I read recently that would be about 1.75 Billion smartphones in the world (almost 1/5th of the world's total population) in 2014. Lets assume that each one of them has a 2000 mah battery. Some observations:
Assuming no power loss it means it needs around 10W to charge a single smartphone.
And if we assume a 20% loss in charger and cables we can come to around 12W of power per charge of a single smartphone.
If we focus on improving energy efficiency and double battery life, we save 12W of power per day. Hardly a big deal and worthwhile target to chase. But we charge each smartphone every day (that's the typical life of battery), and therefore we need 12x1.75 Billion Watts of Power or 21000 Mega Watt of power every day from the worldwide electricity grids put together. It is big but a very small fraction of the overall power generation on the planet per day.
We could save more if each of these 1.75 billion smartphone users could switch off an electric bulb for an hour. Energy wise, it does not seem to be target worth chasing at the moment if we consider the big picture.
Alternatively, imagine a new battery & charger technology (Panasonic is rumoured to be working on such stuff) which cloud charge a phone from 0-100% in 5-10 minutes. Would we care about terminal software's energy efficiency then ? This is a hardware solution to a software problem, but it might be more effective. It will surely solve the problem of frequently having to run to charging points and waiting upto an hour to charge your device which is the bigger symptom of the problem.
Assuming no power loss it means it needs around 10W to charge a single smartphone.
And if we assume a 20% loss in charger and cables we can come to around 12W of power per charge of a single smartphone.
If we focus on improving energy efficiency and double battery life, we save 12W of power per day. Hardly a big deal and worthwhile target to chase. But we charge each smartphone every day (that's the typical life of battery), and therefore we need 12x1.75 Billion Watts of Power or 21000 Mega Watt of power every day from the worldwide electricity grids put together. It is big but a very small fraction of the overall power generation on the planet per day.
We could save more if each of these 1.75 billion smartphone users could switch off an electric bulb for an hour. Energy wise, it does not seem to be target worth chasing at the moment if we consider the big picture.
Alternatively, imagine a new battery & charger technology (Panasonic is rumoured to be working on such stuff) which cloud charge a phone from 0-100% in 5-10 minutes. Would we care about terminal software's energy efficiency then ? This is a hardware solution to a software problem, but it might be more effective. It will surely solve the problem of frequently having to run to charging points and waiting upto an hour to charge your device which is the bigger symptom of the problem.
USB charging is ubiquitous today. Smartphones, tablets, MP3 players etc. all use it. I see every device coming with it (except iPod and kindle). Many are interchangeable. Do we really need that ? Output Voltage is fixed at 5-5.2V while current drain goes upto 2.4A. I would prefer to see the next generation of electric sockets to have a built-in USB charger port (over the earth plug) that can supply upto 5A or 15A based on the type of socket. Atleast it will save production of millions of chargers in the times to come. Manufacturers can make the charger as an optional accessory which is very liberally priced.
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