Apple has made lots of noise about its gadgets' toxin-free designs and low power consumption. Not to be outdone, Samsung has released the Replenish, "An Android with the Earth in mind." You can even get it on Credo Mobile's network, if your idea of an environmentally-friendly smartphone is one where less than a dollar of your monthly bill goes to support progressive causes.
Annie Leonard's video, The Story of Electronics, is a good animated introduction to green electronics. What makes a smartphone really "green," though ... and is it even possible?
New building materials
The Recompute desktop PC has an outer case made of cardboard. It's a safe bet that most smartphones and tablets aren't going to go that route, especially when you need to keep them in your pocket or handbag. (Can you imagine what would happen if it rained?)
In the smartphone world, the Replenish and iPhone 4 might be the closest we've come. The Replenish's case is made partly out of recycled plastic, while the iPhone's is made out of metal and glass -- more recyclable than some materials.
"Recyclable" doesn't mean "recycled," though. In some ways, it's just a new buzzword to make you think that something is green. And in the tech industry, "recycling" often means shipping stuff out to China, where kids breathe in toxic fumes as they take it apart for scrap. (Fortunately, there are greener gadget recyclers out there.)
New power source
You probably know you can buy solar chargers for smartphones, now. Aside from for truckers and travelers, though, they're not going to see much use when it's quicker to charge off the USB or wall socket ... which makes those chargers just more new electronic gadgets made out of toxic chemicals.
What about human-powered smartphones? You could charge them up just by walking, whenever you're on the go. The technology isn't quite there yet, though, and is still the subject of research papers.
What to do, then?
The greenest smartphone is the one you have right now. Every year that you stick with last year's model is another in which a chunk of the environment wasn't torn up to make a smartphone.
The second-greenest? Not a refurb or "green" phone, but one that you love so much that you keep it for years and years. What good is it that your Samsung Replenish is partly recyclable, when you're going to recycle it much sooner than if you'd bought something else?
If you find a green or refurb phone that you love, more power to you, but that's just one consideration out of many. And one that, right now, is more bark than byte (so to speak).
Another thing you can do
Whatever smartphone that you get, you can invest in green energy for it by buying a smartphone-sized carbon offset, which are available in some stores. Maybe you don't have the option of using green energy where you live, but buying an offset can help to create a world where the next generation does. Just do your homework, and make sure the company offering them is actually doing something that helps.
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