Vodafone touts solar powered phone chargers

Solar powered phone chargers and more energy efficient charging units could soon be launched by Vodafone as part of a major new initiative to cut both its own carbon emissions and those of its customers.

The company yesterday announced that it is to undertake a major overhaul of its network technologies and facilities as it seeks to cut its carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2020 through a combination of improved energy efficiency and procurement of renewable energy.

Chief executive Arun Sarin said that in addition to cutting its own emissions the company was also stepping up efforts to deliver green products and services to customers. He said that there was a strong business case for such products, arguing that the company's plans for new solar powered phone chargers and universal phone chargers for Vodafone-branded handsets would "resonate" with environmentally conscious customers.

A Vodafone spokeswoman said that solar powered phone chargers were already available in the Netherlands and that the company was now looking at offering them elsewhere, although there is currently no date for a UK launch.

The company also said that it had already made significant progress in curbing emissions of its mobile network infrastructure, which account for the bulk of the firm's total emissions.

Initiatives to raise the ambient temperature in mobile phone base stations, invest in new more energy efficient hardware and install onsite renewable energy technologies are currently in place and as a result the company claims to have cut emissions relative to the amount of network traffic by 29 per cent in 2006/07.

Sarin said that such energy efficiency measures represented the most effective means of cutting the company’s carbon footprint. "We have reviewed the options, including carbon off-setting, and have concluded that the most effective strategy is to cut our CO2 emissions directly," he said. "There are no simple solutions to what is a complex challenge, but through operational changes and technological innovation we will focus on improving energy efficiency in our networks, which account for 80 per cent of our emissions."