Having numerous electronic gadgets and gizmos, I naturally have lots of wall wart transformers.  These things are the bane of my existence.  They occupy two or more outlets, and the more egregious ones seem designed explicitly to block two wall outlets, thereby monopolizing that particular outlet.  The worst offender, though, has to be the transformer that came with an Ikea lamp I bought a while back.  This thing is about 2” wide, 3” deep, 2” high, and weighs about 5 lbs. 

While I’m starting to see a few smaller and more friendly transformers that don’t monopolize outlets, there still seem to be lots of manufacturers who aren’t getting the message.  Which is why I highly recommend Outlet Savers (you can also get these at Fry’s).  Whenever I get a chance I pick up one or two of these and it always seems like I’m using another one somewhere.

In the long run it occurs to me that having so many wall warts is inefficient for items that remain plugged in long-term.  In the back of my mind I envision a secondary, low-voltage, distribution system built into houses to provide for these sorts of items.  There are some downsides, though, in that low-voltage DC tends to require larger wiring for large loads and there is a proliferation of voltages for the various devices. 

For portable devices I’m noticing that more and more of them are moving to USB for charging, which at least makes for a handy standard (USB specifications call for a powered port to provide up to 500mA at 5V, if I recall correctly).