Tag: cell phones

Solar-Powered Backpacks

Companies are starting to add solar panels to everything from portable electronics to the
bags we use to carry those gadgets around in. Brad Linder reports on the latest trend in
portable solar power:

Transcript

Companies are starting to add solar panels to everything from portable electronics to the
bags we use to carry those gadgets around in. Brad Linder reports on the latest trend in
portable solar power:


Voltaic Systems sells solar powered backpacks and messenger bags. Each bag has a solar
panel on the outside that can charge gadgets such as cell phones and MP3 players. It can
also charge an internal battery so you have electricity even when there’s no sun. But CEO
Shayne McQuade says the solar panels are often enough:


“We’ve got 4 watts of solar power on the outside of the bag, and it’s probably 3, 4 times
as much as most little solar chargers have. And what that means is you can basically just
plug it straight into the panel, stand in the sun, and make a phone call.”


Voltaic Systems’s bags cost between 200 and 250 dollars. The company admits that’s far
more than a typical backpack. Voltaic Systems is also preparing to launch its
first laptop case this spring.


For the Environment Report, I’m Brad Linder.

Related Links

Electronics Companies to Phase Out Lead

Two electronics manufacturers say they are taking steps to significantly reduce the amount of lead in their products. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman reports:

Transcript

Two electronics manufacturers say they are taking steps to
significantly reduce the amount of lead in their products. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Lehman reports:


Items such as computers, cell phones and fax machines contain trace
amounts of lead. If these items are thrown out, the lead can find its
way into the environment.


Intel and National Semiconductor make processors and microchips used in
many of these products. Now, the two companies say they plan to phase
out the use of lead over the next few years.


Mike Brozda is spokesman for National Semiconductor. He says his
company’s move could take up to five tons of lead out of production
each year…


“In any product, the amount of lead is measured literally in
micrograms. It’s far less than the weight of a human hair. So we’re
talking about microscopic amounts of lead on any particular chip. But
when you make billions of chips, it adds up.”


Brozda says the move comes as many countries are enacting stricter
environmental regulations that require a reduction of lead in
electronic equipment.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chris Lehman.

Related Links

Companies Pledge to Curb Cell Phone Waste

Cell phones were a popular holiday gift this year. That means old phones will wind up in the garbage. A cell phone company from the Midwest is one of several firms that are pledging to reduce the number of old wireless phones that wind up in landfills. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

Cell phones will be a popular holiday gift this year. A cell phone company from the Midwest is
one of several firms that are pledging to reduce the number of old wireless phones that wind up in
landfills. Chuck Quirmbach reports:


By some estimates, U.S. consumers discard more than 100-million cell phones a year. The
phones are small, but usually contain toxic chemicals like lead and cadmium that can leak in
landfills. Illinois-based Motorola and nine other cell phone manufacturers have pledged to the
United Nations to address the environmental issues linked to cell phone disposal. Motorola
official Craig Liska says the companies wanted to keep some control over the process:


“We wanted to make sure there wasn’t a global regulation that came out that kind of limited the
solutions because we wanted to have the flexibility to have the proper solutions in place in the
proper place of the world.”


If you want to get rid of an old cell phone now, you may be able to take it to a dealer for
reprogramming or perhaps have the toxic metals removed before dumping. The cell phone
makers are pledging to work on more options. They say they’ll also try to design phones that are
more eco-friendly.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach reporting.