A Nano-Solution to Energy ‘Vampires’

[phantom power]

Like a leaky faucet, today’s transistors may be in the “off” position but are never fully closed, allowing small amounts of energy to steadily escape. But with nanotechnology, a far tighter “seal” may be achieved, greatly increasing efficiency, said the project’s coordinator, Adrian Ionescu of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

“It’s old technology,” Mr. Ionescu said of the current transistors, which are based on designs that date back decades. “What we want to use is nanoscience and nanowires, so when you want to close it, you do close it.”

For consumer devices, success could mean cellphone batteries that last 10 times longer than today’s models, and computers and other devices that use virtually no power when in stand-by mode.

“Our vision is to share this research to enable manufacturers to build the holy grail in electronics, a computer that utilizes negligible energy when it’s in sleep mode, which we call the zero-watt PC,” Mr. Ionescu said.

More efficient transistors could significantly reduce the power used not only by consumer electronics but also the energy-guzzling supercomputers that run the world’s computer networks and data centers.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/a-nano-solution-to-vampire-energy/

[Xipe Totec]

1. I thought they were talking about all those blinking LEDs that are constantly bleeding energy

If we want to talk about waste, let's start with the obvious.

[One_Life_To_Give]

2. 50/60Hz Silicon Steel a much bigger Vampire

Interesting technology. But when it comes to phantom loads, the Wall Wart comes in at number 1 in my book. Then the 350Watt switcher that needs 30W for the front end regardless of output load. Which again is tied into core losses in the magnetics as well as the silicon.

[Kolesar]

3. I think there is a "solid state" solution to the wall-warts

I mean a solid state regulated power supply.

[pscot]

4. You sent me to the urban dictionary

with wall wart. :P