Cell phones have become a necessary part of life for most people around the world.  Many people are doing away with their normal landline phone to adopt a cell phone only approach.  Other people look at the cell phone as a technology that they need and it has become a status symbol.   With the cost of cell phones lowering over the last 10 years the number of cell phones in use is approaching a billion.  The excitement over cell phones isn’t just found in the US or Europe either, there are many other lessen advanced countries that are on the, ‘I need this’ kick.

On the surface all of this buzz looks to be good news, well good news for the consumer, because prices are down and also because it is not only the elite countries that have them.  This has also been really good news for the companies that are making the cell phones and continues to develop technology around the needs of the consumers.  But, with many good things, there are often problems that can be created.  This Hub will look at some of the problems that the increased uses of cell phones, more specifically cell phone chargers, are having on energy and the environment.

Cell Phone chargers continue to draw energy even if the charger isn’t plugged in and charging a cell phone. While this might not impact you much on an individual basis, it really won’t; consider that there are billions of cell phone chargers that are in use. The impact of this is resulting in thousands if not hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours of usage on energy system that should not be.

Sony Ericcon, Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics, Motorola, Audiovox, Siemens, Sanyo, and Apple, Verizon, Palm are just a few of cell phone brands that are now in the market; most using the sales plans:

• Purchase Cell Phone
• Purchase Cell Phone Plan
• Purchase Cell Phone Accessories
• Purchase Accessories: Case, Charger, Cell Phone Charger

The primary model for selling there are now as many cell phone chargers, times the number of different kinds of As a result of this being phones that are floating around. I am not sure I can do that kind of many in my head but look at India alone, there are over 246 million cell phone users.

With this much wasted energy happening, please consider the following tips on unplugging:

• Unplug at the end of the night
• Unplug once the charge is completed. A typical charge will take anywhere from 1-3 hours, depending on how old your battery is.
• Charge in the car. There is no indication that having your cell phone car charger plugged in will do the same as in your home.

If enough people take any of the above steps to limit the amount of hours the cell phone charger is plugged in it will have a great impact on lowering these consumption levels. If you can think of any additional ways to remember or tips to share please do so in my comments section.

Allot of this wasting of energy can be addressed fairly easily but, the greatest concern for many is how the amount of cell phones and cell phones chargers is impacting the environment.

E-Waste is a real problem which is having a significant impact on our environment.

In a 2008 EPA report they estimated that there is only an 18% recycling rate for televisions and computer products.  It was even worse for cell phones, which averaged just a 10% recycled rate.  Internationally there are over 400 million pieces of electronic waste each year.  These numbers are staggering considering the great increase of these products being sold in countries that have inadequate recycling faculties.  

We should not expect companies to decide for us what we need but as we are duped into believing what they sell us, we often are buying what we don’t need. With that said, we all like to have new things but, at what cost are we going to continue down this path of wastefulness.  The answer is going to have to rest in your choice on whether you really need that new cell phone or if you are going to buy it, what are you going to do to recycle the old.

While everyone is enjoying the boom of cell phone chargers some issues that need to be addressed such as the environment and energy consumed by them must be treated with respect so that neither of them becomes obsolete to the companies making them.

I hope you enjoyed reading this information, please feel free to share with me your thoughts and comments below under the comment section.  It would be nice to know what you are thinking about this subject.