Battery Management:: Better Battery Chargers I waste energy. Not intentionally, but like most people, I leave the battery charger for my Samsung mobile handset plugged into the wall outlet even when I am not charging my phone. It is just more convenient. But it's dumb, I admit it. I am going to stop doing it. And, frankly, I should have known better. Leaving that battery charger engaged with my wall outlet puts the device in standby mode, meaning that depending on its efficiency, it could be drawing something like 100–to–150 milliwatts a day. >>

Lighting:: Energy-Efficient Lighting Perfected I have very pragmatic reasons to be interested in energy-efficient lighting, specifically, electricity is expensive. Just ask anyone doing business in Maryland, where, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) the average non-manufacturing business pays $1,238.80 each month for electricity, and remember that figure includes hundreds or even thousands tiny commercial offices that certainly bring down the average. Connecticut businesses pay just slightly less at an average of $1,220.55 each month in electric bills. And businesses in most U.S. states pay around $620 a month for electricity. Again according to the EIA, lighting accounts for perhaps 20 percent of total power usage in both corporate offices and residences in the U.S., collectively consuming some 526 billion kilowatt-hours in 2007, which was the most recent data available. At the U.S. commercial average of 9.65 cents per kilowatt hour, illuminating conference rooms, cubicles, and kitchens in American costs something like $50.7 billion each and every year. >>

Wireless Communications:: Near Field Communication In Mobile Devices Imagine walking up to the Krispy Kreme at Heathrow International's Terminal 3. You order three hot glazed doughnuts and pay by waving your mobile phone at a non-descript payment point on the counter. That easy. Near Field Communication Paying for doughnuts with my phone has long been one of my favorite technology concepts, and not just because I like doughnuts, but because I like the underlying technology, near field communication (NFC). NFC, as you may know, is a short-range, high-frequency, peer-to-peer data transfer technology. It is an open standard described in ISO/IEC 18092:2004 and in ECMA 340. And several years ago, NFC seemed all the rage in the mobile industry. Back then, paying for doughnuts, or cans of soda, or just getting information by holding a mobile phone near some RFID-enabled device or poster was one of the hot mobile applications of the hour. >>