Green Tech

Imagine being able to control street lights with your mobile phone. This isn't a prank, but an eco-friendly solution now in place in parts of Germany.

The (I must add) responsible denizens there have put in place a system called Dial4Light that lets cell phone users turn on the street lamps only when someone actually needs illumination. We won't suggest this for streets like Harlem or the dodgier parts of Asia since it's so easily subject to abuse.

Much like your very own on/off switch at home, this one requires you to dial up the lights, with a 15-minute grace period before it gets pitch black again. And the best bit, a reported cost savings of 25 percent in power bills for the the towns, not to mention everyone doing their bit to reduce their carbon footprint. Just don't leave home without your phone.

Watch the video at BBC News.

(Via Crave Asia)

Makers of mobile phones produce few "green" models with biodegradable, recycled, or fully recyclable materials. And although most vendors offer recycling options, less than five percent of the world's handsets will be recycled ethically in the end, according to a report released by ABI Research Monday.

Cell phones are a growing source of potentially toxic electronics waste. Among some 150 million handsets retired every year, fewer than 20 percent are recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Nokia's Remade concept phone would use recycled and recyclable materials inside and out.

(Credit: Nokia)

However, it's unprofitable for most companies to release dedicated eco-friendly models on a massive scale, the ABI report suggested.

"Instead, the effort is towards compliance and the trickling down of proven green elements throughout entire product lines," Kevin Burden, the firm's research director, said in a statement.

Expanded regulation and corporate initiatives have reduced the use of toxic ingredients in electronics. The European Union's Reduction of Hazardous Substances rules have pushed nearly all major vendors to cut or exclude heavy metals, PVC, and brominated flame retardants.

ABI Research cited Samsung, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson as advancing efforts to make mobile phones even greener. Those brands also were at the top of the heap in the latest quarterly Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics.

Samsung released three models encased in corn-based plastic this summer in Asia and Europe.

Among this year's concept designs, Nokia's Remade flip phone cell uses recycled cans, plastic bottles, and car tires. Nokia says that up to 60 percent of the metal in its available handsets comes from recycled materials.

Sony Ericsson described in September a GreenHeart concept comprising recycled and plant-based plastics. If produced, it would consume only 3.5 milliwatts in standby mode.

A notable entrant in this year's Greener Gadgets Design Competition was the Bamboo concept handset. If buried in the ground, it would biodegrade, freeing embedded bamboo seeds to sprout a plant.

The ABI report notes a Nokia survey in which 76 percent of respondents said they preferred to buy from businesses that promote environmental responsibility.

Various other consumer polls have indicated that a small but growing percentage of shoppers seek to buy green electronics, and some will accept a price premium.

A variety of off-grid devices use the wind, the sun, or fuel cells to power up small electronics. But what if you could charge your cell phone just by talking into it, eliminating the need for batteries or cords?

What if power cords and batteries were a thing of the past?

(Credit: CBS Interactive)

What would make this possible is piezoelectricity, in which a mechanical force is converted to electricity. Some cigarette and barbeque grill lighters are an example. When a button is punched, pressure on a crystal within produces voltage, creating a spark.

In principle, the pressure to power a device could come from sound vibrations.

Crafting such piezoelectric electronics would require sensors with a specific size of crystal or ceramic material. Engineers say they have taken an early step by identifying a sweet spot at which a crystal could produce energy.

The capability of barium titanate crystals to harvest power doubles when they're about 23 nanometers in size, according to an analysis led by engineer Tahir Cagin at Texas A&M University. A human hair, for contrast, is about 100,000 nanometers wide.

However, it could be years or decades before scientists and entrepreneurs apply the findings to consumer products, he said.

"There are limitations to how much power you can generate at a given size," said Cagin, adding that an iPod or cell phone may require nano-sensors at a scale and composition different from what his research suggested.

Nokia has introduced automated kiosks across the central Klang Valley of Malaysia in a bid to encourage people to recycle their mobile phones.

In a recent study conducted by the mobile-phone maker, only 3 percent of respondents recycled their cell phones, and 50 percent were unaware that their devices could be reused.

Nokia is hoping to improve the statistics with the introduction of kiosks specially designed to ease the recycling process.

An Integrated Nokia Kiosk

(Credit: ZDNet Asia)

"We've been at the forefront of driving environmental initiatives in the mobile industry for over a decade, and Nokia Malaysia is the first to launch this automated recycling machine within Nokia globally," Nellie Abdullah, Nokia Malaysia's environmental coordinator, said in an interview with ZDNet Asia.

The Integrated Nokia Kiosk (INK) is touted to be a first-of-its-kind kiosk that combines recycling and customer care services. As part of a six-month pilot program, the booths have been rolled out in four locations across central Klang Valley. Mobile users can drop off their old phones at the kiosks to be recycled, as well as leave their devices for servicing.

The process has been made easy for customers, who need only to follow the instructions on the touch-screen machine, dropping off their devices or accessories accordingly for recycling or servicing, Nokia executives said.

Customer and phone details are collected at the INK to ensure speedy processing and better security for devices deposited into the kiosk, according to the company. Previously, customers would just drop off their unwanted phones in regular recycling bins at selected Nokia stores and outlets.

The Nokia study also determined that 44 percent of mobile users simply left their old devices unused at homes, while 4 percent of old devices were thrown into landfills. The survey polled some 6,500 people in 13 countries, including China, India, and Germany.

"The new kiosks are part of our commitment to environmental responsibility, and one way in which we believe we can make it easier for people to recycle their used and unwanted mobiles," Nellie said.

"The survey revealed that one of the main reasons why so few people recycle their mobile phones is because they simply don't know that it is possible to do so," she said. "In fact, up to 80 percent of any Nokia device is recyclable. Materials such as cobalt, nickel, copper, iron, aluminum, plastics, and even gold can be recovered. It can be reused to help make new products such as steel and other metal products, plastic cones, and in the case of precious metals like gold, into jewelry."

"If all of the 3 billion people globally (who own) mobiles brought back just one unused device, we could save 240,000 tons of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking 4 million cars off the road," Nellie said. "By working together, small individual actions could add up to make a big difference."

As an added incentive for users to recycle their old mobile devices, Nokia will donate a tree for every phone recycled. This proposal is part of the existing NEWtrees Initiative, a collaboration between Nokia, Equinox Publishing, and WWF Indonesia, in which Nokia pledged to plant 100,000 trees in Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The aim is to help reduce the annual haze that affects the region, and contribute to protecting and preserving Sebangau.

Users who recycle their phones can monitor the growth of their trees, as Nokia will provide the coordinates of the tree planted and instructions on how to view the tree via Google Earth.

Lee Min Keong is a freelance IT writer for ZDNet Asia based in Malaysia.

Street repair services for cell phones are a big industry in India. Technicians there get a diploma from a 'Mobile Repairing Institute.'

(Credit: Jan Chipchase/Nokia)

SAN FRANCISCO--Jan Chipchase is a cell phone modification guru. A researcher at Nokia Design in Tokyo, he's seen cell phones modified to hold up to 16 SIM cards and plenty more in his role at the company.

Chipchase is a member of a team at Finnish cell phone giant Nokia that's trying to lower the cost of phones for emerging markets, an effort that's part market development and part recycling. The group of 15 has scanned bazaars and street shops in places as diverse as Ghana, Brazil, Iran, India, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, China, and Mongolia to learn how end users relate to their products--and they discovered surprises that could impact consumer electronics makers within the next 15 years.

Jan Chipchase

(Credit: Nokia)

Their main finding: there's no limit to how cell phones can be modified and how their life spans can be extended.

And breathing new life into phones usually doesn't take a complex set of tools. In most cases, handsets can be reborn with the help of just a screwdriver and a toothbrush sprayed with alcohol to clean the contact heads.

In Accra, the capital of Ghana, the shining device on display might very likely be an old phone that got a tuneup. Have a defunct phone? In China, you can go to a bazaar and purchase any part for the 20 most popular phones. The shelves are also filled with printouts of repair handbooks.

"The point is that you think the thing is a closed box that can't be tinkered with, but you can actually go into a shop and build your own phone," Chipchase told CNET News.com last week. He stopped here to speak at a meeting arranged by research and development firm Adaptive Path.

One of Chipchase's favorite pastimes while traveling is to buy a mobile phone, smash it, and bring it to a cell phone repair shop to see how technicians deal with the mess. He calls this "the repairing experience."

So, you want that phone with 3G?

(Credit: Jan Chipchase/Nokia)

"The informal repair culture...makes mobile phones something more affordable to price-sensitive customers, increasing the lifetime of products while lowering the environmental-impact risks," he said, adding that with new phones appearing constantly, street mechanics very quickly learn how to work with new models.

"If they want to stay in business, they've got to listen to what the customer wants," Chipchase said.

In Tehran, meanwhile, consumers can just bring a phone to a shop where the shelves are filled with the latest software ready for download--pirated just weeks after a new model has hit the world market.

The same software-on-demand thinking goes for India--on the streets of New Delhi customers can buy a video phone that plays cricket clips and Bollywood films. And if you're in the market for a job there, you can get a diploma from a "Mobile Repairing Institute."

Installing alternative languages, switching frequency bands, unlocking software installations--these are part of everyday life in many of the places Chipcase and his team visited. In Cairo, Egypt, grocery store owners ask if you want to buy ringtones as you shop for food.

Looking for new ways to recycle
Meanwhile, with Earth Day approaching April 22, the recycling of electronics such as cell phones may assume a more prominent spot in people's minds.

In some parts of the world, the notion of not recycling electronics might seem absurd. People save their wages for months to be able to buy a cell phone, a precious little tool for small businesses or keeping in contact with family and friends where the Internet or even a landline just isn't accessible.

But in the U.S., there are more than half a billion retired phones, and less than 1 percent of those get recycled, according to information from the U.S. Geological Survey and nonprofit Earthworks.

Nokia, which dominates the world market for cell phones in almost every part of the planet except for the U.S., thinks there's much to be done on that front.

One example of what might be a new approach is the Nokia prototype cell phone Remade, which the company showed off at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, in February. Remade's cover, rather than coming from petroleum-based plastic, is made of recycled aluminum cans and old rubber tires, and the device inside comes from a used cell phone.

Cell phone software on demand in Delhi, India.

(Credit: Jan Chipchase/Nokia)

"This is a concept, to take waste and turn it into something useful," Chipchase said. Although the thin, silver Remade doesn't yet make phone calls and may never reach the market, it can be seen as a commitment to change--and a step toward a possible eco-trend.

During its travels, the Nokia design team discovered a whole business ecosystem around the mobile phone.

And no wonder, as half of the world's population owns a wireless device, according to a report by Informa Telecoms and Media. By the end of last year there were 3.3 billion subscribers. India's subscriber base will pass the U.S. this month, according to Cellular-News.

"In terms of scale, no electronic object has gone so far," Chipchase said.

Asked how Nokia's management has reacted to his team's findings, Chipchase said the data inspires a sense of potential. "People who don't work in these countries are surprised," he said. But "they see it as a possibility, more than a threat."

Many times, all that's needed to repair a cell phone is a good screwdriver and a toothbrush sprayed with alcohol to clean the contact heads.

(Credit: Jan Chipchase/Nokia)

Texas Instruments wants to export what it knows about curbing power consumption in phones to the world outside.

The Dallas-based company has already come up with a series of chips that can be inserted into portable ultrasound devices to cut power consumption by up to 20 percent. The new chips also reduce signal noise by 40 percent.

The idea behind the push is fairly simple. The company has already made the silicon, and with some tweaks, can sell it to other customers. Much of the work TI has conducted in power management for cell phones was not performed because of high electricity prices, said Bill Krenik, chief technical officer of the wireless terminal business unit at TI.

TI later this year hopes to make a splash with the third generation of its OMAP platform, a collection of chips for making cell phones.

Cell phones used to be huge and batteries are one of the more costly components. (Remember Michael Douglas with that shoe phone in the movie Wall Street? He probably gave himself radiation therapy.) TI thus originally concentrated on energy efficiency to reduce the size and costs associated with lithium ion battery packs. Carriers also continued to want longer run times on their phones, he added.

"In a phone, you are limited to a couple of watts," Krenik said during a visit Monday to CNET News.com. "There is a thermal limit too."

Along with medical equipment, the company will also look at digital TVs. No one wants to put a 50-inch plasma on the wall that's blowing more heat than the furnace, after all. TI has come up with one component that cuts digital TV power by 6 watts, said Dave Freeman, system engineering manager at TI. (Freeman further added that TI sells a lot of digital signal processors, the same chips TI sells for cell phones, and for the inverters that go with solar panels.)

But is it shower-safe?

(Credit: Angstom Power)

Oh, the humanity!

Fuel cell maker Angstrom Power and cell phone maker Motorola have teamed up to create a prototype mobile phone that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell. Hydrogen is produced--by cracking water molecules--with a desktop fueling station and then inserted into a metal hydride storage container on the phone, says Aron Levitz, manager of business development for Angstrom. When the hydrogen molecules pass through a membrane in the fuel cell, electrons are stripped away and get diverted to run the phone.

The two companies are trotting the phone to various trade shows. Start-up Angstrom has received investments from of Chrysalix Ventures.

A number of companies have been working on miniature fuel cells for portable electronics for a while, but nearly all of them run on methanol. Toshiba, for instance, last year at the Ceatec electronics show in Japan showed off a methanol fuel-cell powered portable TV. Using hydrogen has its advantages and disadvantages. For one thing, you have to harvest the hydrogen yourself. With methanol fuel cells, you just pour in the methanol.

But on the other hand, with a hydrogen fuel cell, you never have to go to the store to get fuel feedstock. You get it out of the faucet. Basically, you can think of it as a water-powered phone.

The water-to-hydrogen generator can also be powered by solar panels, making the phone about as green as you can get. Horizon Fuel Cell's H2 racer, a toy hydrogen car, runs on solar-generated hydrogen. It's also good to see more experimentation in storing hydrogen in a solid metal tank, rather than a compressed tank. is doing something similar with its portable generator. Hydrogen proponents point out that, although the hydrogen highway may not get built, the small molecule can be used to provide power to boats, fork lifts, and electronics.

And for those of you worried about blowing up, remember, hydrogen didn't burn the Hindenburg. It was the paint that caused it to go up in flames.

Admit it: When you buy a smartphone, laptop, or any of a zillion types of consumer electronics devices, you're usually not thinking about what effect you're going to have on the environment. Maybe it's time you should.

This is Nokia's concept for a solar-powered phone and an "Eco Sensor" that would be able to communicate with the phone.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News.com)

Certainly, there are a growing number of eco-friendly options out there, whether in the gadgets themselves or in the accessories and services that go along with them. Some of that was on display last week at the Greener Gadgets conference in New York.

Solar energy was a recurrent theme amid the gadgetry. Nokia, for instance, showed off a concept for a solar-powered phone, and SunNight Solar offered up its flashlight designs. For the gear you've already got, there were solar chargers such as the Solio Magnesium and the 14-watt panel in the laptop bag from Voltaic Systems. Even HYmini's pocket wind power generator comes with a solar option.

En route soon from Nokia, meanwhile, is a cell phone model whose casing makes use of bioplastics--and 80 percent of the device is recyclable.

Herman Miller, best known for its dot-com-era chair design, showed off its Leaf Lamp, which features recyclable aluminum and energy-efficient LED bulbs.

To see those items and more, and to read details on the products and services from News.com's Martin LaMonica, see this photo gallery: "Gadgets go green at Greener Gadgets."

And when you're ready to move on to your next phone or PC, be sure to consider recycling or refurbishing the old one.