Phone charged? Unplug it!

We're all about conservation here at Gadgetbox. Just because we love our gadgets doesn't mean we want the world to go the hell in a handbasket for our fetish. So when we heard that we could save enough energy to power 60,000 households if merely 10% of the population unplugged our cellphones when they were done charging, we yanked that cable out of our Motorla so fast, our phone nearly flew across the room.

This brings up a bigger issue: design. Couldn't the cellphone makers have concocted a simple way for, say, the phone to shut itself off, or stop drawing power once it's reached a certain charge level? I realize the device's battery will still discharge if the device is left on, possibly creating a never-ending loop, but how about a sleep function, or at least some sort of power reduction? I leave my phone plugged in pretty consistently when I'm not out and about with it, to make sure that it always has a charge—as a result, I've very rarely had the battery die on me. But I don't want my habits to be responsible for excessive fuel consumption when I had the means of preventing it.

Manufacturers seem to be on top of this idea now , but it doesn't really do anything for all of today's phone owners. So remember to unplug once in a while.

[via Lifehacker ]