What could be better??

Something that amuses me when I walk into the library is that almost all the laptops that I see are connected to the power outlet. Honestly, the main feature of having a laptop is to be able to carry around a computer and using it without having it connected to the power. I also think that the majority of the time, the laptop is fully charged and yet, the charger is stuck into the laptop. At that point, it's just ridiculous because not only is there a chance of people tripping over the useless cord, but it also wastes so much energy. Not to totally bash on people who do this, because truthfully, I am also guilty of it, but I've come to the realization that it does waste a lot of energy.

A few days ago, I went to my dorm room after my lab at the end of the day, and I saw that my straightening iron was on. Not only was it on, but it was still plugged into the outlet, along with my hair dryer, my laptop/phone charger, my roommate's laptop/phone charger, and a million of other things. All that energy wasted, and I wasn't even using it!! The US Department of Energy estimates that 5% of all electricity used in the US is consumed by power suppliers/chargers plugged into the wall. They also predict that this will increase to 20% by 2010! Such a little thing, but it makes such a big difference.

So what can be done to make things better and save more energy? The majority of the people are so ignorant and waste so much energy that could be used for a lot of other things. Someone should just come up with magic plugs that don't suck up energy when they are not being used. Or you can just unplug your charger or cord when you don't use it--which is the majority of the time.