Eco-business / Social Venture

July 18, 2003

 

Cell Phone Energy Consumption Reduced to One Fortieth in a Decade

Keywords: Eco-business / Social Venture Energy Conservation Non-manufacturing industry 

Cell phones are now the craze in Japan – half the population has cell phones. Against this backdrop, the number of subscribers of NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading mobile carrier, increased by forty-fold over the past decade. In addition to the jump in the number of units, new features such as larger high-resolution screens and camera functions have been introduced one after the other. One may wonder how much energy these units consume. Surprisingly enough, total electricity consumption of its cell phones now is about the same as it was a decade ago, according to NTT DoCoMo.

The company reports that the electricity consumption of cell phones in 1992, when the number of subscribers was about one million, totaled 32,832 kWh, while total electricity consumption in 2002, with subscribers at about 42 million, was 33,600 kWh. If the present number of subscribers were using the handsets of a decade ago, total electricity consumption would reach 1,344,000 kWh per day, equivalent to the electricity generated by a medium-size hydroelectric power station in one day at full capacity.

Reductions in energy consumption are being rapidly achieved through the application of optimum technology such as reducing the overall number of parts, improving energy efficiency of each component, decreasing the standby power requirement of AC adapters for charging handsets and enhancing the efficiency of transmissions between handsets and base stations. Hoping to achieve further energy efficiency, the company will continue pursuing initiatives in research and development.



Posted: 2003/07/18 10:35:30 AM
Japanese version

 

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