Apple

For the price of one Venti coffee drink at Starbucks, you can charge your new iPad for almost three full years.

Based on the research and subsequent findings by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the annual cost to charge a new, third-generation iPad is $1.36. The non-profit research and development group says that charging your iPad every other day for a full year costs less than running a 60-watt compact fluorescent bulb all year ($1.61) and way less than the annual cost of electricity from a desktop PC ($28.21) and a refrigerator ($65.72).

So why exactly does it benefit us to know about the annual cost of charging a new iPad? For starters, says the EPRI, newer and more energy-efficient technologies like Apple's tablet and smartphone devices are changing the level of incumbent demands on power consumption in the U.S. and abroad.

“As information technologies continue to change rapidly we see important implications for energy consumption,” said EPRI Vice President of Power Delivery and Utilization Mark McGranaghan. “These results raise important questions about how the shifting reliance from desktop to laptop to mobile devices will change energy use and electricity requirements for the information age. "

Source: AP