The energy consumption and health hazards of mobile phones

Abstract

Mobile phones are universally popular due to their convenience. Mobile phones solve problems and offer new channels of communication by using a device small enough to fit into one hand. On the other hand, mobile phones may be harmful to the environment and health, and waste disposal problems may be associated with their use. This study discusses the risks associated with mobile phone use and addresses the options to rectify those issues in the longer term.

Keywords

Mobile phone energy consumption environment and health

Introduction

Mobile phones have become an intrinsic part of most people’s lives, connecting them around the world. The mobile phone has many advantages, enabling communication with family, friends, and business wherever a signal is available. Even though the mobile phone has several advantages, there are significant disadvantages associated with the use of mobiles. Chemical substances of mobile phones are considered toxic, such as arsenic, lithium, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, and zinc. When mobiles are discarded, these toxic substances may leach from decomposing waste in landfills, seep into groundwater, and contaminate the soil. Metals’ build-up in the soil can then enter the food chain and insufficient concentrations may cause health problems. Using often mobile phone may harm the brain and excessive use of mobile phones might be associated with dizziness and radiations emitted from the phone are also harmful for the eardrum. Furthermore, World Health Organization¹ said that exposure to the radiofrequency fields emitted by mobile phones is generally more than a 1000 times higher than from base stations and noted that research had almost exclusively conducted on possible effects of mobile phones, such as cancer, other health effects, and electromagnetic interference and traffic accidents. The leading substances are plastics followed by other miniature materials (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Chemical substances in mobile phones.

The study discusses the risks associated with both energy consumption and users’ health effects by mobile phones use and provides the remedies to rectify those issues. The objectives of this study are as follows:

To identify about the energy consumption risks while using mobile phones.

To identify the health hazards associated with the use of mobile phones.

To provide suggestions in order to overcome energy consumption and health hazards from mobile phones use.

Energy consumption

The production of new mobile phones contributes to climate change by using up energy and virgin materials in processes, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The United Nations Environment Programme² estimated that the manufacture of a mobile phone produces about 60 kg of CO₂e and using a mobile phone for a year produces about 122 kg of CO₂e. The evaluation of material and energy consumption of mobile phones is an important task in the end-of-life management of electronic products.³ The CO₂ emissions per subscriber and year in a 3 G system are equivalent to the emissions from driving a car for 250–380 km or to 19–21 L of gasoline.⁴ Soonenschein et al.⁵ found that energy consumption for the mobile phone call averages 0.5 kWh, whereas the washing machine uses about 0.43 kWh. Besides, GSMAssociation⁶ mentioned that if 10% of the world’s mobile phone users turned off their chargers after use, the energy saved in 1 year could power 60,000 European homes. Paiano et al.⁷ pointed out that the entire mobile phone system consumes approximately 2200 GWh yearly, which is equal to 0.7% of the national electricity consumption, and produces potential e-waste from end-of-life devices totaling over 11 thousand tonnes during the period from 2007 to 2012. Vergara et al.⁸ argued that reducing the energy consumption of wireless transmissions begins by being aware of the energy consumption characteristics of different technologies such as 3 G and WiFi. Snowden⁹ stated that the energy consumption of mobile phone batteries contributes significantly to the device’s environmental impact. The main impact associated with day to day is during the charging process of mobile phone and the charger represents about 7% of the life-time energy consumption of a typical mobile phone.¹⁰ Most consumers are not aware of the effect of mobile phones on CO₂ production and expected CO₂ emissions may be raised by 55 million metric tonnes due to the increase in mobile communications by 2020.⁵

Health

With regard to the human health hazards associated with high-toxic substances of mobile phones, Lakshmi and Nagan¹¹ stated that cadmium may cause lung and prostate cancer and is toxic to the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys the respiratory, cardiovascular, and hormonal systems. Thomée et al.¹² found that high frequency of mobile phone use was associated with sleep disturbances and symptoms of depression for men and women at 1-year follow-up. Aghav¹³ noted that electromagnetic fields were harmful and can have adverse effects on the human body depending on the intensity of cell phone frequency. Acharya et al.¹⁴ observed that many students felt frequent headaches, neck pains, limb pains, back aches, redness in their eyes, and tinnitus in their ears due to continuous mobile usage for some days. Acharya et al.¹⁴ also stated that certain neurological symptoms occurred due to frequent use of mobile phones, such as depression, sadness, irritability, headaches, anxiety, memory loss, and lack of sleep, listening to loud music and keeping the volume high was associated with auditory effects, which may prove detrimental to a period of time. Some researchers have drawn the following conclusions on health risks associated with mobile phones as shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

Health risks associated with mobile phones.

S.no.	Authors	Conclusions
1	de Vocht et al.¹⁵	Identified that a small but potentially significant rise in temporal and frontal lobe tumors – the brain regions most highly exposed to mobile phone radiation.
2	Agarwal et al.¹⁶	Radiofrequency electromagnetic waves emitted from cell phones may lead to oxidative stress in human semen. We speculate that keeping the cell phone in a trouser pocket in talk mode may negatively affect spermatozoa and impair male fertility.
4	Divan et al.¹⁷	Cell phone use was associated with behavioral problems at age 7 in children, and this association was not limited to early users of the technology.
5	Panda et al.¹⁸	Long-term and intensive mobile phone use may cause inner ear damage.

Aghav¹³ alarmed that most of the people were unaware of the health hazard of continuous emission of radiation. Today, there is an upsurge in public concern about the possible health hazards of this new technology. The impacts of mobile phone radiation on human health have come to the focus of the researchers.¹⁹ Hence, mobiles are the greatest hand-held devices despite their harmful issues. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct research on how to defeat those issues.

Material and methods

All the information and data presented in this paper were gathered from various sources of secondary data. The online search database provided secondary data such as journals and extracts from newspapers, books, and magazines. The research framework was developed as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Research framework.

Discussion and findings

To reduce energy and health risks of mobile phones, this study identified that control remedies were design, manufacture, energy consumption, recycling, reusing, and take back to mitigate and minimize the negative impacts of mobile phones. The control remedies are discussed below.

Designing and manufacturing of mobile phone

Mobile phones are becoming more energy-efficient and are eliminating the use of hazardous materials. Bharodiya and Kayasth²⁰ implied that the cell phone manufacturing company has to minimize the use of nature hazardous metals and materials, which harm the environment or may choose those that are eco-friendly. The manufacturers have to use recyclable metals and materials without emission of CO₂ so that there is minimum disposal on the earth. Mobile manufacturers have to appoint the authorized distributors to sell mobile phone, and the information about the authorized distributorship should be maintained by the government of respective nations. If any persons or organizations are found to be selling cell phones illegally without authorization from the manufacturers, strict actions should be taken. Authorized distributor should provide the detail notes of impacts of cell phone on environment along with the user manual booklet. The government should strictly compel to follow all the policies and rules shown. If any manufacturer, distributor, and customer found in guilty then, appropriate fine in terms of money and / or imprisonment and cancelation of the license may be carried out. Government should include this additional duty on the environment ministry, and minimize or remove the impacts of cell phone on the environment.

Energy consumption

In order to satisfy the consumer expectations about talk and standby time, there have been significant improvements in the energy efficiency of mobile phones. Over the last 20 years, the standby operating time of a mobile phone on a single battery charge has increased from around 4 h to up to 12 days or more while the size of batteries has been greatly reduced. There has also been industry focused on reducing the phone’s power consumption during the charging period. However, consumers can also make an important environmental difference, by simply switching off the phone and charger when it is not needed. This has been accomplished through changes in battery chemistry and reductions in the overall energy requirements of the circuitry.⁶

Vodafone²¹ is a signatory to the GSMA’s industry-wide commitment to introduce a universal charger. This initiative aims to reduce electronic waste by eliminating the need for consumers to replace their charger when they buy a new phone. Vodafone also offered solar-powered charging solutions that can reduce environmental impacts from charging phones and extended access to reliable, renewable-energy supplies in remote areas of the emerging markets.

Reusing and recycling

According to the Basel Convention and the Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI) guidance document published in November 2006,²² “Re-use, directly or via repair or refurbishment is usually the preferable option over recycling and disposal from an environmental perspective. Re-use can extend product life and means less environmentally damaging extraction, less energy consumption and less waste. Re-use of second-hand equipment can also often mean a lower price for products, thus increasing accessibility for more people who might not otherwise be able to afford the product”. The energy and raw materials used to produce millions of new mobile phones contributed to CO₂ emissions and global warming. Mobile phones can be separated into their different components and recycled. For example, copper, gold, lead, cadmium, silver, and nickel; the gold and silver recovered can be made into jewelry. Nickel cadmium, nickel-metal hydride, and lithium ion/polymer batteries have their metals recovered and reused in products such as power tools, saucepans, and new batteries. Phones deemed to be beyond repair or simply too old still have a residual value, and their parts may be reused for new electronic equipment. GSM Association⁶ suggested that phones may be further dismantled and some parts shredded or processed intact for material and energy recovery. The handsets, batteries, plastics, and accessories may be separated according to their chemical and material composition; plastics can be recycled to make items such as traffic cones and metals are used again as good-quality raw materials. Vodafone²¹ encouraged customers to return their unwanted handsets and accessories to Vodafone for reuse (where possible) and recycling. As a way of raising awareness about their recycling programme posters, leaflets, in-store collection points and prepaid envelopes with new handsets are used. Vodafone offers a buyback proactive procedure, which aims to increase the number of handsets collected for recycling but this also has a significant commercial benefit for Vodafone. Vodafone also offers incentives for customers to keep their handsets for longer; for instance, by offering SIM only price plans with a lower monthly subscription rate for customers who continue using their existing phone rather than upgrading.

Refurbishment

Mobile phones are wiped of data, physically repaired, repackaged with new instructions, and sent to suppliers. According to GSM Association,⁶ some refurbishing companies have sought environmental accreditation to demonstrate that the entire process is properly managed. Collected phones must first be evaluated to determine those most likely to be suitable for reuse. These phones will then be subjected to a series of tests to determine suitability for reuse with or without further repair. The testing equipment and procedures are similar to those in the manufacturer repair centers. Faulty parts will be replaced, batteries evaluated or exchanged, and the phone’s appearance reconditioned. Particular care is needed to ensure for replacement batteries have proper internal safety circuits. All original customer information should be securely erased, and the refurbished phone must meet all regulatory requirements. These steps are labor-intensive and in some cases the work is done in lower cost economies using internationally accepted for health and environmental controls. Finally, the refurbished phone will be packaged for resale along with a battery, charger, and instructions. Any residual materials arising during the refurbishment process are disposed in an environmentally sound manner.

Take-back

GSM Association⁶ noted that used take-back schemes often predate national and international legislation. The industry supports handset, battery, and accessory take-back in more than 40 countries. In most cases, take-back schemes were established as voluntary initiatives, with self-sustaining financial structures. Experience from network operators showed that one of the most important steps in establishing a successful take-back scheme is the incentive provided to customers. These depended on customers and cultural preferences but generally involve donations to charity, extra call minutes for the customer, or a discount on a different phone. Nokia encouraged that success on take-back and recycling can be measured in three ways: the number of countries covered, the number of people reached for the recycling message in dedicated campaigns, and the weight of mobile devices and accessories recycled.

Disposal

If a mobile phone cannot be refurbished or if the components cannot be reused or recycled, the remaining materials are sent for environmentally sound disposal. GSM Association⁶ reported that the remaining materials can be made insoluble in high-temperature processing so that they will not leach toxic substances into the environment and may be safely used as a construction aggregate. Consumers should be encouraged not to throw away their mobile phones with household rubbish, as the phones may end up in a landfill site. Instead, they should be deposited in a take-back scheme for refurbishment or recycling. Bharodiya and Kayasth²⁰ provided that every manufacturer has to recycle minimum 70% of metals, those used to produce the new cell phone so that only 30% of materials is disposed into the environment. Government should reserve one place to dispose, which is outermost from city to dispose the unrecyclable and hazardous parts of cell phone.

Recommendations

From the above discussions, the concepts and theories of control remedies on mobile phone hazards can guide the mobile phone companies to develop their own unique customer retention strategies. Environmental healthier strategies are needed in guiding and developing proactive customer intentions to use mobile phones with minimum risks to energy consumption and health. While developing awareness among customers in using mobile phones to minimize hazards, manufacturers should develop safe measures with greenery quotes that would influence customer buying behavior and customer retention of mobiles. The benefits of applying the strategies in order to build up risk-free uses of mobile phones are clear. Researchers have caused mobile phone company executives to question and examine the needs of their customers. Mobile phone companies have to find and refine best solutions in improving service quality and developing the trust of users with respect to mobile phones’ hazards.

Limitations and future studies

Knowledge of mobile phone hazards is still being accumulated, and the literature on this subject is quite limited. This research has been conducted conceptually with secondary data. However, it would be interesting to conduct this research with analysis of primary data from the consumer perspective. Future research could identify how mobile phone hazards will influence both the environment and individuals. A research model to evaluate consumers’ perspectives with respect to hazards of mobile phones should be formulated. This model could assist in the development of appropriate strategies to overcome those hazards.

Conclusions

Mobile phone technologies are universally accepted as handy and habitually proficient. However, mobile phones have inherent characteristics that may cause hazards for both the environment and people. Mobile phone components contain toxic substances such as mercury, lead, and cadmium, which may leach from decomposing waste in landfills, seep into groundwater and contaminate the soil, contributing to cancer, damage to the central nervous system, mutation, and other disorders in humans. Until now, there has been little information on mobile phone risks affecting both the environment and people. Mobile phone manufacturers should develop efficient power management design in order to produce less energy consumption of mobile devices. Research should be carried out continuously to observe if there are any significant short- and long-term risks associated with mobile phone use that will be harmful to the environment and to the society. This would provide theoretical concepts to minimize those deleterious effects. Therefore, governments and the mobile telecommunication industries need to work together to improve consumer confidence in all aspects of the design, manufacture, energy consumption, recycling, and reusing mobile phones, while making environmentally friendly devices and accessories. Additionally, governments need to re-examine existing regulations on mobile phones to assist people to live in healthier environment.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Manivannan S Velmurugan has earned PhD in Management Information Systems from University of Madras and is a professor and research scholar of Information Technology and Management at the D.B. Jain College, University of Madras, India. He has published more than 40 articles in the peer-reviewed international journals of repute, including 30 articles listed ISI Thomson Reuters, SCOPUS, Cabells data bases. Among more than 40 articles, he is the sole author for 20 articles and mostly main author for remaining articles. Most of his articles got good citation values from the scholarly journals. He is one of the members in the editorial board for peer-reviewed international journals such as Information Technology Journal, Journal of Applied Sciences, Research Journal of Information Technology, Trends in Applied Sciences Research, Asian Journal of Scientific Research and also serves as a reviewer for Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Journal Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy, and few international peer-reviewed journals, which are indexed in Scopus and ISI Thomson Reuters. His current research interests are on management information systems, marketing and IT-related topics, mobile phone technologies, E-commerce, E-business, virtual teams, electronic banking (internet banking, mobile banking), sustainable development, accounting information systems, and decision support systems, which provide a unique challenge because it crosses organizational, cultural, and geographical boundaries.

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