Mobile industry representatives have announced their commitment to cutting energy consumption in half, eliminating more than 50,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers, and enhancing the customer experience on mobile phones, by implementing the standard mobile phone charger.

 

The objective is to come up with a universal charging solution (UCS) by 2012, which will then be deployed worldwide. By the same time, all new mobile phones should use UCS.

 

Consumers are said to benefit the most from this, as they will be able to use the same charger for future handsets, GSMA explained. In addition to that, charging the mobile phone will be easier than ever, since there will be no more compatibility problems.

 

The UCS initiative includes 17 mobile leaders, namely AT&T, KTF, LG, mobilkom austria, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, Telstra, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

 

Rob Conway, CEO of GSMA, said the mobile industry has an important role in tackling environmental issues, adding that this programme is an important step that could lead to huge savings in resources, not to mention convenience for consumers.

 

The universal charging solution is said to include a 4-star or higher efficiency rating, and about three-times more energy-efficient than unrated chargers, GSMA explained.

 

Overall for the industry, this would also mean 50 percent less chargers to produce every year, weighing less on the environment, reducing greenhouse gas emissions that result from manufacturing and transporting replacement charges by 13.6 to 21.8 million tonnes per year.

 

The initiative will not only help consumers take advantage of a widely available charging solution for their mobile phones, but it will also help them stay environmentally-friendly.