Bamboo Cellphone

Inhabitat: Here’s a great idea for a cell-phone that is thoroughly green in every way: from its biodegradable bamboo materials, to its thoughtfully considered lifecycle, to its ingenious use of kinetic human power to charge the battery with renewable energy. The ‘Bamboo’ phone, by Dutch designer Gert-Jan van Breugel was one of the finalists shortlisted at this year’s 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition (and Jill’s personal favorite). Although this design didn’t end up winning one of the coveted top three prizes in the competition, it certainly caught our kinetic-energy-loving eye.
The Bamboo Phone’s case uses two materials: a bio-plastic which is derived from renewable raw materials such as corn, and bamboo, a grass which grows at such a fast rate, makes it vastly more sustainable than a material such as hardwood. According to van Breugel, three minutes of cranking will provide enough energy for one phone call, though the length of the call was not mentioned. A monochrome display is also included to maximize energy efficiency.
The phone was designed in response to the one billion new handsets being produced every year, with only 10% being recycled. The average mobile customer replaces their phone once every 18 months, causing 36kg of carbon dioxide to be released in the manufacture of a 90 gram phone. Now all this phone needs is a sleeker-looking casing, and we can see this getting snapped up by Nokia or Samsung in a flash.
WIND-UP ECO BAMBOO PHONE: Charged by whirling! [Inhabitat]