The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has published 62700, a new specification for universal charger for direct current power supply for laptops and portable personal computers, in a bid to cut down on e-waste and its impact.
IEC estimates that e-waste impact because of non-standard laptop chargers is currently at over 500 thousand tonnes annually, which is equivalent of 500K cars. IEC claims that the new specification will not only enable customers to choose chargers from any brand for their laptop, but it will also ensure that chargers from third party vendors will now be safer.
“A single power supply covering a wide range of notebook computers is the next step in lowering e-waste and its impact on our planet”, said IEC General Secretary and CEO Frans Vreeswijk.
The new specification from IEC can be is similar to its previous work – IEC 62684 – that standardized chargers for mobile phones and tablets using the micro Universal Serial Bus (USB) plug specification. The 62648 has been adopted by major vendors including Samsung, LG, Huawei, Motorola and Sony; however, it remains to be seen how much success the universal charger for portal personal computers will garner.
IEC has revealed that currently organizations and vendors are busy discussing on the merits of the new specification; however, “due to technical realities, this is likely a long way from being achievable.”
