... they'd pass a law mandating a common voltage, and connector for charging mobile phones and bluetooths (etc). That way instead of needing 8 chargers I could make do with one. Imagine the resources you'd save if all phones shipped with no charger ... imagine the plug sockets and extensions you'd save on.
Damn site easier (& cheaper) than passing ludicrous laws about carbon trading and trying to get cars more efficient ....
But since they haven't, I don't think they are serious - therefore I won't be either. In fact I think I'll order *another* patio heater .....
I completely agree. It has baffled me for a while why we all need bespoke power connectors for different equipment when 99% of it could be charged from a single 5V 1A supply.
Yes, its been done. A couple of years ago the Chinese government decided that all mobile phones would need to have a common charger interface, otherwise they could not be sold in China.
Soon afterwards, the USB organisation published the first specification for a dedicated USB charger interface. At the same time they specified the Micro-USB interface and made the Mini-USB obsolete. Most newly designed phones use the Micro-USB interface and can be charged from any Micro-USB charger.
A compliant charger has a link between D+ and D- in the Micro-USB plug which is detected by the device being charged. Previously, different manufacturers implemented their own incompatible schemes, often using resistor networks on the D+ and D- pins, and sometimes adding resistors to the USB sense pin.
Then in 5 yrs time lots of phones would be running on non-ideal voltages. And this would get worse as the years passed. And it would waste more battery cells, and voltage convertors.
Better would be a charger that could charge any common voltage of battery., Then of course there are varying capacities, charge times and even battery types, so such a universal charger would be relatively expensive. Hence they're not included with mobiles. Expensive also means it would use up more resources to mfr.
The plus side is that you only need own one. Instead of buying a charger with every battery appliance you'd just buy one =A325 charger and it'd handle more or less everything. Appliances would cost =A31 less as they'd come without a wart.
Its a simple idea that would save people money in the end, but would require end user teaching to get them to buy a =A325 charger, and any product that requires marketplace education to sell is unlikely to succeed.
A more marketable option would be an optional standard that many similar devices could share. The charger is cheap as today's, the standard is promoted as green by the mobile phone sellers using it, and the charger works on a range of manufacturer's phones.
Battery charging has nothing to do with climate change. However efficient it gets isnt going to make the remotest difference, even if you do believe the ecobollox. Apply some numbers and you'll quickly see why - its like saying one biscuit would feed a starving nation..
Then in 5 yrs time lots of phones would be running on non-ideal voltages. And this would get worse as the years passed. And it would waste more battery cells, and voltage convertors.
Better would be a charger that could charge any common voltage of battery., Then of course there are varying capacities, charge times and even battery types, so such a universal charger would be relatively expensive. Hence they're not included with mobiles. Expensive also means it would use up more resources to mfr.
The plus side is that you only need own one. Instead of buying a charger with every battery appliance you'd just buy one £25 charger and it'd handle more or less everything. Appliances would cost £1 less as they'd come without a wart.
Its a simple idea that would save people money in the end, but would require end user teaching to get them to buy a £25 charger, and any product that requires marketplace education to sell is unlikely to succeed.
A more marketable option would be an optional standard that many similar devices could share. The charger is cheap as today's, the standard is promoted as green by the mobile phone sellers using it, and the charger works on a range of manufacturer's phones.
Battery charging has nothing to do with climate change. However efficient it gets isnt going to make the remotest difference, even if you do believe the ecobollox. Apply some numbers and you'll quickly see why - its like saying one biscuit would feed a starving nation..
NT
Every charger needs space in a shipping container - it uses brass (plug pins), copper (components and cable) as well as other materials. I think they should be rationalised and sold as an accessory if really needed.
Maybe not battery charging, but battery chargers... Think of the amount of copper, iron and plastic in a cheap transformer based mobile phone charger - for each, undoubtably more than in the actual phone.
I'm a hoarder. On a shelf behind me at the moment I've a box with about
25-30 chargers of various descriptions, all redundant, that will eventually become land-fill. A single point charger could have halved that number.
...they'd think of a way to destabilise the world economy and induce a prolonged recession as this would do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions & pollution worldwide than any "greenergy" project.
If western governments were really serious about curbing the power of Russia, they would think of a way to destabilise the world economy* and induce a prolonged recession as this would do more damage to Russia's economy than to any of the major Western economies.
*such as encouraging a speculative oil price bubble!
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