New Energy-Efficient Standards to Be Imposed on Battery-Charged Appliances

The California Energy Commission approved the first-in-the-nation energy efficiency standard that will decrease wasted energy by battery chargers on Thursday.

“The standards will reduce the wasted electricity from powering our day-to-day appliances by 40 percent and help California meet its strategic climate policy goals,” said Energy Commission Chair Dr. Robert Weisenmiller in a press release.

These day-to-day appliances include cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, power tools and electric toothbrushes and razors.

Chargers continue to draw electricity even when the battery is full or the devices aren’t plugged in, thus wasting electricity.

Approximately two-thirds of the 8,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity consumed in California by charger systems is wasted by inefficiency. The appliance efficiency standards proposed by the Energy Commission oblige manufacturers to produce battery chargers that consume less energy and yet provide the same performance.

The proposed standards are estimated to save up to 2,200 GWh per year, saving California taxpayers more than $300 million annually and eliminating one million metric tons of carbon emissions.

Cell phone, personal care devices and power tool chargers are required to fulfill the new standards by Feb. 1, 2013, while industrial chargers have until Jan. 1, 2014. Small commercial chargers, such as walkie talkies and portable barcode scanners, must comply by Jan. 1, 2017.