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Industry wide standard USB charger for mobile phones available
worldwide as of 2012
Universal Charging Solution (UCS)
for mobile phones
A universal charger for all. This is the goal of an initiative from GSMA (Global System for Mobile
communications Association), a global network for mobile devices and accessories. The charger
should fulfil the USB-IF standards (USB Implementer’s Forum) and the first models were produced
already in 2010.
The initiative aims at reducing mobile phone charger energy
consumption from stand-by and waste stemming
from the growing number of chargers. The standardisation
of chargers would also lead to a significantly higher userfriendliness
for customers.
UCS concept should at a minimum meet all current
energy efficiency laws and parameters. Thus, the old, less
efficient devices could be exchanged and the amount of
chargers per household could be reduced altogether. According
to the Environmental Ministry in Germany, each
household in Germany owns 2.5 mobile telephones (with
an equal amount of chargers) and, thus, with about 40 million
households the volume of about 100 million chargers
is reached.
The charger cable should have a USB standard-A and
a USB micro-B outlet and it should be removable from a
common power supply in order to provide higher flexibility
for the end-user. Up until now, for example Motorola, Sony
Ericsson and Nokia, have already developed a UCS.
Resource Efficiency
It is estimated that the new devices would reduce the
stand-by energy consumption by up to 50 percent. Additionally,
the production of 51,000 tons of chargers
(duplicates) per year would be eliminated, which would
Ressourceneffizienzatlas
Resource Efficiency Atlas
decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 1.44 million tons
per year. The chargers would not have to be sold with the
mobile phones; instead they could be reused, regardless
of the mobile phone model. Finally, the packaging of the
mobile phones could be reduced. This would decrease the
amount of waste generated and lead to savings in energy
required and greenhouse gas emissions emitted during the
transportation.
Barriers and Risks
During the transitional phase, this initiative could lead to
an increased volume of old charger waste. These should
be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner in
order to reuse the valuable, partially rare, non-renewable
resources. Thus, new i.e. better recycling concepts would
have to be developed. In addition, customers should be
actively informed about recycling opportunities.
The full potential of energy and resource efficiency
could only be reached if all mobile phone producers join
the UCS initiative. Currently 27 producers are signatories,
which include the biggest mobile phone companies (e.g.
Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG). However,
Apple, already the fifth largest mobile phone producer
worldwide with a sales increase of 87.2 percent since 2009,
has not signed this initiative so far.