[UgaBYTES] Eco-friendly charger to beat e-waste

[Cleopa Timon Otieno]

The headache that goes with carrying multiple chargers when using two or
more phones may soon be a thing of the past.

Plans are underway to make available a universal charger, which is
compatible with all handsets. The charger will make life much simpler for
the consumer, who will use it for future handsets, and charge his mobile
phone anywhere from any available charger.

The gadget will also curb the environmental menace arising from electronics.


Currently, most mobile phones use chargers that only work on one kind of
device. Incase you lose a phone, the accompanying charger and other
accessories become useless and eventually end up in dumpsite.

The situation is especially common in Africa where the art of sorting out
garbage at the source is yet to take root.

In most developed nations like in Europe, electronic waste is never mixed
with other house hold refuse. This makes recycling easy and profitable.

In Germany for instance, every neighbourhood has clearly demarcated bins
that make garbage sorting easy. Glass, food remains, metal and electronic
wastes are dropped in different bins.

Mobile phone manufacturers meeting in Barcelona, Spain last month, set
January 2012 as the year that the charger would be unveiled to the world
market.

All new mobile phones by then would support a universal charging connector,
and the chargers would also meet the efficiency targets set out by the Open
Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP).

OMTP is the industry body that developed the technical requirements behind
the universal charger.

The industry standardised mobile charger is expected to save energy and
money for mobile users, while at the same time ensuring that the industry
adopts a common format for the mobile phone charger connection.

Players’ support

Leading phone manufacturer, Nokia, has already supported the initiative,
which is driven by the GSMA and major mobile manufacturers,

Following suit, other mobile devices manufacturers are upbeat on the
introduction of the common handset charger especially in supporting mobile
telephony penetration in sub-Saharan Africa.

"It is envisaged that the new charger would reduce by 50 per cent standby
energy consumption, while making the use of mobile phones friendlier to the
consumer," Ms Dorothy Ooko, Communications Manager Nokia, East and Southern
Africa told The Standard.

Ms Ooko said Nokia already has a standard charger (2mm), which is used by
more than one billion people around the world.

"The new initiative would make it possible for consumers to continue to use
this and the common charger, reducing waste and increasing convenience for
users," she argued.

She said the new product would be an important step in addressing
environmental issues arising out of mobile chargers and saving resources
that can be used to address poverty, and hence lead to the achievement of
Vision 2030 goals. The chargers will also include a higher efficiency
rating, which is up to three times more energy-efficient than an unrated
charger currently in the market.

And with the environmentally friendly charges being manufactured each year,
the industry can expect to reduce green house gases
<http://www.eastandard.net/sciencetech/InsidePage.php?id=1144013819&cid=456&#>in
manufacturing and transporting.

*New solution*

To ensure the uptake of a universal charging solution, the operators and
manufacturers who have partnered with the GSMA to launch this initiative are
working alongside the OMTP to rollout the new solution to meet the targets
set for 2012.

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications
industry. Spanning 219 countries, the body unites more than 750 of the
world’s mobile operators, as well as 200 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment
providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. In
the local scenario, the universal charger comes as a reprieve.

Most second hand phones in the market come without chargers. This means one
has to buy a charger and usually it is extremely difficult to find
affordable original chargers on sale.

This then makes users to resort to counterfeit chargers, which according to
experts, spoil batteries. The universal charger will therefore mean, a blow
to charger counterfeiters.


-- 
Cleopa Timon Otieno
www.ugunja.org , www.kenyatelecentres.org
P.O.Box 330-40606, Ugunja
Cell: +254-720-950-220
skype: timonson1