Does unplugging your charger really do any good?

While the time has come for energy sobriety, does unplugging the portable chargers lying around the house really do anything in terms of consumption?

Can we really consume less electricity by not leaving a charger plugged in? If every gesture counts, you might as well be sure of it!

Actions to consume less

The campaign called “Every gesture counts” launched by the government aimed to “raise awareness among the French about important actions in terms of energy sobriety”as the authorities explained. “I lower, I turn off, I shift”certainly. But are all actions equal in helping to consume less?

Each piece of electrical equipment consumes a specific amount of energy, depending on its power and use. Which are the most greedy? Without hesitation, washing machines, video game consoles and induction hobs. We probably can’t say the same about a simple charger…

Tiny consumption

There is no shortage of chargers in each of our homes, between smartphones, tablets, computers, consoles, portable speakers… So what happens if we leave them lying around plugged into extension cords and other power strips? You can take the test at home and measure the electricity consumption of a permanently connected charger using a wattmeter. This measuring device has a plug to plug into your charger to measure the amount of energy consumed in watts.

We will therefore have to transpose this consumption into kWh. First, divide the charger’s power by a thousand to get its power in kWh. Then, multiply this result by the number of days of operation and the number of hours of use. In the end, chargers connected when empty actually consume very little electricity. Their consumption is in fact so reduced that it is only measured in milliwatts.

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A few cents per year in consumption

In other words, over a year, leaving all your chargers plugged in for nothing at home will represent less than two euros more per year on your electricity bill. What if you leave your smartphone plugged in overnight to charge it? If you plugged enough to recharge an average family’s range, i.e. six chargers, into a power strip all night long, you would actually only consume 2.6 kWh per year. That’s a consumption of around 40 cents per year, provided that we consider that these chargers are permanently connected all year round.

Also read – 15 tips to reduce your electricity bill

Ultimately, unplugging your charger from the outlet doesn’t really save energy, and leaving your chargers on all the time won’t add to your annual electricity bill. The quantity of energy consumed by a charger is ultimately so tiny that it does not really contribute to current energy efficiency. On the other hand, leaving your devices continuously on charge risks deteriorating the batteries in the long term.

Article updated