No load power consumption is the electric power consumed by a

battery charger A battery charger, recharger, or simply charger is a device that stores energy in a battery by running an electric current through it. The charging protocol (how much voltage or current for how long, and what to do when charging is complete) depen ...

when it is plugged into a wall socket but without the

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

or other battery device being connected. Contrary to

standby power Standby power, also called vampire power, vampire draw, phantom load, ghost load or leaking electricity ("phantom load" and " leaking electricity" are defined technical terms with other meanings, adopted for this different purpose), refers to ...

, which is a low power mode of devices such as TVs to maintain system functions such as responding to

remote control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...

, true no-load energy does nothing of use.

Consequences

The no-load power contribution to a country’s household energy demands is thought to be considerable.Energy Saving Trust

, The Ampere Strikes Back, 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2009 The average number of handsets per capita is frequently more than one in many countrie

the proportion of chargers left accidentally or deliberately plugged in is thought to be significant and with current designs over 60% of a mobile phone’s energy use is wasted as no-loa

As a result, mobile phone manufacturers have become increasingly focused on reducing the no-load consumption of their power chargers. For example, in 2002, a typical design might use about 3 watts on average and in 2007 less than 0.5 watts. For the purposes of estimating consumption, no-load and standby power are often lumped together, and it is difficult to distinguish them in statistics. Estimates of the magnitude are discussed with numerical detail in the article on

. Before energy-wastage initiatives were implemented, it was estimated that power used by devices plugged in but not in active use was about 10% of domestic electric energy power consumption, the small magnitude of the power drawn being offset by 24-hour drain.

Policies to reduce no load power

Energy Star Energy Star (trademarked ''ENERGY STAR'') is a program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that promotes energy efficiency. The program provides information on the energy consumption of pro ...

, the EU code of conduct on standby and other mandatory and regulatory standards are encouraging manufacturers to make further reductions in no-load energy demands. For example: under the Energy Star V2.0 (level V) voluntary standard introduced in November 2008, the no-load consumption of a typical 4.25 W charger has to be less than 0.3 W. The EU code of conduct version 4, introduced in January 2009, has a limit of 0.25 W for mobile handheld battery-driven applications, reducing to 0.15 W in January 2011
Complete list of national and international standards

Rating system

In November 2008, the world’s five largest

makers—

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

LG Electronics LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest '' chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered a ...

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

and

Sony Ericsson Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. I ...

—announced their own five star energy rating system to help consumers more easily identify the most energy-efficient chargers. Chargers are being labeled with no stars for no-load consumptions exceeding 0.5 W, up to five stars for consumption of not more than 0.03 W.

References

{{reflist Electric power Battery charging