When considering your personal energy use, the amount of electricity it takes to charge your smartphone is pretty small – just 4-9 kWh per year (the same as a few hot baths). But when considering the global spread of mobile devices, the electricity consumption becomes staggering. Also, your mobile device doesn’t just use energy when charging. Every time you check your email, download an app or use a map, you’re downloading data that is stored in massive data centers.

 

What is now popularly referred to as “the cloud” is actually tens of thousands of enormous data centers, some can be seen from space, all over the country. According to the New York Times, data centers in the U.S. used 76 billion kWh of electricity in 2010. That’s 2% of the country’s electricity use. What’s upsetting about data centers is that they typically only use about 10% of the electricity that they consume. The rest of it is wasted powering servers that are sitting idle. The dirty energy they rely on has put data centers across the country in trouble with the EPA.

 

Is there a solution?

 

Goal Zero recently teamed up with Pensa Design and AT&T to install Street Charge stations at 25 different locations in New York City. These sleek solar powered stations allow people to charge up their devices while on the move throughout the city. Another option is solar generation directly built into your mobile device. SunPartner Group has designed a transparent solar P.V. screen that can be built into mobile handsets. For some cell phones and e-readers, you may never need to plug in at all.