Green Options

Chinese mobile phone manufacturer ZTE recently unveiled its Coral-200, a solar-powered cell phone. eNews 2.0 reports:

The phone model is powered through a pack of solar cells mounted on the top of it. In a nutshell, while the technical specs of the phone are not quite detailed at this moment, analysts do not expect that the device will do many things besides voice calling and text messaging, especially

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Blackberry Storm and Apple iPhone move aside there is a new touch-screen cell phone coming out that is looking to reduce energy and material waste, the Samsung Blue Earth.  Samsung has been working on its image as an eco-friendly company under their campaign “The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with SAMSUNG Mobile” and now they definitely have up the anty.  In a press release from the 16th of February, Samsung introduced their new cell phone, Blue Earth.  As a geeky mom who loves the idea of eco-friendly technology, the Blue Earth definitely has caught my eye.

In a sampling of two thousand recycled mobile phones, 99 percent were found to have sensitive data like banking information and confidential emails.

The sampling was done by Regenersis. They processed over 2 million handsets in 2008; that’s one handset every 15 seconds. During a random sampling in December they discovered how many mobiles had not been wiped clean: a lot!

Je-Hyun Kim’s Natural Year Phone design almost makes cell phones cool in my book. The phone, which is made up of hay, a screen, and keys, is designed only to last as long as its functional life cycle (2 years) before it biodegrades and falls apart.

Motorola has announced plans to launch the world’s first completely carbon neutral mobile phone, at CES 2009 in Las Vegas.

The shell of the W233 Renew is made entirely of recycled water bottles, and will be available via T-Mobile within the next three months. The struggling cell phone manufacturer has also teamed up with CarbonFund.org to offset the energy used in the manufacture, distribution and operation of each phone throughout its lifetime.

I don’t know about you, but I constantly picture radiation penetrating my brain when I’m talking on my cell phone. Omega Pharma, a Belgian company specializing in health products, claims it has created a device that can calm my fears— a chip that counteracts mobile phone radiation.

Keeping track of your carbon footprint can be hard; you may walk or take the bus everywhere, but how much CO2 is that cross-country plane trip letting loose? UbiGreen, a new cell phone application developed by Intel and the University of Washington, senses whether you’re in a plane, train, or car to let you know exactly what your carbon footprint is.

In this tight economy, families are looking for ways to cut their spending and to save money. One easy way to save on monthly costs and stretch your budget is by cutting your phone bill down to size.

The Telecommunications Research & Action Center (TRAC) has just published their guide to slimming down your phone bills, which can save you up to half on your phone service.

GoodCleanTech reports that the Sony Ericsson Greenheart Concept phone was spotted at a Sony event last week in Copenhagen. The phone will be an amalgam of “green” factors, including a bio-plastic shell, HTML-based manuals, a recycled plastic keypad and an energy-efficient charger that uses only 3.5 mW of power during standby.

I dislike electronic toys for children, such as so-called “educational” toys made by LeapFrog.  As I have stated before, I think that children learn more from playing with wooden blocks than any battery operated gizmo can teach them, but what about other tech devices, such as iPods and digital cameras?  At what is it appropriate for a child have these “grown up” toys?

Ever since my daughter could hold our camera, we have shared it with her. Last year, her grandmother decided to buy her a digital camera for her birthday.  At first, we looked at several digital cameras designed for children; however, in the end, we decided to buy her a real camera that would last her many years. The quality of children’s digital cameras is poor, and we have made a commitment to giving gifts that last our children as many years as possible.  As an eco mom, I won’t buy junky toy emulations of technology designed for children that will only break and end up in a landfill.  As an artist and a photographer, I felt a good camera would help my young child develop her artistic expression.  Her compositions amaze me, and her photographs help me view the world through her “lens”.  I can see what is important or interesting to her by what she photographs.

With an eye to making it in the record books, Mr. Tan of Songyuan city in China, spent the last six months creating an exact, 48 lb, fully functional replica of his cell phone with camera and internet access included.

He did, however, leave out the vibrate function, which was probably a good idea, and he couldn’t find a battery big enough to power the phone, so he has to plug it into a wall outlet.

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