It seems like every day new gizmos come on the market trying to make us feel more green. Gadgets are often marketed on their energy saving or environmental credentials with little evidence to justify their claims. Here at Energy Circle we love smart gear that works, and disdain green washing hype. Our test lab puts new and old products through the gauntlet to find out if they perform or if they are just gimmicks.
The Volt-Star EcoCharger is a replacement cell phone/mobile device charger that purports to eliminate the wasted idle power draw (aka Vampire Power) that typical chargers consume when left plugged in all the time. The EcoCharger is not a “smart charger” per se, but it does have a default kill switch that prevents vampire power. Operation is simple - plug it into your phone, push the green button, a light comes on and your phone charges. Once charged the kill switch reactivates and it reverts to drawing zero power.
The Volt-Star EcoCharger is just one of several “eco/green” chargers on the market (AT&T ZERO, iGo green among others). The question is, how much energy and money does it and other similar devices actually save? We know that vampire power can add up substantially, but is it worth $25-$30 to defang your phone or tablet?
We tested the EcoCharger with an iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS using two electricity monitors - a Belkin Conserve Insight and a UFO. The Apple iPad charger draws around 12 watts when charging, and is within the margin of error on both electricity monitors when not charging (between 0 and 0.5 watts). Similarly the iPhone charger draws between 2.5 and 4.75 watts when charging and has a comparable vampire load (<0.5w). Just to give this some perspective, that means here is Southern Maine, an iPad 2 under perpetual charge at 12w x 24 hours x 365 days, would cost roughly $15 annually (@$0.145/kWh including transmission from CMP) and a perpetually charging iPhone at 4w would cost just over $5.
What we are concerned with in this test is the idle power draw – let’s assume that each device is plugged in charging for 4 hours a day, and that the plug is left in, drawing vampire power, for 20 hours a day. Further, let’s assume that the idle draw is the full margin of error at 0.5w. If that is the case the actual value of the vampire power draw for a year is less than $0.55 (@ Northeast rates). This could get a little more complicated if we factor in TOU pricing, but even if your marginal rate was $0.35/kWh (like certain PG&E customers running in excess) you’d still spend less than $1.50 a year on idle power.
This puts the payback on this device somewhere between 20 and 50+ years depending on your electricity rates.
Bottom Line – There is a great deal of energy wasted as vampire power in most homes, but your cell phone’s charger is not one of the main culprits. As replacement phone chargers go, there is nothing particularly egregious about the Volt-Star EcoCharger, it charges just as well as the one that came with the phone and does not charge a premium for its "green" qualities. That said, the actual energy savings are miniscule, and the attempt to market the EcoCharger based on energy savings is silly, at best. With a potentially multi-decade payback, it’s a fairly safe bet that the EcoCharger will end up in the recycling long before it’s saved you any money.
If fighting vampire power is one of your goals (and we think it should be), your money would be far better spent on smart power strips, like a BITS Smart Strip, for your home entertainment system and your home office.
Price: $25 to $30 (Available with adapters for Apple products or Micro USB)
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