Cell phone companies collaborate to create universal charger by 2012

From WWAY…

By 2012, all cell phone chargers will have a connector that looks like this. Photo from WWAY

Old cell phone chargers generate 50,000 tons of waste a year, not to mention the fact that it’s a hassle to have to get a new charger every time you get a new phone. However, there may be relief in site.

Cell phone industry leaders are working on a plan to create a universal charger by 2012, which would help the environment and make things more convenient for cell phone buyers.

Cell phones companies are constantly coming out with the newest model and the latest features which means you probably have several old phone chargers lying around your house that you no longer have use for.

GSMA is the mobile phone industry group that represents 750 mobile operators worldwide. The company announced a plan to standardize chargers by 2012, and 17 mobile phone companies and handset makers have hopped on board including Motorola and T-mobile.

Phone companies will be manufacturing the chargers, but they will be interchangeable. All of the chargers will use the same type of USB connector…

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Is the Huffington Post going too far with Obamania? Reluctantly, I think so..

Radiohead’s eco-friendly challenge goes bust

From TheSun.co.uk
June 17, 2008
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Radiohead were left with a raft of empty seats at a recent French gig after a ticket giveaway proved a dismal failure.

The egghead rockers, known for their right-on eco credentials, came up with a potty ploy to test our Continental cousins’ commitment to green issues.

And they were roundly ignored for their troubles.

Singer THOM YORKE and his gang announced that 50 passes were up for grabs for their show at Paris’s 17,000-capacity Bercy Arena and would be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The only snag was that punters would have to collect them by BICYCLE from record label XL’s Paris office.

But, in the land of the 2CV, our French friends were less than keen on the eco-friendly stunt and XL were left with an ecologically unsound 35 unclaimed tickets on their hands.

That’s the branch of one tree wasted.

A source said: “Radiohead are using their current world tour to highlight their commitment to green issues.

“They advise all gig-goers to use public transport and are doing all they can to make their carbon footprint as small as possible.

“Unfortunately the French didn’t appear to share their noble intentions and roundly ignored the free ticket tactic.”

The stunt may have flopped but I admire the stand the band are taking on the environment.

Clearly, if we all keep going at the current rate there’ll only be Fake Plastic Trees left…

SUV (an XKCD comic)

Toyota promises plug-in hybrid vehicle by 2010

By YURI KAGEYAMA |AP Business Writer
12:33 AM CDT, June 11, 2008
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TOKYO – Toyota is introducing a plug-in hybrid with next-generation lithium-ion batteries in Japan, the U.S. and Europe by 2010, under a widespread strategy to be green outlined Wednesday.

The ecological gas-electric vehicles, which can be recharged from a home electrical outlet, will target leasing customers, Toyota Motor Corp. said. Such plug-in hybrids can run longer as an electric vehicle than regular hybrids, and are cleaner.

Lithium-ion batteries, now common in laptops, produce more power and are smaller than nickel-metal hydride batteries used in hybrids now.

The joint venture that Toyota set up with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic products, will begin producing lithium-ion batteries in 2009 and move into full-scale production in 2010, Toyota said.

Toyota also said it’s setting up a battery research department later this month to develop an innovative battery that can outperform even that lithium-ion battery…

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Teen’s Science Project May Be Huge Breakthrough on Biodegrading Plastics

By Casey Miner
The Blue Marble Blog
MotherJones.com
May 23, 2008
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I bought groceries at Trader Joe’s the other day. As anyone who has ever shopped there knows, Trader Joe’s is full of incredibly attractive, cheap food, which, if you manage to make it through all the plastic packaging it comes in, you can actually eat. Unfortunately, by the time I started cooking I had more or less lost my appetite, since every time I discarded one of those packages I felt like I dropped another circle in hell.

So I pretty much love Daniel Burd right now. The 16-year-old from Waterloo, Ontario, as part of a science fair project, figured out a way to break down the polymers in plastic bags—compounds that can last for over 1,000 years—in about three months. Essentially, Burd hypothesized that since the bags eventually do degrade, it must be possible to isolate and augment the degrading agents.

Turns out that it’s not only possible, it’s kind of easy. Burd combined ground polyethylene plastic bags, sodium chloride, dirt from a landfill (which theoretically contains the microorganisms that ultimately degrade the plastic) and a yeast mixture in shakers for four weeks at a consistent temperature of about 86 degrees. At the end of the month, he took a sample of that mixture and combined it with a new one, with the goal of increasing the overall concentration of microbes. After one more repetition, he put fresh plastic bags in his solution for six weeks. In the end, the plastic degraded nearly 20%. A little more filtering to figure out exactly which microbes were the most effective, and he upped the degradation rate to 32%. He concludes, “The process of polyethylene degradation developed in this project can be used on an industrial scale for biodegradation of plastic bags. As a result, this would save the lives of millions of wildlife species and save space in landfills.”

So, will this really work? Has a teenager really found a way to rid us of one of our most persistent environmental problems? Who knows, but judges at the Canada-Wide Science Fair apparently agree that it’s worth pursuing. They sent Burd home with $30,000 in awards and scholarships. You can read his final report (all six pages of it) here (.pdf).