Mar 08 2008

Gimme a Green Cell Phone Posted by Angela Baker in wind turbines, solar panels, hydrogen fuel cells, green wireless technology, green energy, geothermal, alternate energy

No, I'm not talking about LG's green-hued Mint Chocolate phone (although, if I were in the market for a new Chocolate, the green Mint would be my preference).  What I'm actually referring to is a new type of technology that the wireless industry is testing out that will use alternate energy to power cell phones.  Cell companies have "heard the call" of millions ofgreen energy advocates and, in response, have begun working on ways to change the methods they have had in place for years.

 

There is a variety of ways that the cellular industry can utilize in place of their current mode of providing this convenience to its users.  They are realizing that cell phone towers may have the ability to be powered by wind turbines.  For those who don't know, turbines are

 

any of various machines in which the kinetic energy of a moving fluid, such as water, steam, or gas, is converted to rotary motion.

 

These same cell towers could also be operated through the use of solar panels, making use of the energy of the sun to power up the cell phones.  Antennas could also receive their back up energy from hydrogen fuel cells and computer equipment could be cooled through geothermal methods.

 

The wireless industry has come to realize, whether through their own conscience or through the voices of millions who care about the earth's current deterioration and eventual demise, all of the negative effects that its current methodology has had on environmental factors, and they seem to have a desire to alter their techniques in order to do their part to improve the condition of our world.  However, my skepticism prevails, and it almost seems as if their concerns still reside more so in what impact this alteration with have financially.  In other words, if this will save them money, they are more interested in attempting it.

 

The ideas that they have for this change over are still in the experimental phase, meaning it could take many years for this critical plan to be brought to fruition.  To be fair, it should be noted that Sprint Nextel has been testing alternate energy sources for their cellular power since 2004, already using hydrogen fuel cells at 65,000 of its sites.  In addition to this, Sprint has already been making use of many of the above mentioned alternates.  T-Mobile is also attempting the application of some alternatives.  T-Mobile's director of national operations planning mentioned tax incentives that are given to companies from states when using alternate energy resources.  

 

The idea of "green" wireless technology is one step closer to attaining a more livable earth.  Not only is there a certain amount of radiation that is emitted from the cell phone antenna, the electricity being used to operate cell phone towers is immense.  Because the electricity is generated in the current, traditional ways, it wreaks havoc on Mother Earth.  These new ideas that are being generated with some cellular companies (and I'm sure all will follow suit at some point) are crucial to the necessary end result of using alternative energy wherever is humanly possible.