Measurement of environmental impact of electronic devices

摘要

Devices, implementations and techniques for measuring the environment impact of electronic devices, such as CO2 emission reduction by using alternative power sources for powering or charging electronic devices.

主权项

1. A mobile device to measure an environmental impact of charging the mobile device comprising:
a receiver of the mobile device configured to receive an identifier from a charge control unit, wherein the identifier indicates whether or not the charge control unit is drawing energy from an alternative renewable energy power source, wherein the mobile device is configured to be coupled to the charge control unit to charge the mobile device; a tester of the mobile device configured to distinguish whether or not the charge control unit is drawing energy from an alternative renewable energy power source based on an assessment of the identifier to determine if the charge control unit uses an alternative renewable energy power source, wherein the identifier comprises a flag which if “ON” indicates that the charge control unit is using alternative renewable energy power to charge the mobile device; an energy meter of the mobile device configured to measure energy from the charge control unit responsive to a determination by the tester that the charge control unit is using alternative renewable energy to charge the mobile device; a converter of the mobile device configured to calculate a CO2 emission reduction based at least in part on the measured energy, wherein the converter is configured to calculate the CO2 emission reduction based at least in part on multiplying a stored CO2 emission coefficient by the measured energy and wherein the stored CO2 emission coefficient is associated with the identifier to associate the CO2 emission coefficient with use of the alternative renewable energy power source, wherein the converter is configured to calculate the CO2 emission reduction if the mobile device detects a connection to an alternative renewable energy source; an output unit of the mobile device configured to send data that represents the measured energy or the CO2 emission reduction or a combination thereof to a remote server to be converted to points that represent accumulated measured energy or accumulated CO2 emission reduction or a combination thereof to be used in a user point program to enable a user to benefit based on the points; and a display on the mobile device configured to display data to represent the measured energy or the CO2 emission reduction or a combination thereof.