Monday, February 22, 2010

Mobile Phone Recycling in the UK

Today we have another guest column, this time from our friends at Recycle Mobile Phones who present their important work, facilitating mobile phone recycling.

If you are thinking about upgrading or buying a new phone, did you consider what you would do with your existing handset? In the UK, over ninety million mobile phones are hidden away in desk drawers and lie idle on desks. As a result, many new phone recycling programs have been launched to create awareness and to try to increase the number of mobile phones being recycled in the United Kingdom.

If you have just bought or upgraded your phone and want to help the environment, then the best way is to look at the many recycling companies, who will incentivise you by giving you money for your old handset. It doesn’t matter if the phone works or not, although you’ll be offered less money for it if it doesn’t work.

Note: The worst thing you can do, is to throw your old mobile phone in the bin. Mobile phones contain several toxins such as cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic along with others, we do not need to contaminate our landfills or pollute the soil, air and water supplies by doing this.

Many times, these old mobile phones are in good working order so you just need to go onto a mobile phone recycling comparison site, which helps you to save time and earn money by searching for your make and model of phone. You will then see the prices that the recycling companies will offer and if you are happy with the price quoted, you can then complete the simple online form and then post your old phone to the recycling company, such as envirofone and then wait for your payment.

The recycled phones, which are in working condition, can simply be used by others , such as people who are less fortunate or indeed they can be sent to other countries to help developing worlds. The nonworking phones can be fixed or used to fix other phones, which can then be used for others. Reusing all the usable components and recycling the metals in the handset, lowers the need for new raw materials, as well as lowering the impact on mining for metals on the environment and wildlife.

For more information on recycling mobile phones and for our manufacturer list, please visit, http://www.recyclemobilephones.co.uk

Green book review of the week: Who Turned Out the Lights? by Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson






















Today we are happy to present a guest book review of Dr. Patrick Meyer on our weekly series of green book reviews. Dr. Meyer who is an an expert in alternative energy and fuel technology policy analysis reviewed for our blog one of the most interesting book that were published lately about alternative energy.


Who Turned Out the Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis by Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson

Reviewed by: Dr. Patrick E. Meyer, Principal at Meyer Energy Research Consulting

Despite the tremendous level of discussion among politicians, writers, analysts, and the media regarding alternative energy, climate change, and sustainability, the majority of Americans do not fully understand the issues at hand. Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, in their new book
Who Turned Out the Lights?: Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis (Retail $16.99, Harper Collins Publishers, October 2009, paperback, 368 pages, ISBN: 978-0-06-171564-8), attempt to explain to the masses energy and environmental issues, such as peak oil, clean coal, smart grid and the safety of nuclear power, whose discussion has now become commonplace, but may be misunderstood by the general populace.


Bittle and Johnson, also authors of Where Does the Money Go?: Your Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis, are not energy experts. Due to their lack of specialized expertise in energy and environment, the authors’ presentation method is not technical—in fact, far from it. Bittle and Johnson splice their work with references to pop culture, rock music, primetime cartoons, and blockbuster movies. Offering these references allow Bittle and Johnson to provide a piece of work which should easily cater to the masses, allowing those not yet versed in the realm of energy and climate change to catch up to speed on these critical issues.

Immediately Bittle and Johnson identify the goals of their book: the authors seek to explain the basics and present options but not make recommendations. Further, the purpose of their book is to shed light on the overall readiness of the US to act on energy and environmental issues, to show how decisions today can have huge implications down the road, and to demonstrate the time-sensitiveness of these issues (that is, that these issues change all the time). Bittle and Johnson do this by focusing on broad public questions rather than individual ones. They warn that they do not seek to refight the climate change debate—that fight has been carried out elsewhere. As the authors state: “the purpose of Who Turned Out the Lights? is to stop, take a deep breath, back up a bit, and go back to the basics” (p. xvi).

Bittle and Johnson write on the subject of energy and environment because they know that many Americans are still confused about these issues, despite that everyone from John McCain and President Obama to Sheryl Crow and Paris Hilton have spoken publicly about the need for an energy revolution. To convey their message, the authors write from the point of view of a non-academic, non-industry specialist, non-governmental bystander.

The authors’ thesis is primarily that energy and environmental issues are not necessarily as complex as some would lead you to believe. Through exposition the authors explain tough subject areas and analyze the status of industries, technologies, and social movements to present the subject in a clarifying manner. The authors present the facts about the energy and environmental debate clearly and impartially.

Who Turned Out the Lights? fits wonderfully into the general field of energy and environmental debate. While politicians and the media have carried on relatively high-level discourse on issues such as biofuel development, nuclear power expansion, and constructing an advanced 21st century electricity grid, many Americans’ understanding of these issues has been left behind.

As Al Gore did in 2006 with An Inconvenient Truth, Bittle and Johnson similarly show that these issues are not as complex as some would have you believe. Yet where Gore scared us all a little with his excellently conceived discussion of the devastating impact humanity has had on Earth, Bittle and Johnson remain neutral, providing the facts only and leaving the debate open for discussion.

Even a reader who is scientifically knowledgeable in the energy and environmental field will surely take away valuable information from this book. But technically-trained readers may criticize Bittle and Johnson’s colloquial writing style.

The bottom line, as shown by the authors, is that most Americans admit to caring about the environment but at the same time most Americans don’t want to spend money to help the environment. While they do not bluntly admit so, it seems as if the authors are a least a little frustrated by the notion that most Americans won’t support anything that costs them any extra money, even if it means polluting less and encouraging renewable energy development.

Who Turned Out the Lights?
is recommended for those knowledgeable in energy and environmental issues, or those who know absolutely nothing in the subject area. For readers that are newcomers to the field, Bittle and Johnson provide a refreshing and grounded approach spliced with references to pop culture and things we all encounter in daily life. For those who have prior knowledge of alternative energy, fossil energy, climate change, and the politics of the energy arena, Bittle and Johnson provide a recap of these issues from a perspective not often found in academia, industry, or politics—that is, unbiased, bipartisan, and real.

Author Bio

Dr. Patrick E. Meyer is Principal at Meyer Energy Research Consulting, Newark, Delaware and Research Associate at Energy and Environmental Research Associates, LLC., Pittsford, New York. Holding a Ph.D. in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Delaware, Meyer specializes in alternative energy, electricity, and fuel technology policy analysis; global sustainable energy systems; and energy and environmental systems modeling and analysis. Meyer has authored more than 25 editorial articles for IEEE-USA’s Today’s Engineer and serves as the publication’s Energy, Environment & Sustainability Editor.

* A full version of the review can be found at http://www.ecolibris.net/lights.asp