Some of the greatest eco mobile phone gadgets ever to be conceived are featured here. Not all of them made it to market (yet) or not even in 10% of their original form, but they proved there were new ways to charge up or make use of our mobile phones in a greener way.
Solar Powered Trousers
How clever would it be to charge your mobile in your trousers?! Well it’s a reality. This mind boggling invention by Silver Lining is called GO Urban Cargo Trousers
These trousers are eco-friendly, using the sunshine alone to charge them to create the power to in turn, charge you’re mobile. Just wear or hang the trousers in the sun and, in minutes they are ready to get to work.
The GO Urban Cargo Trousers are made using an ultra soft and wash easy Ultrasuede material. They have two side pockets, each having an independent power supply panel of 5 volts and, they are washable. You can also connect your smart phone or MP3 player to the trousers to charge with a USB cable.
They are not a cheap garment, retailing at £600 but, if you’re the outdoors type and, are away camping or at festivals for days on end, what better way to charge your mobile and, in a green way too!
IDAPT i1 Eco Charger
Just as we thought it would be impossible to reinvent the wheel, it has been done. IDAPT has created the i1 Eco dual Universal Charger. What’s more, it does exactly what it says on the box. The i1 Eco is made of recycled materials, meets Energy Star standards, and minimizes the user’s carbon footprint while charging most electronic devices. Plus, no chemical painting was used during the manufacturing process in order to ease the process of future recycling, hurrah says Mother Earth!
The IDAPT i1 Eco is sexy to look at and clever enough to be able to be used, not only by all mobile phones, but, by all of your mobile entertainment devices too.
It has two ports of charge; a USB port and a tip port. The tip port allows you to change the tips according to the device that needs charging. The IDAPT i1 Eco can be used in both the home/workplace and in a car. Better still, when i1 Eco is not in use, it switches itself off automatically, thus conserving energy.
It’s compatible with more than 4,000 different devices including the iPhone, the iPad as well as BlackBerry’s, Nintendo PSP’s, XBOX controllers, GPS systems and Bluetooth products. This brilliant, must-have piece of kit comes to the market place in the spring, so watch out for it.
What a clever green idea the i1 Eco is!
Princeton University Nanochip
In an effort to create green mobile phones, those brainy bods over at Princeton University came up with an idea of how to harness the power of the human body, to give us all the power we need to charge up our mobile phones, MP3 players and the likes. So what was their idea?
A chip. To put it simply, it’s a very special chip constructed from rubber and ceramic nanoribbons; that when flexed, generates electrical energy that can be both used and stored. The thinking is that you can embed the chip into a pair of rubber soled shoes and that the very motion of walking would generate energy to charge your mobile phone.
In fact, if the chip is placed inside the body, in the very proximity of the lungs, the action of breathing would even charge a pacemaker. This kind of technology would be revolutionary in the heart surgery world as it would reduce the need for future surgeries to the patient. Princeton University’s nanochip is so powerful it is able to convert 80% of mechanical energy into electrical energy. The chip is not currently being mass produced but, when it is, it will be an inexpensive product that is environmentally friendly. Using the power of the body is nothing new, but the thinking behind this device is radical, relatively simple and not that far into the future.
So as long as Princeton University is not an anagram for Skylab and your name is not Sarah Connor, it sounds like a great idea.
LG HBM-810
Bluetooth headsets are nothing new but, here’s a green vision from LG that uses solar power for its unique solar charging cradle.
Listen up, the LG HBM-810 headset has a wealth of features including; cancellation software that cuts out that irritating echo that you can get with headsets, voice dialling, up to eight hours of talk-time and 180 hours of standby time, dual microphones, caller ID announcement, A2DP support for wireless music streaming and noise reduction. What’s more, it has multipoint connectivity so that it can connect up to two devices simultaneously.
What better way to charge your headset than in an environmentally friendly way? A round of applause for LG, people!
Eton Mobious
The Eton Mobious is a really useful piece of kit you could attach to the back of your iPhone 4 to boost its battery life. It’s beefed up with a monocrystal solar panel and a 1800mAh battery. All this in a neat pocket friendly size. What’s more, it doubles the iPhone 4’s battery life and lets it run for almost 20 minutes extra per hour of direct exposure to sunlight.
So, with the help of this little battery and, the sunshine, it offers a slim form factor adding just 20 mm depth to your iPhone along durable protective case. Just in case there’s not enough sun, you can also charge it using a USB port. And all the ports and buttons are easily accessible.
PowerTrekk Fuel Cell
Imagine a device whereby you can just pour in one tablespoon of water into it and it converts the hydrogen into energy? Well that’s exactly what the Swedish designed PowerTrekk Fuel Cell charger does. It’s an eco-friendly portable recharging station that can power all kinds of devices not only just mobile phones, but tablets, mp3 and cameras as well.
The PowerTrekk carries two power sources, the first; is an internal battery which can be charged from the mains and the other is a disposable fuel cell pack. It somehow draws the hydrogen from the water through the fuel cell to then create electricity, which is then delivered for use via a USB port.
Unfortunately, it turns out some say this great invention probably wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Ashcraft Aria
If you’re packing an eco friendly mobile phone to listen to your sounds, then you’ll be wanting one of these babies. There are some nice head cans out there, but are they as beautiful and as eco friendly as these from US based design firm, Ashcraft Design?…I doubt it.
When it comes to a high spec pair of headphones made out of recycled materials then these are it. Chiselled from recycled wood from acoustic guitars, and reclaimed aluminium and the leather is also recycled from leather jackets, where from, musicians. Well these headphones are really musical they powered using 40 millimetre titanium, plated drivers, we don’t know if the titanium is recycled but these are a set of recycled headphones for the very best music smartphone out there, rock on.
Freeloader Classic Solar Charger
The Freeloader Classic, this is the very latest updated version, small, light and dressed in brushed aluminium, this is a perfect travel companion to pop in your bag to save your bacon when your mobile is out of juice.
It comes with a 1,200mAh environmentally friendly Li-ion battery, thank you very much to charge itself for up to 8 hours, from which you can charge your iPhone for up to 18 hours or a normal smartphone for up to 44 hours. You can also buy it an optional Supercharger. And if there’s no sun, you can charge via its USB in just three hours. It comes with 9 connector tips the macro USB and the new micro USB.
It has an LCD screen so that you can read off where you at with its charging and it’s no lightweight, its solid and water resistant for all those festivals and camp sites you’ll take it to and for the technical at heart, it uses 150mA premium quality crystalline solar cells and sizes up at – 123 x 62 x 17mm.
SOLo
This piece of green furniture is absolutely fantastic and if you have the space and money its a must for everyone. It’s called SOLo by intelligent Forms. It was originally designed for outdoor use but, it’s just as chic inside the home. A series of solar modules on its working surface enables it to power any electronic device you choose, eg. Your laptop, it has a USB port plus a three prong outlet and, once the sun has set, the solar energy provides an intimate glow from discreetly placed LED lights.
The SOLo can harness around 73 kw hours of solar energy annually. So you can well charge 3 laptops a day, or a 100 mobile phones or iPods or 40 iPhone charges a day and all with just the power of the sun and no harm to the environment. So eco-friendly, so sexy and so practical. We love it!!
Viber Burst
Charge your mobile phone up in just 2 seconds…and the best bit is you can do it in the most Eco-friendly manner possible – using your own body motion! Viber Burst has been designed by Josh Pell, a student at Swinburne University, Australia and it’s just brilliant. It’s a kinda of colorful pod like thing that you carry on your body that collects all your kinetic motion and stores it for you.
When your phone runs flat, you just connect it to your Viber Burst and whoosh your recharged. Nice, it’s only a concept at the moment, but it’s a big thumbs up. Fashionistas will love that it can double as an accessory for shoes, a bag, a key ring or a piece of innovative jewellery. Yet its real wonder is its hardiness. It is made from PC/ABS and the internal components are mounted on a flexible PCB.
It can be installed to any place that keeps moving; so, if you’re a fitness freak or a crazy clubber or just potter around more leisurely, you’ll be charging your Viber Burst whilst doing what you enjoy; not hanging around waiting for it to do its thing. No excuses about jogging in the rain or it being hot in clubs: the Viber Burst is super-weather resistant and heat resistant too.
RLX Backpack
Catching sunlight just got stylish, as top design house Ralph Lauren have launched a stylish solar powered backpack from their Ralph Lauren Extreme range, the RLX backpack.
For those of you that are not scared of raising their adrenaline level by climbing mountains, hiking, skiing etc., you can power your habit with these super trendy solar backpacks. Pumping out a heady 3.5 watts of power from a 20 x 14 inc bag via a USB port its enough to get your mobile phone going in a couple of hours in the great outdoors. Water resistant, the bag comes in two colours, black and orange, zip pockets, and adjustable shoulder straps.
And at £500 it’s a snip…if you can still find one.
Nokia Charger AC-11
Nokia Charger AC-11 is a reliable, eco-friendly travel charger, compact, energy-efficient travel charger that you can take anywhere.
Built for everyday use, with its best-in-class performance in delivering low power consumption in standby mode (just 10% of the power consumed in standby mode compared to traditional chargers) you’ll be using less energy consumption at home helps you save on costs. There’s no power loss whilst charging your phone means maximum energy efficiency.
You can plug in to any mobile phone that uses a 2 mm charging connector. Eco friendly and energy efficient, it’s a small step in helping the environment. And last but not least it has 5-star rating on the Mobile Device Charger Energy Rating system.
Visible Green USB
Question: What’s one of the biggest culprits when it comes to causing extra CO2 when it comes to your mobile phone?
Answer…leaving your phone switched on after it’s been fully charged!
So if you knew exactly when to turn off your mobile phone, would that help cut down your carbon footprint? Yes, would be the answer. It would also significantly reduce wear on your battery, making it last longer, reducing demand for rare earth mining and damage to the environment.
What about making ‘TURNING OFF YOUR CHARGER’ highly visible, making it a fun thing to do, to switch off your phone after it’s fully charged, making it something that others might notice and ask you ‘what’s happening with your phone?’ Well then, you would really have to look at what they have done over at Dexim Company, the mobile phone accessory maker. They’ve come up the Visible Green USB charge and sync cable…nice.
At the heart of it is a standard MicroUSB cable that monitors your mobile phone (Android Phones only so far) When the battery reaches full charge, the USB cable starts to glow like an Xmas tree in a series of running lights and when the phone’s charged it switches off, letting you know visually your phones charged up.
It’s that really eco friendly, LED lights are very economical as they only use a little bit of electricity. It’s a colourful way to green up your phone.
PowerTrekk Charger
Imagine ten hours of charge from just a tablespoon of water? Well, thanks to a Swedish company, myFC Ltd’s grand designs, who have come up with a charger for people who live their lives off the beaten track and away from any kind of power supply. The PowerTrekk charger uses just a tablespoonful of water to give you 10 hours of battery power.
So how does it work? Well, it’s all done through chemical reaction and a very special ingredient called Sodium Silicide. Simply put, if you just add water to Sodium Silicide you create Hydrogen gas, using this process the PowerTrekk charger is the first commercial use of this product.
So if you’re down to the last bar of battery on your mobile and you’ve got just a thimbleful of water, then you’re in business. myFC believe they have a winner here, as it creates power immediately, it doesn’t rely on the weather or the sun. It’s an easy to use system, the sodium is stored in one of the containers and the other is for the water, when the two mix you’ve got power, with only a little water vapour given off.
The PowerTrekk charger has a USB port so you can connect it up to your mobile phone and if you run out of Sodium you can just buy some more replacement cells, so how safe and eco friendly is that.
Stacked Leaf Lantern
Making your mobile phone green by using a renewable power source is one thing, but lets do it with style… And that’s exactly what designer Samuel Li of Albany, New York has done. His stylish, stacked leaf lantern was designed with a world of uses in mind, one part energy efficient lighting programme stylish lamp for the home, one part torch and the last part, solar charger for your mobile phone and the best bit is once you have paid for it that’s it – as this baby is 100% solar powered.
How does it work, simple really, the segments unfold so that it can capture the rays of the sun and store the power for you. Then as required, it unleashes the stored sun power as and when you need it. And there are no valves and the likes in it either, as it’s packed with state of the art wireless induction technology so that you can have the power beamed over wirelessly to recharge your phone.
Booster Umbrella
See what a great idea this is? It would boost your mobile phone signal and also have the ability to charge it up thanks to the solar panels stitched into it. It’s kind of there to help your phone signal in places where networks aren’t so strong, but now we have great 5G in Brighton, it’s not really an issue.
The brolly could connect to phones via a USB connection, but really we’d only be seen with it in the sunshine to provide us with some shade. There’s not often enough sunshine to warrant a use like that in the UK (even though Brighton is always marvellous), so that means it would only get a run out in the rain. But there’s a problem here. Imagine it’s raining, then that signal booster attracts a huge bolt of lightening. Not a laughing matter and perhaps the reason this concept didn’t make it into the mainstream?
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