Just One Thing: Green Your Battery Charger

Oct. 2, 2009— -- According to the Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 230 million products in use in American homes and business require that their batteries be charged, and those chargers can pull much more energy than is actually stored in the battery.

About 95 percent of the energy drawn by each charging device is wasted, costing you money and releasing greenhouse gases into the air.

The U.S. Department of Energy said the average American household spends about $1,400 per year on energy bills -- about 10 percent of which goes for charging electronics.

The EPA says converting to more energy-efficient battery chargers could save Americans more than $100 million a year.

You can start saving by using solar chargers -- which harness free energy from the sun -- to power your household devices.

Solar charges may be used inside your home or outdoors, and during power outages after storms.

PowerFilm makes two chargers, a rollable solar charger and a foldable solar charger. Originally developed for the military, the waterproof solar chargers can provide up to 12 volts of electricity for a range of devices, including laptops, cell phones, bilge pumps and car batteries.

Designed to allow for easy packing, the charger will work in cloudy conditions, and will run a laptop for about 30 minutes on one hour of stored sunlight.

Each charger costs about $99.95.

Click here to learn more about the PowerFilm chargers.