AT&T introduces automatic ZERO charger to reduce wasted energy

AT&T has a little something green for us today. No, it's not a green iPhone. It's the ZERO Charger, which automatically cuts off power from the wall socket even when left plugged in, which should save you a whole lot of green in your wallet as well.

According to AT&T, 80% of mobile phone users leave their chargers plugged in wall socket often. At the rate of three to four times per week for eight hours, that's equivalent to being enough energy to power 24,000 homes for a year, or brew three to four million cups of coffee each day. Wowza.

Obviously if you're wasting that much energy, you're probably paying for it too.

So to reduce and prevent that problem, the AT&T Zero Charger hosts a "block and cable" design for compatibility with a larger number of handheld devices. Basically, the Zero automatically recognizes when the cell phone is not connected to the charger, blocking power from the wall socket. So you can leave the charger in the wall without worrying about it.

And for the green icing on top, the packaging will be made with 100% recycled paper. AT&T will release the charger in May, and while a price hasn't been given yet, it should be comparable to other replacement chargers.