Next generation phones:
The need for mobile communication to go green has brought forward innovative new designs with latest technology & expertise to satisfy the customers. Solar energy, kinetic energy and wind energy are a few of the energy sources that will be harnessed to power the handsets.
Solar energy for towers:
India with one of the largest markets for cell-phones has proposed plans for cell-phone towers that are powered by solar energy. China Mobile, the leading Chinese telecommunication operator, has already set up the world’s biggest solar-energy-powered base station in China.
Powered by radio frequency:
Nokia is trying to manufacture cell-phones that will use ambient radio waves. Their prototype can harness 50mW of power from radio waves. This is sufficient to power the cell-phone in standby mode.
Solar power for cell-phones:
All major players in the cell-phone manufacturing industry are now busy into launching solar-powered cell-phones. Pop by LG, Blue-earth by Samsung and two other Sharp Models are all new prototypes using solar power.
Cell-phone chargers:
With eco-friendly cell-phones gaining popularity, cell-phone chargers are also going green. Many are the chargers that will be made with environmentally friendly materials and powered by renewable energy sources.
More future ideas:
Since solar power is unavailable at night time, the idea of using kinetic energy to generate electrons is now being explored. Motion of any form is utilized to generate power for charging the phone. Using airbed foot pumps to drive an embedded turbine to generate energy and convert it to electric power is now being tried.
Unconventional sources:
There are a number of plans on the anvil like fuel cells which can generate power from water; generating power from sources that are unconventional like cold drink or alcohol. So the day is not far off when the mobile communication goes totally green and uses only power made from renewable energy.