By John DeFore

This week’s consumer electronics event RetailVision saw the latest salvo in a war that should have been fought long ago but probably won’t end soon: The event’s “FRESH” exhibit, showcasing ten hot product innovations, included a display by a company founded on the idea that one plug is plenty for practically all kinds of gadgets.

Green Plug was launched in response to the staggering mess of chargers and DC adapters that have flooded households and landfills since the dawn of the personal-electronics era. Using the slogan “One Plug. One Planet.,” the company advocates migration to a standard device around which future PDAs, cell phones, and MP3 players can be designed, eliminating the need for future gizmos to come bundled with their own unique adapters.

Not only would that do away with a common household dilemma — the utility-room drawer that’s full of adapters you think are obsolete, but can’t be sure enough to part with — and make an obvious dent in the flow to landfills, the scheme would have subtler benefits as well. Designing a plug with no planned obsolescence means the company can use higher-quality components that are more efficient in AC-DC conversion; the Green Plug also addresses the “phantom drain” found in conventional electronics, meaning that devices won’t draw a trickle of electricity when they don’t need any at all.

The trouble is, Green-friendly consumers can’t go out and buy a Green Plug. In order for the concept to work, electronics manufacturers — not the quickest entities to adapt to change, as the recent high-def-video format war demonstrates — must be convinced it’s in their interest.

Green Plug’s strategy at events like RetailVision is to make their case via retailers, who, as company CEO Frank Paniagua put it in a press release, “are in a unique position to provide manufacturers with guidance on what consumers want… They (consumers) find power cord chaos to be extraordinarily inconvenient as well as ugly. It’s bad for their pocketbooks and even worse for the planet. And they are prepared to enthusiastically support retailers and manufacturers who do the right thing. Making this standard happen is in everyone’s best interest.”

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media