Calif. passes cell phone recycling bill
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes recycling of discarded mobile phones mandatory for handset makers.
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By Terri Hardy, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.  Jun. 22--Residents and visitors will have access to free wireless Internet coverage in most areas of the city by October 2009 under a deal approved Thursday by the City Council.
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A plan that would provide coverage to an estimated 70 percent of the 5.1 persistently uninsured Californians passed the State Assembly on Monday.
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California voters appeared to be giving overwhelming approval Tuesday to a measure that establishes a state-sponsored stem cell research facility that would include the use of embryonic stem cells.
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Cell-phone users may soon be able to watch TV on their phones. Also: Companies organize a safe way to dispose of e-trash....  Feds investigate stun-gun maker Taser.... and more.
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(InfoWorld) - If just a small portion of the world's mobile phone users unplugged their charger when the battery is full, it could save enough electricity to power thousands of homes. So said Nokia on Thursday, as it unveiled a new industry group that aims to make mobile phones more environmentally friendly. The group also includes Motorola, France Telecom, Vodafone Group, TeliaSonera, and others. It was created as part of a European Commission project aimed at uniting members of different industries to work on reducing the environmental impact of their products. Members of the new group will try to educate people more about how they can reduce the environmental impact of using their cell phones. For example, manufacturers will start displaying a reminder on phones to unplug chargers once the battery is charged. If only 10 percent of phone users did that, they would save enough energy to power 60,000 European homes each year, Nokia estimates. The companies will alsoÂ reduce the hazardous materialsÂ they use beyond what current legislation requires. One example is Nokiaâs decision to stop using any components in its phones that contain a certain type of environmentally harmful chemical flame retardant. The operators will also increase the number of used phones that are returned for recycling. Theyâll examine existing recycling schemes around the world and identify successful ones. They also plan to try out incentive initiatives to determine if they might improve recycling rates. Environmental organizations including World Wildlife Fund, the Finnish Environmental Institute, the European Consumersâ Organization and the U.K.âs Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are also part of the new initiative. The European Union recently instituted new regulations on the types of hazardous materials that can be included in electronic devices. Most manufacturers were able to alter their products to comply with the new laws, but Palm in July stopped shipping what was its latest smart phone, the Treo 650, to Europe because it didnât meet the regulations.
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A phone made of recycled materials and a transmission tower that uses 50 percent less energy were two of the green technologies on show at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.The environment was top of the agenda in the opening keynote session, where Rob Conway, CEO of the GSM Association, characterized mobile communications as an energy-saving alternative to flying or driving. But he acknowledged the downsides, saying, &quot;We must, as an industry, do something about reducing energy consumption, and support renewable energy and recycling.&quot;The GSM Association is using its development fund to support a number of technologies with benefits for the environment, he said, including green energy sources for off-grid base stations. These include a generator powered by waste vegetable oil, developed by Ericsson, and in Namibia the creation of a wind-powered base station, he said.&quot;The environmental results have been very encouraging. We are sharing these initiatives,&quot; he said.Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, president and CEO of Nokia, preferred to start with the bad news.&quot;Our current model of development is not sustainable. In many ways we are living beyond our means. As much as technology fascinates us and inspires us to do more things, something has to change,&quot; he said.He wants the industry to make more efficient use of materials and to recycle its waste, to optimize transportation and logistics, and to design for energy efficient operation.From his pocket he then produced &quot;Remade,&quot; a concept phone manufactured mostly from recycled materials and designed to consume less energy in production and operation than existing phones. The case is made from recycled aluminium drinks cans, the rubber keyboard from old car tires, and plastic parts from recycled drink bottles.&quot;It&#39;s only a concept. I cannot make a phone call with it yet,&quot; he said, dashing the audience&#39;s hopes of picking one up from the Nokia stand later.Wang Jianzhou, chairman and CEO of China Mobile, also had recycling and energy conservation on his mind.The company is promoting simpler packaging for the phones it resells, with the goal of saving around 57,000 cubic meters of logs annually, he said.It is also looking for ways to reduce the electricity consumption of the 300,000 base stations in the company&#39;s network, he said.He may well have walked by Ericsson&#39;s answer to that problem on his way into the show. On the central avenue leading through the showground, the company had erected a scale model of a transmission tower that uses up to 50 percent less energy than standard towers.Traditional transmission towers place the power amplifiers and other electronics in a cabin on the ground, with antennas at the top of a steel structure. However, around half the signal power is lost in the cables between amplifier and antenna, and more power still is used by air-conditioning units to stop the equipment in the cabin from overheating.Ericsson&#39;s idea is to put all the electronics near the top of a concrete tube 40 meters high, with air vents near the top and bottom. This puts the amplifiers near the antennas, so less energy is lost in cables. The tower acts like a chimney, the rising current of air cooling the electronics with no need for fans or air conditioning.The tower is designed for hot countries and, with a few modifications, can operate without an external electricity supply. In sunny zones the tower can be clad in solar panels, with batteries allowing the base station to run through the night kept cool in a well 4 meters below ground.So far, Ericsson has built only one such tower, near its headquarters in Kista, Sweden. The company is looking for local manufacturing partners in countries that might use the design, representatives said.
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Description: California voters Tuesday passed a ballot measure that will provide $3 billion for research on embryonic stem cells. The approval of Proposition 71 is in part a reaction to restrictions imposed on the research by President Bush.
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U.S. Senate takes the cellular industry in hand.
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The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed a bill requiring large stores and retail chains to collect and recycle the plastic bags they give to shoppers.
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Californians approved a groundbreaking measure allowing around three billion dollars in state funds to be used for embryonic stem cell research, early figures showed.
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'Rethink Initiative' hopes to preempt electronic-waste legislation.
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The California Public Utilities  Commission on Thursday upheld a $12.1 million fine against  Cingular Wireless, related to a two-year investigation into the  cellular telephone company's business practices.
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By Kevin Howe, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.  Dec. 15--SAN FRANCISCO -- A progressive increase in California American Water customers' bills was approved unanimously by the state Public Utilities Commission here Thursday.   Beginning Jan.
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By Georgia Evdoxiadis Daily Herald Staff Writer  Three neighboring governments have teamed up to bring consumer electronics recycling to all their residents.
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OCEANSIDE, California  - California's Senate   passed a bill on Wednesday night aimed at increasing   competition among cable television providers and easing the   ability of telephone companies to enter the market.
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California passes Wi-Fi user protection bill; AT&T eyes municipal deals. Plus: The mobile Internet--are we there yet?