Bol India, bol.

Green mobile phone made from plant waste, mostly hay, is a new sustainable design to come up. Cell phones are the most disposable gadgets with an average phone staying in the hands of an owner for about 18 months before it is replaced. Compressed hay, as the post says, is strong but there are many points associated with the idea that needs to be studied before we start stacking up hay!

Mobile phones eat power but do it so silently that it is not noticed. We made some calculations that charging of mobile sets in the country draws a power of 600-800 MW and that is on the conservative side! Multiply that by the number of hours each phone is charged daily, and you can arrive at the energy expended.

A new energy efficient charger claims to be the first "green" cell phone charger to hit the UK, and also says it has what it takes to end wasted power during cell phone charging. O2 has launched a universal cell phone charger that claims to cut energy consumption by 70% over Energy Star standards.

No rocket science here. The charger has a control system that cuts off power once the battery is charged. It is well known how phones stay hooked to the power, simply forgotten or because we don’t think it is a big deal. It is this phantom power that is saved, and as per the company it can save UK phone users over £30 million each year in wasted energy.

Right now the O2 Universal Charger is available in the UK and compatible with Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson device. Compatibility with the ubiquitous iPhone and BlackBerry will happen in early 2009, says the post.

Motorola has become the first cell phone company in the US to make all of its cell phone chargers Energy Star certified. In essence it adds up to over 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions reduced!

But what can be better news than a study that talks of converting sound waves to energy to keep the phone running! The recent work of Tahir Cagin, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University uses piezoelectrics to convert energy at an efficient 100 percent when substantially scaled down to the nanoscale.

Piezoelectrics develop a voltage across them when a mechanical stress is applied to them (or vice versa) and have been known for some time. They are used in quartz watches, cigarette lighters, etc. But the latest work was all about reducing them to nanoscales where materials undergo change, and gold is no more gold, or iron not iron!

India is already plugged to the mobile phone in irrevocable ways. And once it is established that talking more is the best way to charge your phone, what will happen? Bol India, bol! Louder, and longer?

If you have heard of innovative research from any of our institutions, let us know. Or if there are ways in which power consumed by mobile phones can be reduced, do write in.