What is the Most Green and Sustainable Way to Charge an iPod?
Abstract
The experiment was focused on green and sustainable ways to charge portable devices such as mp3 players, PDA’s, cell phones, and iPods. Due to the rapid demand for handheld devices that are getting recharged over and over again to use, electricity is needed. The source of the power is mainly from coal and oil burning plants that pollute the atmosphere. By charging our devices with green, nonpolluting easy alternatives, we can help our environment, lower our carbon footprint, save money, and take part in the green movement! This experiment was designed to help people choose and spread the word that something as little as charging your iPod by the sun can make a difference!
If Solar Power, Hand Cranking, Voltaic Pile Charging, Lemon Battery Charging, Wind Charging, and AC Charging were all used to charge an iPod, Solar power would be the most green and sustainable way to charge an iPod. Sustainability is the idea of reusing things to save money, the environment, and to benefit you in all needs. The solar panel is ¼ the price of the Hymini Wind Generator. This harnesses the sun’s power and stores it until need. Sun is always there and will be there during the day when you need it. For only $10, this charger is sustainable and green because it does not give off pollution and uses renewable energy. The second best green way to charge your iPod would be Wind Power. Harnessing the Earth’s Natural energy, wind power is one of the most eco-friendly power sources, although, there is not always a breeze of up to 9 mph outside to crank this generator up. Using the first made and one of the only mini wind chargers in the world, the Hymini charger is priced at a range of $50, including adapters. Made out of recycled plastic, this charger has a rechargeable battery that can be used over again that does not produce any pollution and is shipped in recycled cardboard. Although this may be better for others, it costs a little too much for your sustainability. Sitting there cranking a Hand Crank Charger would take two long even though it only costs $3.33 to buy. You can use it for the rest of your iPods life which also makes this the third most green and sustainable way to charge an iPod. The Dynamo Hand Crank Generator also does not give off any pollution but is not as convenient for us to use. The voltaic pile is a great cheap way to charge your iPod also, but it takes a while to set up. Cutting out small discs of paper is not sustainable and green, unless it’s recycled! Altogether this Battery would cost you, at the bargain internet price, about $10. You can reuse the parts but for the same price the solar generator is guaranteed safe, reliable voltage. The lemon battery would not be as eco-friendly because you are using 4 lemons and they may not be reused or be put in compost. Although it is a quick way to charge you iPod, the lemon charger would only cost about $8 saying that washers and lemons are $.15 and alligator jumper cables are $5.00 for 14 the first charge. Then, about $1 for the additional charges is the cost of the lemons. It is one of the cheapest, but pollution is being made traveling to the stores with cars to go retrieve the required materials. The AC charger produces pollution which is bad for the environment. This is the most convenient way to charge your iPod but not the greenest. When talking about AC, the power comes from a supplier which usually uses coal or oil to produce electricity, which sends pollutants into the atmosphere. Based on research, prior knowledge, and carbon footprints, facts think that the most green and sustainable way to charge an iPod is with solar power. We should all Go Green, with Monocrystalline!
To create and perform this experiment, a week of your time is required. First start by clearing all iPods and creating a playlist on iTunes with songs that play for 2 hours or more. Then upload the playlist to the iPods. Listen or waste the power on the iPod until it dies and will not turn on. Make a data sheet in Microsoft word and save it, so you can electronically keep your data without wasting paper. Charge the iPod nano from the wall for 10 minutes and record the amount of audio playback time. Repeat this two more times for the iPod nano. Then do the same with the iPod Classic and find your averages of the data. Solar power charging is first. Charge your solar panel outside in the sun on a level surface for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes take the solar panel inside and make sure it does not charge anymore. Now, charge the iPod nano for 10 minutes from the wall. After, transfer the energy from the solar panels battery to the iPod. Record the amount of audio playback time and then subtract x, the average of 10 minutes of audio playback, and record data. Repeat this two more times for the iPod nano and then do the same for the iPod Classic. Hand Cranking your iPod is tough and tiring work so be prepared. Plug a usb cord into the device and the other end into a rechargeable battery. Crank the Dynamo at a rate of 60 cranks per minute for 30 minutes. Charge you iPod nano in the wall for 10 minutes. Then transfer the power form the rechargeable battery onto your iPod nano and record the amount of audio playback time, including subtracting x. Repeat this two more times, and then do the same for the iPod Classic. The next way to charge your iPod is with Lemons and pennies. First, cut 4 lemons into 6 equal parts. Then start charging the dead iPod nano from the wall for 10 minutes while putting together the battery. Stick a copper penny and zinc washer into the lemons, this causes a reaction between the metals creating electricity. Connect a zinc metal in one lemon cell to a copper metal into the other cell. Continue until all of your metals are attached like this except one copper and one zinc in two different cells. Measure the voltage and make sure it is over 12 volts. If it is not a sure circuit may be the cause, wipe up all of the juice. After, cut the usb cable an inch from the usb jack and strip an inch of the wire. Upon opening the wire, there will be metallic wires that should be pushed down. Tear off the layer of insulation and push the yellow string down as well. Then fur wires will be there, yellow, green, red, and black. Push down the yellow and green and strip the red and black. Don’t forget about the iPod charging in the wall! Then connect the copper alligator clip to the red wire and the zinc to the black wire and then plug the iPod into its jack. After charging is done, record audio playback time. Repeat this two more times for the iPod nano, and then do the same for the iPod Classic. The next way to charge an iPod is with a Voltaic Pile. Begin with cutting the aluminum wire in half and soldering one half to a penny and one half to a washer. Cut out 30 penny size pieces of blotter paper or cardboard and soak them in lemon juice for 30 minutes. Next, align the pennies, washers, and paper in this order: penny-washer-paper-penny-washer-paper with the soldered coins on the end. Measure voltage an make sure that no extra juice is running down the sides of the pile. After Then use the same wire from the Lemon Battery and connect the soldered pennies wires on opposite ends of the pile to the wires. Charge the iPod for 10 minutes in the wall and then charge the iPod. When the iPod is done charging, record data. Repeat two more times for iPod nano, and do the same for iPod Classic. The Hymini Wind generator is next. Stand your Hymini in front of the fan and turn the fan on high for 30 minutes, charging the device. Charge the iPod for 10 minutes from the wall. After, transfer the electricity from the battery in the Hymini to the iPod through usb. Record the audio payback time. Repeat this two more times for the iPod nano and do the same for the iPod Classic. Lastly, Charging the iPod from the wall. Plug the iPod usb cable into the adaptor and then the adaptor into the wall for 30 minutes. Record data after and repeat this two more times for iPod nano, do the same for iPod Classic.
It was a success! After performing the experiment, the lemon battery and voltaic pile would obviously not charge the iPod as sufficiently as the store bought products. The handmade DIY lemon battery did not give a charge to the iPod classic at all. The voltage was unstable and therefore it did not give a charge. The lemons only charged the iPod nano two out of the three attempts with almost a minute of audio playback. By far, the lemon is the worst sustainable way to charge your iPod. Based on the 450 recharge cycles of iPod batteries and a control of regular usb- wall charging, you would spend and waste over $600,000. The voltaic pile fell short also, finishing right behind it which gave the iPod nano about five minutes of audio playback, but did not give a charge in one attempt. The voltaic pile also charged the iPod Classic for about two minutes, but failed twice. A fun experiment but challenging. To charge you iPod every time for 450 charge cycles from full to dead iPod, it would cost you and you would waste hundreds of thousands of dollar, not really good alternatives to charge you iPod.
The Dynamo hand crank charger charged the iPod as promised, with roughly one minute of cranking for one minute of audio playback. The Hymini wind generator also charged the iPods at roughly one minute of spinning would equal one minute of audio playback. Both iPods both had about 25-30 minutes of audio playback in each trial. Although, hand cranking you iPod is tiring and not much people are up for the challenge. The Hymini is a great little thing that can fit into your daily routine by clipping it on to your bike or car and creating electricity on the go, but it’s expensive. The $3 hand crank charger is great for emergencies while the Hymini is great for recharging the device fully. The Hymini also come with a solar panel that you can attach for $20 dollars to boost the charge, but both are for sale at the bargain price of $49.99, the regular price of the Hymini. With the solar panel, the Hymini will charge your iPod nano for over thirteen minutes and your iPod Classic for over seven minutes. The Hymini and Dynamo hand crank were very close in audio playback time. Over inspection, a conclusion was made that they have similar small generators that create electricity when they spin. They were spinning at approximately the same speed also, which could be another reason why the results were similar. You would lose about $48 with investing I the Hymini, but it’s not about the money, it’s about the Environment. With the Dynamo hand crank, you would lose about $2.
The American Made Solar Charger, courtesy of EBay for $15.98 has a built in rechargeable battery like the Hymini. This nano 2nd generation size solar panel charged the iPod nano for over six minutes for only thirty minutes of bathing in the sun. It also charged the iPod Classic for about five minutes. The usb-wall charger charged the iPod nano for about 240 minutes and the iPod Classic for 50 minutes, which is similar to a ratio of the total time it takes to charge. To charge an iPod nano through usb for its life time, it costs $1.082079 from an energy efficient home in New Jersey who gets there power from a nuclear plant distributed by JCP&L. From the same house, it costs $1.442772 to charge an iPod Classic throughout its life time. A full charge for an iPod from the solar product would take 2 hours of sunlight. In the case were the Hymini and Hand Crank world take 24 hours.
The hypothesis was correct. The most green and sustainable way to charge an iPod is solar power. This is based an alternative from the electric company and the efficiency of the solar panel. The American Made Solar Panel takes 2hours to charge an iPod to full capacity. The price is only $15 and it lasts longer than your iPod and comes with all sorts of connectors and tips to charge other devices as well. Right behind the American Made Solar Charger is the Hymini Wind and Solar charger because it has two possible charging possibilities with an optional hand crank. Although it is rather expensive. The Dynamo Hand Crank charger was cheap, and that’s how it felt also. It was very weak and kept skipping that was fixable. The Lemon and Voltaic Pile can potentially charge an iPod, but they are pretty impracticable. The Voltaic Pile working best, always a fun experiment, but frustrating.
My findings can help those who want to go green, but don’t have the money or time to do it. By simply charging your portable devices, such as mp3 players, with green clean energy. For $15, all can make a difference. Our electronic gadgets already account for %15 percent of our power consumption. I f we all took this step, think of the pollution that would not be created, and all of the Environmentally Friendly benefits. The Energy Star Qualified Apple is making their products greener than ever, now we have to do our part. iPod is the bestselling brand of mp3 players, green is the new trend, its common sense to combine them!
Some problems that I encountered during the Science Project was that certain charging ways would not charge a dead iPod. Instead of charging dead iPods, the iPod was charged for 10 minutes in the wall and then charged from the products. After retrieving the audio playback, the average ten minutes of audio playback was subtracted from the total. Also, the lemon battery’s voltage was almost nothing at one point, but then a short circuit was detected by lemon juice and it was dried and fixed. Lastly, the Hand Crank would not charge the iPod directly because of the different voltage output and input. Therefore, the hand crank was charged to a rechargeable battery and then the rechargeable battery to the iPod. This was a fun experiment but next time I would focus on the best wind generators and solar panels to charge portable devices.
If Solar Power, Hand Cranking, Voltaic Pile Charging, Lemon Battery Charging, Wind Charging, and AC Charging were all used to charge an iPod, Solar power would be the most green and sustainable way to charge an iPod. Sustainability is the idea of reusing things to save money, the environment, and to benefit you in all needs. The solar panel is ¼ the price of the Hymini Wind Generator. This harnesses the sun’s power and stores it until need. Sun is always there and will be there during the day when you need it. For only $10, this charger is sustainable and green because it does not give off pollution and uses renewable energy. The second best green way to charge your iPod would be Wind Power. Harnessing the Earth’s Natural energy, wind power is one of the most eco-friendly power sources, although, there is not always a breeze of up to 9 mph outside to crank this generator up. Using the first made and one of the only mini wind chargers in the world, the Hymini charger is priced at a range of $50, including adapters. Made out of recycled plastic, this charger has a rechargeable battery that can be used over again that does not produce any pollution and is shipped in recycled cardboard. Although this may be better for others, it costs a little too much for your sustainability. Sitting there cranking a Hand Crank Charger would take two long even though it only costs $3.33 to buy. You can use it for the rest of your iPods life which also makes this the third most green and sustainable way to charge an iPod. The Dynamo Hand Crank Generator also does not give off any pollution but is not as convenient for us to use. The voltaic pile is a great cheap way to charge your iPod also, but it takes a while to set up. Cutting out small discs of paper is not sustainable and green, unless it’s recycled! Altogether this Battery would cost you, at the bargain internet price, about $10. You can reuse the parts but for the same price the solar generator is guaranteed safe, reliable voltage. The lemon battery would not be as eco-friendly because you are using 4 lemons and they may not be reused or be put in compost. Although it is a quick way to charge you iPod, the lemon charger would only cost about $8 saying that washers and lemons are $.15 and alligator jumper cables are $5.00 for 14 the first charge. Then, about $1 for the additional charges is the cost of the lemons. It is one of the cheapest, but pollution is being made traveling to the stores with cars to go retrieve the required materials. The AC charger produces pollution which is bad for the environment. This is the most convenient way to charge your iPod but not the greenest. When talking about AC, the power comes from a supplier which usually uses coal or oil to produce electricity, which sends pollutants into the atmosphere. Based on research, prior knowledge, and carbon footprints, facts think that the most green and sustainable way to charge an iPod is with solar power. We should all Go Green, with Monocrystalline!
To create and perform this experiment, a week of your time is required. First start by clearing all iPods and creating a playlist on iTunes with songs that play for 2 hours or more. Then upload the playlist to the iPods. Listen or waste the power on the iPod until it dies and will not turn on. Make a data sheet in Microsoft word and save it, so you can electronically keep your data without wasting paper. Charge the iPod nano from the wall for 10 minutes and record the amount of audio playback time. Repeat this two more times for the iPod nano. Then do the same with the iPod Classic and find your averages of the data. Solar power charging is first. Charge your solar panel outside in the sun on a level surface for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes take the solar panel inside and make sure it does not charge anymore. Now, charge the iPod nano for 10 minutes from the wall. After, transfer the energy from the solar panels battery to the iPod. Record the amount of audio playback time and then subtract x, the average of 10 minutes of audio playback, and record data. Repeat this two more times for the iPod nano and then do the same for the iPod Classic. Hand Cranking your iPod is tough and tiring work so be prepared. Plug a usb cord into the device and the other end into a rechargeable battery. Crank the Dynamo at a rate of 60 cranks per minute for 30 minutes. Charge you iPod nano in the wall for 10 minutes. Then transfer the power form the rechargeable battery onto your iPod nano and record the amount of audio playback time, including subtracting x. Repeat this two more times, and then do the same for the iPod Classic. The next way to charge your iPod is with Lemons and pennies. First, cut 4 lemons into 6 equal parts. Then start charging the dead iPod nano from the wall for 10 minutes while putting together the battery. Stick a copper penny and zinc washer into the lemons, this causes a reaction between the metals creating electricity. Connect a zinc metal in one lemon cell to a copper metal into the other cell. Continue until all of your metals are attached like this except one copper and one zinc in two different cells. Measure the voltage and make sure it is over 12 volts. If it is not a sure circuit may be the cause, wipe up all of the juice. After, cut the usb cable an inch from the usb jack and strip an inch of the wire. Upon opening the wire, there will be metallic wires that should be pushed down. Tear off the layer of insulation and push the yellow string down as well. Then fur wires will be there, yellow, green, red, and black. Push down the yellow and green and strip the red and black. Don’t forget about the iPod charging in the wall! Then connect the copper alligator clip to the red wire and the zinc to the black wire and then plug the iPod into its jack. After charging is done, record audio playback time. Repeat this two more times for the iPod nano, and then do the same for the iPod Classic. The next way to charge an iPod is with a Voltaic Pile. Begin with cutting the aluminum wire in half and soldering one half to a penny and one half to a washer. Cut out 30 penny size pieces of blotter paper or cardboard and soak them in lemon juice for 30 minutes. Next, align the pennies, washers, and paper in this order: penny-washer-paper-penny-washer-paper with the soldered coins on the end. Measure voltage an make sure that no extra juice is running down the sides of the pile. After Then use the same wire from the Lemon Battery and connect the soldered pennies wires on opposite ends of the pile to the wires. Charge the iPod for 10 minutes in the wall and then charge the iPod. When the iPod is done charging, record data. Repeat two more times for iPod nano, and do the same for iPod Classic. The Hymini Wind generator is next. Stand your Hymini in front of the fan and turn the fan on high for 30 minutes, charging the device. Charge the iPod for 10 minutes from the wall. After, transfer the electricity from the battery in the Hymini to the iPod through usb. Record the audio payback time. Repeat this two more times for the iPod nano and do the same for the iPod Classic. Lastly, Charging the iPod from the wall. Plug the iPod usb cable into the adaptor and then the adaptor into the wall for 30 minutes. Record data after and repeat this two more times for iPod nano, do the same for iPod Classic.
It was a success! After performing the experiment, the lemon battery and voltaic pile would obviously not charge the iPod as sufficiently as the store bought products. The handmade DIY lemon battery did not give a charge to the iPod classic at all. The voltage was unstable and therefore it did not give a charge. The lemons only charged the iPod nano two out of the three attempts with almost a minute of audio playback. By far, the lemon is the worst sustainable way to charge your iPod. Based on the 450 recharge cycles of iPod batteries and a control of regular usb- wall charging, you would spend and waste over $600,000. The voltaic pile fell short also, finishing right behind it which gave the iPod nano about five minutes of audio playback, but did not give a charge in one attempt. The voltaic pile also charged the iPod Classic for about two minutes, but failed twice. A fun experiment but challenging. To charge you iPod every time for 450 charge cycles from full to dead iPod, it would cost you and you would waste hundreds of thousands of dollar, not really good alternatives to charge you iPod.
The Dynamo hand crank charger charged the iPod as promised, with roughly one minute of cranking for one minute of audio playback. The Hymini wind generator also charged the iPods at roughly one minute of spinning would equal one minute of audio playback. Both iPods both had about 25-30 minutes of audio playback in each trial. Although, hand cranking you iPod is tiring and not much people are up for the challenge. The Hymini is a great little thing that can fit into your daily routine by clipping it on to your bike or car and creating electricity on the go, but it’s expensive. The $3 hand crank charger is great for emergencies while the Hymini is great for recharging the device fully. The Hymini also come with a solar panel that you can attach for $20 dollars to boost the charge, but both are for sale at the bargain price of $49.99, the regular price of the Hymini. With the solar panel, the Hymini will charge your iPod nano for over thirteen minutes and your iPod Classic for over seven minutes. The Hymini and Dynamo hand crank were very close in audio playback time. Over inspection, a conclusion was made that they have similar small generators that create electricity when they spin. They were spinning at approximately the same speed also, which could be another reason why the results were similar. You would lose about $48 with investing I the Hymini, but it’s not about the money, it’s about the Environment. With the Dynamo hand crank, you would lose about $2.
The American Made Solar Charger, courtesy of EBay for $15.98 has a built in rechargeable battery like the Hymini. This nano 2nd generation size solar panel charged the iPod nano for over six minutes for only thirty minutes of bathing in the sun. It also charged the iPod Classic for about five minutes. The usb-wall charger charged the iPod nano for about 240 minutes and the iPod Classic for 50 minutes, which is similar to a ratio of the total time it takes to charge. To charge an iPod nano through usb for its life time, it costs $1.082079 from an energy efficient home in New Jersey who gets there power from a nuclear plant distributed by JCP&L. From the same house, it costs $1.442772 to charge an iPod Classic throughout its life time. A full charge for an iPod from the solar product would take 2 hours of sunlight. In the case were the Hymini and Hand Crank world take 24 hours.
The hypothesis was correct. The most green and sustainable way to charge an iPod is solar power. This is based an alternative from the electric company and the efficiency of the solar panel. The American Made Solar Panel takes 2hours to charge an iPod to full capacity. The price is only $15 and it lasts longer than your iPod and comes with all sorts of connectors and tips to charge other devices as well. Right behind the American Made Solar Charger is the Hymini Wind and Solar charger because it has two possible charging possibilities with an optional hand crank. Although it is rather expensive. The Dynamo Hand Crank charger was cheap, and that’s how it felt also. It was very weak and kept skipping that was fixable. The Lemon and Voltaic Pile can potentially charge an iPod, but they are pretty impracticable. The Voltaic Pile working best, always a fun experiment, but frustrating.
My findings can help those who want to go green, but don’t have the money or time to do it. By simply charging your portable devices, such as mp3 players, with green clean energy. For $15, all can make a difference. Our electronic gadgets already account for %15 percent of our power consumption. I f we all took this step, think of the pollution that would not be created, and all of the Environmentally Friendly benefits. The Energy Star Qualified Apple is making their products greener than ever, now we have to do our part. iPod is the bestselling brand of mp3 players, green is the new trend, its common sense to combine them!
Some problems that I encountered during the Science Project was that certain charging ways would not charge a dead iPod. Instead of charging dead iPods, the iPod was charged for 10 minutes in the wall and then charged from the products. After retrieving the audio playback, the average ten minutes of audio playback was subtracted from the total. Also, the lemon battery’s voltage was almost nothing at one point, but then a short circuit was detected by lemon juice and it was dried and fixed. Lastly, the Hand Crank would not charge the iPod directly because of the different voltage output and input. Therefore, the hand crank was charged to a rechargeable battery and then the rechargeable battery to the iPod. This was a fun experiment but next time I would focus on the best wind generators and solar panels to charge portable devices.
