Jardiner son téléphone portable

17 avril 2008

http://www.greenergadgets.com

Bamboo, the degradable mobile phone

Gert-Jan van Breugel - Netherlands

One billion handsets produced globally each year and only 10% recycled. Average mobile phone user replaces their handset every 18 months. This has a big impact on the environment; 36kg of CO2 is used to make one 90g phone. To reduce the impact of the mobile phone it's time to rethink the materials mobile phone are made of and the manner we recharge them.

The bamboo degradable mobile phone
The bamboo is a degradable mobile phone. When the battery, antenna and print board are removed the case can be placed in compos and a few weeks later the case will begin to disintegrate. Inside the case are bamboo seeds, these will start to grow and feet on the case. After a few months the will turn in to bamboo plant which compensates the impact manufacturing process the bamboo phone has on the environment.

Materials
The case of the bamboo phone is made out two materials. Number one is a bio-plastic which is derived from renewable raw materials such as corn. Number two is bamboo which is a grass and can grow two feet or more a day. When it's harvested, it need not be replanted, because it will grow a new shoot from its extensive root system. So bamboo renews itself readily, unlike hardwood trees, which, once cut, are gone forever. Bamboo is an endlessly renewable resource.

Energy
The inefficient recharging of the mobile phones has also an impact the environment. We could save enough energy in one year to power 60,000 European when 10% of the mobile phone users turn off the electricity supply to the chargers after use. The bamboo mobile phone can be recharged with muscle power. The phone is equipped whit a cranking charger; a 3-minute cranking session gives the phone enough power to make one call. This means the bamboo phone never runs out of energy. The phone is also equipped with a monochrome display to ensure maximum energy efficiency.

Green gadget
The use of materials and the possibility to recharge the phone whit muscle power give the phone a very low carbon footprint and reduce the impact on the environment. This makes the phone "a green gadget"