Greg Bensinger at the WSJ recently wrote about this problem and pointed out that often it’s the 4G that is to blame.  Not only do we have the tendency to use maps, text messaging, mobile searching, etc. while we’re away from a desktop or laptop computer, but our phones have to work much harder to stay connected to the precious 4G signal.

In our always-connected world, running out of battery is a pain.  More airports provide USB charging stations in terminals, and many airlines now have USB power at your seat, so that can be helpful to some road warriors.  But for many of us, a power bank, bigger battery, car adapters, and USB cables are the best solution to keep connected while on the road.

Fortunately, many new smartphones and some (but not all) digital cameras can be charged with mini- or micro-USB cables.  But what about everything else?  Alfred Poor recently wrote:

… about 218 million laptops, netbooks, and tablets were sold worldwide. Even if only half of those were replacements for an existing product, that is still a mountain of power bricks and wall warts, and nearly all of them were probably perfectly good. What a waste!

IEEE, an electronics standards organization, has been working on a solution to this problem known as Universal Power Adapter for Mobile Devices (UPAMD).  The general concept here is that a single adapter can be used to power multiple devices.  The universal adapter will support power delivery between 10W and 130W, which covers the vast majority of consumer portable electronics in use today.

The concept even extends beyond mobile electronics, to include devices like printers, LCD monitors, networking equipment, and many other devices that are power hungry in our ever-more-connected world.  The UPAMD has the following stated goal:

The goal of this project is to greatly reduce the electronic waste caused by the inability to reuse a power adapter with changing devices. Acquisition cost of new mobile devices could also be lowered by 10-15% with the reuse of already owned power adapters. This waste of resources, money and materials, has existed for too long. This project focuses on a generic, reusable, power interface designed for reuse across brands, models, and years.

Let’s hope this initiative will lead to better reuse of electronics adapters, and reduced waste.  No one wants to see stuff like this at the local landfill:

My father-in-law recently learned this lesson the hard way.  He got a brand new camera just before leaving on a 1 week vacation.  He threw out the box and packaging, keeping only the actual camera and the USB cable.  Somewhere in the “packaging” was the travel charger for the battery.  By mid-week, the camera was dead, and plugging in at the USB port didn’t do anything.  Dead camera.  Hopefully 4 days of remembering the vacation will make up for the missing pictures.

Always be sure to check your charging options for cameras, camcorders, cell phones, etc. before leaving town.  With the right wall adapters, power banks, cables, and spare batteries,  you’ll avoid disappointment when you try to capture the perfect vacation moments on digital media.  Otherwise, you just end up packing around some dead electronics weight and missing out on the memories.