Making Cell Phones Greener

What's the Holdup?

My question here is, what's the holdup with producing more sun-powered phones? There are already solar-powered cell-phone chargers on the market, such as the Solio Universal Hybrid Charger. Why aren't we seeing the clean technology integrated directly into more than one phone?

3. Make phones more power efficient. The more energy efficient a phone is, the less time it needs to suck juice from the wall. That helps lower the utility bill a bit while helping out the environment.

What I'd like to see, for starters, is an Energy Star standard for mobile phones. There's already Energy Star standard for cordless phones, as well as for cell-phone adapters. Why not for the phone themselves? Surely there must be some demand for phones that can go a longer while between charges.

I'd also like to see more phones capable of alerting users when their batteries are full from charging, another way to reduce energy wasted from chargers remaining pointlessly plugged into the wall. A beeping sound to alert users that the phone is fully charged would be useful.

4. Extend the lives of cell phones. The aforementioned 18-month lifespan for a cell phone is, in my view, ridiculous. Phone manufacturers need to build devices that are meant to last -- and users need to get accustomed to the idea of holding on to their phones a while longer.

5. Build phones for recycling. Here, the cell phone manufacturers can take a page from the book of those PC makers who are building machines with their post-use life in mind. That means designing cell phones for easy disassembly with components marked as to what substance they're made from and whether they contain hazardous materials. This approach would also make it easier to reuse parts for future phones, thus further enhancing recyclability.

What would you do to make cell phones greener?