Energy Ratings for Mobile Handset Chargers

Five mobile manufacturers have agreed to a common energy rating system for chargers. The star rating system developed and supported by LG, Motorola, Nokia Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson .

Chargers use electricity when disconnected from the phone but left plugged into the wall socket. Around two thirds of the energy used by mobile devices is wasted in this way.

The new rating system indicates how much energy each charger uses when left plugged into the wall socket after charging is completed. The ratings covers all chargers currently sold by the five companies, and range from five stars for the most efficient chargers down to zero stars for the ones consuming the most energy.

If the more than three billion people owning mobile devices today switched to a four or five star charger, this could save the same amount of energy each year as produced by two medium sized power plants.