The power adapter. A pretty simple item and basically an afterthought when we buy our cell phones, laptops, etc. It’s that black plastic box that we plug into the wall when we run out of juice on our electronics. But what if I told you, that with newer products, you weren’t using or wasting as much power, or creating as much carbon emissions because of that wasted power? Thus, saving the planet!

In last week’s issue of The Economist there is a 14-page special report called Stopping Climate Change. One of the smallest articles is titled “Vampires on a Diet.”  So much has been made in 2009 about “vampire electronics.” These are all the things we leave plugged in like TVs, Playstations, Laptops, and cell phone adaptors, that continue to suck energy even when we aren’t using them. You know that “standby” little red light on your TV, DVD player or phone charger? well that means it’s sucking and using energy at all times. And the obvious link is that this energy ultimately comes from a power station that emits carbon gasses–the main cause of climate change.

The article highlights changes to the way these adapters are built and how this has had a dramatic effect of lowering energy consumption and waste. One really interseting reason was the effort by the Natural Resources Defence Council and Ecos Consulting to affect legislative change in the US.  The US adopted these required changes in technology and since America is the biggest consumer of electronics, manufacturers followed which in turn, spread this better type of adapter all over the world.

With you, me and everyone else in the world using newer electronics, there are 13 fewer tons of Carbon Dioxide entering the atmosphere. That’s an amazing figure when you think that it all starts with a simple change in the technology of the adapter. That little black box in your outlet that you never care about- until you lose it!

The lesson of this article is that small actions do count. A central belief here at Kiss My Country is that if we can help and encourage everyone to take small and practical actions in their lives, collectively, it will add up to a big difference in saving our planet.