugging these wall warts to conserve energy? I must have half a dozen around the house, and they're always plugged in. I doubt that the general public is aware of this needless waste of energy.

Posted by: lawyerfan on 07/09/08 at 12:17 PM Respond

Good article.
Yes, until uPower is available, please unplug wall warts (or turn off the power strip they are in). This would be helpful when the device(s) are not in use, but many programed 'ghosting' devices need reprogramming after being unplugged. The manufacturers actually need to deal with that issue if everyone is expected to unplug.

Posted by: Brenda Siegelman on 07/09/08 at 2:06 PM Respond

I had absolutely no idea. I am going to unplug the ones that are unnecessary for sure except when in use. I purchased these for their Surge Protection, however I just paid a $161.00 electric bill! It is just the the first week of July! That was for the end of May and into the middle to end of June. Just imagine... Perhaps I can afford to stay relatvily cool this summer.

Posted by: Cassandra on 07/09/08 at 10:04 PM Respond

I bought one of those power monitoring devices - you plug it in in between the wall and the device - and it showed almost NO power use from the transformers I tested. My printer used a lot of power, doing nothing - but not my "wall warts," as you call them. How come??

Posted by: Dan on 07/11/08 at 7:40 AM Respond

Late commenting, but --

Dan, most devices that use power bricks are low drain anyway, and would show very little drain to a monitoring device even while running.

But you can be assured that idle power bricks do use energy. They always get warm, for one thing. That waste heat is where the wasted energy goes. If you lay your ear on them, you can hear a hum, which is the actual sound of the heat being generated. The vibration is from the changing AC current flows, manifested in changing physical accelerations from the coils of wire on the transformer. As the currents reverse themselves 120 times per second, the electromagnet that is the transformer also reverses polarity, fighting against the polarity of the previous cycle's collapsing field. This makes the transformer shake, which generates heat.

There are other, newer, slimmer power plugs that have no transformer; but many of them are even more wasteful. One of mine (that I don't use) gets so hot you can't touch it. It's not broken, either -- it sports big heat fins, and would probably catch on fire if it didn't have them.

Is your printer a laser printer? These and some others have internal components that are kept warm, so that the printer doesn't take so long to "warm up" when preparing to print a document -- like "instant on" CRT TVs, that keep the tube warm for quick starts.

Posted by: Dan Mortenson on 07/17/08 at 9:53 PM Respond