Kudos to Nokia for adding the smarts to their cell phones to let a user know to unplug the charger from the wall socket. Apparently this simple operation (presuming people actually do unplug the phones – as opposed to leaving them plugged in and charging all night) will allow saving “enough electricity to power 85,000 homes a year”. From their press release I gather that 1/3 of the energy consumed by cell phones and chargers is by leaving the charger plugged into a live socket after the phone has been unplugged. A simple code addition to add the warning to the phone promises significant energy savings. The big question is, what about all those other non-operational appliances running in the home and still plugged into a live socket? Maybe there is promise in having smarter appliances start to help their owners to learn how to conserve energy. You know? I might even be able to start unplugging my charger without having my phone telling me to do so.
