ANSMANN introduced ZeroWatt “green” power technology

ANSMANN has announced the arrival of its patent-pending ZeroWatt “green” power technology in the UK. ZeroWatt technology eliminates the consumption of standby power by electronic equipment without compromising normal usage or convenience. Standby power consumption is the electrical power drawn from the mains by electronic equipment that has either been placed in sleep mode by remote control or has actually been switched “off” but is still connected to the mains and therefore “on”.

“ZeroWatt says goodbye to standby,” said Paul Channell, Managing Director of ANSMANN Energy (UK) Ltd. “Standby power consumption is a fundamental part of both today’s electronic consumer society and modern industrial life. Yet it is distinctly at odds with the ‘green’ agenda. It might be convenient but it is simply not eco-friendly. While other initiatives have simply sought to ‘reduce’ standby power consumption, ANSMANN’s ZeroWatt power technology completely eliminates it by automatically disconnecting electronic equipment from the mains when it is switched to standby mode.”

ANSMANN’s is making the ZeroWatt power technology available under licence to manufacturers worldwide for incorporation into their electronic equipment designs. ZeroWatt exceeds both the requirements of the US Energy Star programme and the EU’s similarly stated ecological objectives.

ANSMANN is also announcing the first of its eco-friendly industrial and consumer power products utilising the ZeroWatt technology including battery, travel and microUSB device chargers and mains adapters. ANSMANN’s ZeroWatt Powerline 4 AA/AAA battery travel charger and Powerline 5 battery charging station for the ‘famous five’ (AAA, AA, C, D and 9V E block) batteries, which automatically disconnect from the mains when charging is complete, are available now. The microUSB charger will be available in July 2010. ANSMANN is also introducing a range of ZeroWatt mains socket adapters including an intelligent time-controlled countdown timer in white and green (May 2010), an infrared controlled mains socket adapter that works with existing remote controls for TVs, HiFis and DVD players (late summer 2010) and an intelligent adapter with reactivation button for PCs (late summer 2010).

“The cost savings and associated environmental benefits that could be generated by the elimination of standby power consumption are all too evident. It’s estimated that cutting standby power consumption could save around 20 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually,” continued Paul Channell. “In major industrial countries the size of the United Kingdom, France or Germany, standby power consumption is estimated to be around 20 billion kW hours a year. This equates to between 10% and 20% of the annual electricity usage of a typical household.”