CA Energy Commission Tackles Vampire Chargers

January 16, 2012

[Note: Thanks to Wendel Rosen attorney Greg Jung for this update and guest post.]

Greg Jung, attorney at Wendel Rosen

On January 12, the California Energy Commission approved the nation’s first efficiency standards that apply to “vampire” chargers — electrical battery charging systems that consume electricity even when they are not connected to the device being charged or turned off. The new rules would take effect on Feb. 1, 2013, for chargers used with consumer goods, such as phones and power tools; on Jan. 1, 2014, for industrial chargers, such as forklifts; and on Jan. 1, 2017, for commercial equipment chargers, including walkie-talkies for emergency personnel and portable bar-code scanners.

See http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-energy-vampires-20120113,0,6391528.story