The world has grown up to develop a green and eco-friendly environment for the next generation which very aptly deserves it. Companies and corporate businesses are thus looking into developing eco-friendly ways to work in and also to develop products of the same. The phone companies have all at one point or the other did manufacture phones which were very eco-friendly but did not prove to be a big hit in the mass market.
Therefore phone companies have taken an alternate route towards providing a possible solution to this by changing the way they operate in different aspects until the phone is handed to the customers.
1. Efficient Networks
An integral part for a cellular or phone company would be its network which provides the base for communication. Modern day’s networks have been built to have more capacity rather than efficiency. Capacity in terms here is as to how much data can be transferred or received at one time. Since the companies have huge centres to maintain and communicate between each other about many different aspects it needs that kind of capacity. It has been researched that they can be made better up to a thousand times in terms of them being efficient thus saving a vast majority of energy that is being wasted. It has been predicted to reach their mark within 5 years by all the companies.
2. Base Stations
To power the networks the companies have been trying to replace their grids with clean power alternatives such as solar and wind power. Especially in places where the source of energy is very far and the use of fuel for generators is expensive. A solar powered grid is the purest form of replacing hazard with environmental friendly alternatives. Presently they are being used as a backup. A clean grid has greater complications associated which are being dealt upon but until then they are being used as back up. Limiting or negligible usage of fuel or other sources to power up these base stations would minimize the carbon footprint from these in an enormous and noticeable manner.
3. Chargers
Is there an option to use the old charger with the new phone even if it’s from the same brand that has been bought now? The answer apart from a few cases is a definite no. A change in a brand say from Nokia to Blackberry would leave you with two different chargers. Or if you lose one it cannot use the other charger. A possible solution that the companies have come up to is with a standardised micro USB charger that is being set in 2012.
4. Recycling
Companies have seriously taken into recycling the old phones or defective ones but the cost to production rates are really low. There are services being provided by individual companies that exchange cash for old or unused phones. Voluntary recycling of the phones is also being availed by a certain set of customers.
5. Solar Charging
Ever wondered what to do if a charger is not around and your phone battery is almost depleted and you have to make an important call? A solar charging incorporated into the phone would seem to be a viable option but for the prices the phones are being offered such a technology that will have to wait to hit the mobile market. Solar panels can be designed to fit onto the phone which would juice up the battery just like the ones seen in solar calculators. It’s simpler in charging calculators but in mobile phones it’s much more sophisticated as these have to be modified to charge the lithium ion batteries.
