Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Nokia first to offer energy-saving alerts on mobile phones

Nokia Corp. announced the first mobile phones that feature energy-saving alerts to encourage consumers to unplug the charger once the battery is full.

Starting with the new Nokia 1200, 1208 and 1650, the alerts will be rolled out across the company product range, in a move that could save enough electricity to power 85, 000 homes a year.

"Around two-thirds of the energy used by a mobile phone is lost when it is unplugged after charging but the charger itself is left in a live socket," said Kirsi Sormunen, VP of environmental affairs at Nokia. "We want to reduce this waste and are working on reducing to an absolute minimum the amount of energy our chargers use. The new alerts also play an important role, encouraging people to help us in this goal by unplugging their chargers."

The alerts are one of a series of environmental initiatives that mobile manufacturers, led by Nokia, agreed to take action on this year. The Finnish company is the first of these manufacturers to implement the alerts into its products. The new models are targeting high volumes of sales in fast growing markets like India, China and Latin America.

The alerts are the latest in a series of energy-saving initiatives from Nokia. Last year, the company's newest range of chargers was awarded an Energy Star by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States for their energy efficiency. The chargers, in use since 2005, exceed the EPA standards by using 50-70 percent less energy than the Energy Star requirement, and also meet the European Union standards.

The company has set ambitious goals to further reduce the energy consumption of its chargers. By 2010, it aims to have reduced by an additional 50 percent the amount of electricity a charger consumes while still plugged into the mains but not the phone.

Recently, major companies announced plans to become more environment-friendly. Apple's Steve Jobs detailed plans for a 'greener' Apple, while IBM Corp. disclosed plans to make its data centers more energy efficient.

Source : http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800464282_765245_93f23862200705_no.HTM

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