Solar powered mobile phone chargers by default?
Solar powered mobile phone chargers are available in numerous places online (I quite fancy getting one). Wouldn’t it make sense if all new mobile phones came with one of these, rather than the sort we plug into the mains? In addition to the obvious advantage of being better for the environment, it also has a couple of other advantages: you can charge your mobile on the move; you can also charge your mobile abroad without needing to remember to take an adapter with you - nice idea huh? It also has the benefit for the provider that they only need to provide one type of adapter for any country.
Why not buy one for a friend for a Christmas present? A good way of encouraging a friend to start doing their bit for the environment.
Tags: Environment
November 6th, 2006 at 11:43 am
Sound like a cool idea…. no need to carry adapters abroad is a definite boon (not least because my most recent Nokia charger requires 220V and will not work when provided with 110V - as I discovered to my cost in the US)
However, on what basis do you make the claim that solar powered chargers are better for the environment? Do the costs of manufacture and the energy and resources consumed in their design and build outweigh those of traditional adapters? I accept that regular chargers consume energy throughout their life but I imagine they’re cheap (and relatively environmentally friendly) to build and, probably, used primarily at night when energy is abundant from nuclear plants providing low-CO2 base load in any case.
Either way, I might still ask for one… they sound very much more convenient. (How long do they take to charge a phone?)
November 6th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Richard, I think we can be confident the cost of production would come down if these were mass-produced: to what, who knows: although if we can reduce ongoing maintenance costs below the cost of grid-provided power, solar has much more potential than just mobile chargers.
There is still one big problem though: what do you do when there’s no sun? For this reason alone, I can’t see myself taking solely one of these on a trip with me.
November 7th, 2006 at 9:37 am
The solar powered charger may cost slightly more in carbon terms to build originally (I’m guessing here) but the running carbon costs are practically zero. From an economic point of view these are still more expensive than traditional mobile chargers but as Andrew points out, this would almost certainly change as production levels increase.
In answer to your question Andrew, many of the solar chargers store charge in an internal battery (not very carbon friendly) so that you can charge your mobile even if there is currently no sun.
As you point out, the opportunities for solar powered chargers are many. Some of the ones available online have attachments to allow you to charge uout phone, iPod, etc.
Another alternative is the wind-up charger (no this isn’t a wind-up - well, I suppose it is) which works in a similar way to Trevor Bayliss’ clockwork radio. This sounds like a very environmentally friendly solution, but I can’t see everyone sitting there winding up their charger in order to power all their electronic devices!
November 9th, 2006 at 7:09 pm
“This sounds like a very environmentally friendly solution, but I can’t see everyone sitting there winding up their charger in order to power all their electronic devices!”
That makes me think…..
Let’s say it takes x watts to charge a phone. I wonder how much carbon would be emitted in charging a phone using gas/coal/nuclear (i.e. allowing for transmission losses, etc).
And then I wonder how that compares with the amount of carbon that would be emitted if a human charged the battery by using a wind-up device (i.e. the marginal carbon cost of the extra food - transport, growing, processing, etc., plus the extra CO2 breathed out by the person doing the winding)
I know….slightly facetious but it’s an interesting question (at least I think so
)
November 11th, 2006 at 10:52 am
I look forward to seeing your calculations Richard
December 5th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Hmmmm sounds like a good idea. Ive got like 5phones and i think this would save me some change on my next electric bill
Director-
http://www.MobileShopDirect.co.uk
December 6th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Hi Bill, Thanks for your comment. As director of a company such as MobileShopDirect you are in a prime position to try and change the way people go about charging their mobile phones. How about having some deals where solar powered chargers are included in a deal with the mobile phone? Or how about just selling the chargers on the same site as the mobile phones? The greater the demand for solar powered chargers, the lower the cost, and hence the greater the uptake.
When you get your solar powered charger let me know how it goes, I’d be interested to know.
Thanks again.
December 19th, 2006 at 9:14 am
Why don’t all mobile phones come with a wind up charger? I know they only offer a small amount of charge for emergency use at the moment but I’m sure there are planty of whizz kids out there that could design one that offers more charge.
I live in hope!
Jo
December 20th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Hi Jo. Thanks for your comment. Wind up chargers are also a good idea but as you mention the problem is that they only offer a small amount of charge (perhaps we ought to get Trevor Bayliss on the case to improve the wind up technology!). The thing I like about the solar power charger is that it really doesn’t take any effort and in today’s society where some people can’t even be bothered to recycle then I think it is currently the best choice.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:30 am
wind up chargers, though efficient(even when not in use, a charger can charge batteries for later),wind up chargers arent realeased because theyre not stylish enough, says many major cell phone corporations. i think its essential, and should be a common practice. does anyone know what charges better-the wind ups or solar chargers?
June 18th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I have to admit, I don’t know which is better - solar or wind up. As I said in my previous comment, I think solar chargers are likely to be more popular because a) they require less effort, and b) they can probably be designed to take up less space - key requirements in today’s hi-tech gadget environment.
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I love posts like this! Keep up the great blog, I’ve bookmarked it and added it to my RSS reader to check out more often.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Alls well with the concept, but will it work on rainy days of london
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I have a solar charger, but it only comes with the seven most popular phone attachments and it doesn’t work with 3 of the 5 phones we have in our family. For instance, there is a Samsung attachment, but we have one Samsung it works on and one that it doesn’t. Do you know if there is any way to get more attachments for the chargers?
August 7th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Talking about different forms of enegry and wind up chargers.
A couple of years back I made a rough prototype of phone that charges on the bicycle. I was wondering how many people use bicycles today?
In todyas world of overconsunption, its the most efficeint and healthy way of transportation.So how many will people will start using it?
This may not only be useful only for your phone but most small devices like the I-pod too. And when not charging, the power can be saved into a battery that can be used later.
I am a final year product design student, and working on this project again. Any tips?
August 13th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Hi Vivek - nice idea, but I think someone has got there before you. I’d check out: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/03/pedal_power.php
Good idea though.