Following up on last year's question of "What's the carbon footprint of sending a text message?", The Guardian has now asked "What's the carbon footprint of making a mobile phone call?"
Climate change expert Mike Berners-Lee has considered rather more than the earlier article, factoring in phone manufacture and network administration alongside power consumption. His answer is that a minute's mobile-to-mobile call will generate 57g of carbon.
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Nokia has its bicycle-powered mobile phone charger. And now Orange has its 'Power Wellies'; thermoelectric wellington boots that are perfect for summer festivals because they can charge a mobile phone by using heat from your feet.
The prototype footwear, created in collaboration with renewable energy organisation GotWind, uses a sole that converts heat from your feet into an electrical current. It's a phenomenon known as the Seebeck effect. Apparently 12 hours of walking generates an hour of talk time, with hotter feet generating energy more quickly.
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The latest version of Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics sees Nokia and Sony Ericsson remaining in first and second place. The guide ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change. Nokia is commended for supporting a 30% cut in greenhouse gas emissions and for phasing out certain toxic chemicals in new models, while Sony Ericsson is noted as being the best performer on the toxic chemicals criteria of all the ranked brands.
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