anti vamp by daniel watson from uk
designer's own words:
People all over the world often leave their electronic possessions charging overnight. This seems illogical when many batteries can be fully charged in a couple of hours. The problem is that these chargers don't stop consuming energy when they cells that they're charging are full, leading to so-called 'Vampire Power'.
Some chargers can continue using up to 75% of their normal operational power when the cells are full but even if the consumption is low the sheer volume of people doing the same thing and for long periods of time means a lot of power is being wasted.
'anti-vAmp' takes the pressure off the user to remember to unplug their chargers, while reminding them of the power that they're using every time they press the button. Chargers can remain plugged in but in order to make them work the user must press the power button. This button is attached to a basic circuit that totally disconnects the charger from the power once the battery being charged is full. To keep power usage down the button is not illuminated, but painted to make it intuitively obvious to the user. Material usage is kept to a minimum to avoid simply replacing energy wastage with embodied energy in the product.
The buttons could be fitted to all types of device chargers in the future and, in order to cater for older devices, could also be fitted to multi-plugs.
This simple, low material solution could help to cut down unnecessary passive energy use on a widespread scale.
There are more electrical devices in the world every day.
The anti-vAmp assumes that the power is off, rather than on.
The system is simple but should help reduce energy wastage, by using energy responsibly.