Mobile phone and nature – actually the two don’t get along with each other very well. Daily thousands of mobiles are thrown away. And 80 per cent of them are still functional! There even have been campaigns since a couple of years to recycle “old” mobiles. Plus the debates around cancer caused by radiation, batteries contaminated with heavy metal, and so on.

With these thoughts kept at the back of my mind I stumpled across the following line: Get Ready for Water-Powered Cell Phones.

Water-powered mobiles? Sounds a little like science fiction! But Samsung actually developed a mobile phone in which energy is produced by a micro-fuel cell and a hydrogen generator. According to Samsung, as a start hydrogen cartridges would have to be changed circa every four days (depending on the intensity of use). Which leads us back to the topic of environmental pollution, for how much better are these cartridges than an ordinary battery in a socket? Samsung’s answer to this issue: they’re working on developing mobile phones that easily can be filled with water. But not until 2010 these devices are to be found in shops.

My opinion: Amazing! Should those mobiles really come on the market, that sounds like a real beneficial innovation. And, hard to believe: Like environmental sustainability and mobile phone in one sentence.