Recently in class we talked about this X-Factor type show that had, instead of singing, a competition to determine gadget of the year. The show worked similarly to X-Factor in that there were three judges who rated the "performance" or presentation. Also, the audience got to vote on which gadget was the best. However, this competition is not the main focus of this blog post. One of the gadgets presented really caught my eye, even though it did not end up winning. The gadget that really caught my interest was a solar powered mobile phone. These phones are now starting to be produced by brand name companies such as LG and Samsung. One of the technology judges claimed that these types of phones should be the norm now, so that is the reason he did not think it was that cool. I agree with the judge in that I think these types of phones should be the norm in our society today. We don't realize it, but a lot of energy goes into powering a cell phone, especially phones like iPhones and similar products. More and more people of almost all ages are getting cellphones in developed countries. This means more people who need to charge it. Also, in a majority of lesser developed countries, mobile phones are preffered because not many people are able to keep or a fford landlines. In 2008 around 4.1 billion people in the world had mobile phones. That means 60% is taking up a lot of power to charge their mobile phones almost every day. This sole action greatly contributes to the rising CO2 emissions and affects the climate change. However, there is a solution to this problem, at least for many of these mobile phone users: the solar powered phone. These phones have small solar panels on their backs which directly feed to teh phone's battery. That means, people in semi-sunny weather (not England) can charge their phones without using any of the earth's precious resources. And, the great thing is, these phones are about the same price as most current mobile phones. Hopefully people will start to pick up on the solar powered cell phones and can help the earth. See, technology and helping the environment can go hand-in-hand.
When we were talking about this in class, I realized that this solar-powered mobile is the perfect gadget for people in Africa, for example. Many Africans have a phone but don't have the money to pay for the bills to charge it. In addition, it is scaldingly hot in Africa all year round. The sun is always out, making it easy for to charge your mobile at all times. It would be incredible if this could become the norm. Though, I don't know how it would work in places like here where there is not a lot of sunlight most of the year. I have a solar-powered watch that works in both sunlight and artificial light, so if the mobiles worked like that, the idea would definitely catch on.
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