CES 2009: Christopher Knight Helps Kick off Green Plug's First Product
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California 
on 01. 9.09
Christopher Knight shows off the Innergie universal charger with integrated GreenTalk
Green Plug, a smart charging technology we've been watching for awhile, debuted its first Greentalk-integrated product, Innergie. Innergie is the world's smallest universal adapter, and now it has a new trick up its sleeve.
Green Plug's goal is ultimately to make it so manufacturers of electronic devices no longer have to make chargers specific to the devices. Instead, consumers would have one charger that can power all of their devices. Plus, Green Plug is smart, shutting off when it senses the device is charged to help stop vampire power.
“President‐elect Obama recently told all Americans that they need to shut off the lights
and unplug power supplies when they are not needed,” said Paul Panepinto, EVP Sales
and Marketing, Green Plug. “With the Greentalk open systems power interface, power
adapters automatically stop consuming power when devices don’t need any.”
Innergie Charger
The interface for Innergie is simple. It tells you when something is plugged in and using a charge, and when it isn't.
It tells you also when a device no longer needs to be plugged in, and can shut off power to the device. Anything up to 19 volts can be used with Innergie. It's also pretty sleek looking, and it's light weight. And Christopher Knight digs it.
Preventing e-Waste
The main issue Green Plug is addressing is not really vampire power – it's e-waste. One of the primary drives for Green Plug's team is to cut out the incredible amount of materials and waste that occur with unnecessary chargers that are stuck in a drawer or thrown in a trash can when the device is no longer used.
Consumer Drive for Fewer Chargers
The passion of the team was apparent when I spoke with them while testing out the new Innergie product, and one of the neatest moves they're making is getting consumers involved. If you're sick of toting around wads of chargers when you travel, or having too many things plugged into a wall, you can go to IwantMyGreenPlug.com and let manufacturers know that there's a demand for this technology.
More on CES:
iGo Debuting Energy Efficient Chargers at CES 2009
Energizer Solar Powered Battery Charger to Debut at CES
CES 2009: Motorola Launches The First Carbon Neutral Cell Phone
Are Green Gadgets Really Greener This Year At CES?
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This is kinda lame, no compatibility for Apple Laptops. :(
Won't buying this device just mean that you now toss all the "free" chargers that come with devices into the garbage? Sure, you prevent wasting electricity, but now we're just replacing it with increased e-waste.
Just be responsible and buy less and learn to unplug your stupid toys when the light changes from red to green...
If Apple had an open power connector interface, then the Innergie product and Greentalk would work with the Mac. It's an Apple thing and they can fix it if they want.
@Josh: As the industry is now, yes it is an extra charger. The idea though is for chargers like this to exist, so they can then convince device manufacturers that they don't need to include chargers with their device in the future.