The estimated 170 million chargers in California households have been wasting some serious energy. They consume 8,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity each year, and nearly two-thirds of that energy is wasted by inefficiency, often as heat. Battery chargers use energy in three different modes: when they are actively charging the battery; after the battery is fully charged, but the charger is still plugged in; and when disconnected from the device, but still plugged into an outlet. The new efficiency standards set limits to how much energy can be consumed during each of these modes, reducing wasted energy by 40 percent.
The California Energy Commission says that once fully implemented, the efficient chargers will save an estimated 2,200 GWh each year – enough to power 350,000 homes – while trimming Californians’ utility bills by a total of $300 million and sparing 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions.
