Launches "What's Under Your Desk" Photo Sweepstakes
Green Plug, Inc., (DEMO 08) the San Ramon, Calif. inventor of a smart, programmable processor and software for developing a universal power supply, today launched a national petition drive calling on federal legislators to support a universal green power standard to prevent millions of toxic power supplies from being buried at landfills every year.
To intice consumers to back the petition, Green Plug is sponsoring a "what's under your desk" photography sweepstakes through May 1 asking consumers to submit photos of the tangle of power supplies they deal with daily.
Ten billion direct current power supplies are in use worldwide with between five to 10 in the average U.S. home, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"America needs, the planet needs a single universal power architecture for electronic devices to maximize resources, minimize solid waste, and conserve energy," said Seth Socolow, GreenPlug's vice president of business development.
Green Plug, an eight-person start-up, organized the first meeting of the Alliance for Universal Power Supplies last October, which attracted 300 people from major energy and technology companies, and expects to launch a public Web site in May to build grassroots consumer and industry support.
"As a start-up we know we need major companies calling for this standard. David Rogers of the (U.S.) Department of Energy told us (at the October meeting) that either the industry sets a standard, or the government will, and we'd probably prefer one we set ourselves," Socolow said.
So far the focus has been on energy efficiency not a single power supply standard. The 2007 federal energy bill approved in December set a new Energy Star efficiency specification that external power supplies draw no more than a half a watt of power. However the new legislation doesn't address eliminating the multitude of power supplies for mobile phones and computers for a single universal one. An estimated 3.2 billion external power supplies will be designed, manufactured, and shipped in 2008.
The lack of a standard power supply coupled with the fast cycle of electronics obsolescence results in an estimated 379 million power supplies being dumped in U.S. landfills a year, and three times that amount thrown away worldwide, Socolow said.
E-waste is the fastest growing category of municipal solid waste. Americans recycle only 12.5 percent of their electronic wastes, according to the EPA. Power supplies are made with toxic materials and don't have a lot of salvagable components making them unattractive to recyclers.
"The recycling industry is driven by money and the government is not providing any incentives to recycle power supplies," Socolow said.
GreenPlug offers its "GreenTalk" firmware free to computer and mobile phone manufacturers to enable them to convert to a universal power supply. Revenue will come from sales of its smart processor to electronics makers. The company is working on an interium step - a GreenPlug adapter to make existing power supplies universal, which will be available later this year, Socolow said.
"Green Plug technology offers unprecedented levels of convenience, cost-effectiveness and environmental friendliness to consumers, electronics manufacturers, utility companies and regulators," said Greg Robinson, managing director of Peninsula Equity Partners, which provided GreenPlug with an undisclosed amount of series A funding in January. "By enabling a single external power supply to power any DC-powered product, regardless of the device's power requirements, Green Plug's intellectual property represents an enormous
breakthrough."
Winners of Green Plug's photography sweepstakes will be chosen at random. Prizes are lunch in Beverly Hills with two actors who have been active in green tech issues - Adiranne Curry and Christopher Knight, who star in the VH1 reality program My Fair Brady, a $500 WalMart gift certificate, and a $250 contribution to the winner's choice of "green" charity.
(Mobile phone chargers dumped in an Atlanta, Georgia landfill for burial. Photograph by Chris Jordan.)
