By Zachary Shahan •
January 19, 2010
Yeah, that’s what I said — What?!
Apparently, Bell Labs has launched a global effort to overhaul the internet and other communication networks to make them 1,000 times greener by the year 2015!
Bell Labs is the research arm of telecom giant Alcatel-Lucent. In this effort they are coordinating with 15 other initial members from industry, academia, science labs, and NGOs, including AT&T, China Mobile, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, and MIT’s Research Laboratory for Electronics. “Green Touch” is the name being given to the consortium.
How much energy do the internet and other communication networks use? They emit about the same amount of greenhouse gas pollution as 50 million cars — 300 million tons each year.
This consortium, along with anyone else who joins it (more on this below), is looking to make yearly emissions in 2015 a few times less than what the current daily emissions are.
The system for producing this green internet and communications revolution is quite unique.
By Jerry James Stone •
January 31, 2009
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!
By Andrew Williams •
January 7, 2009
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.
By Timothy B. Hurst •
September 29, 2008
A new software application will make keeping track of your carbon footprint as easy as having a mobile phone in your pocket. A London-based start-up has developed software for mobile phones that uses global positioning systems (GPS) to automatically figure out whether you are walking, driving or flying and then calculate your impact on the environment.
Carbon Diem’s inventors claim that, by using GPS to measure the speed and pattern of movement, their algorithm can identify the mode of transport being used. The software then calculates the amount of carbon dioxide the journey has emitted into the atmosphere – without any need for input from the user.
By Max Lindberg •
April 1, 2008
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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