Chinese designer Daizi Zheng has created a conceptual mobile phone for Finnish brand Nokia that could be powered by sugary drinks.
Zheng proposes that the phone could run on a battery that uses enzymes to generate electricity from carbohydrates.
The following text is from Daizi Zheng:
–
Eco-friendly phone for Nokia
This is a client project for designing an eco friendly phone for Nokia. Through out my research, I found that phone battery as a power source, it is expensive, consuming valuable resources on manufacturing, presenting a disposal problem and harmful to the environment.
The concept is using bio battery to replace the traditional battery to create a pollution free environment.
Bio battery is an ecologically friendly energy generates electricity from carbohydrates (currently sugar) and utilizes enzymes as the catalyst.
By using bio battery as the power source of the phone, it only needs a pack of sugary drink and it generates water and oxygen while the battery dies out.
Bio battery has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium batteries and it could be fully biodegradable.
Meanwhile, it brings a whole new perception to batteries and afternoon tea.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Its kind of a misleading product. By suggesting that generating its own power is some how environmentally friendly is ignoring the fact that the fuel itself has to be manufactured. Something that I doubt is that environmentally friendly considering all the ingredients sourced from all over the world.
How is a fizzy drink manufactured? Maybe the coke factory runs on old phones.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
There is also the issue of the disposal of the packing of the fizzy drinks, would everyone recycle their bottles or cans? Some people don’t now, so why would this change?
January 7th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Environmentally friendly is ironic at best when you consider that to make a can of coke it takes three-four times that much water to produce it.
Then you add on any local impacts to water reserves, especially in poverty stricken countries and this idea is flawed from the start.
Nothing more than a ‘environmental’ gimmick to sell more products.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
hhhmmmmmm, exciting stuff
January 7th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
不错 不错
January 7th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
cornballer…When you buy a cellphone battery, does it tell you how much energy went into manufacturing it? No, and neither does this, so it’s no more ‘misleading’ than a conventional battery.
and still, you’re powering a phone three times longer than a conventional battery, for the cost of a soda. Seems like progress to me.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Love the idea!! Simple, with a twist! Wish there were more products like this on the market!
Not sure I understand some of the other comments, Coca-Cola is locally produced. Only the famous cola syrup is centrally produced and shipped out to the world. Unlike imported beer that is…
If we are talking pure water consumption, how much water do you use to boil your rice, pasta or potatoes, not to mention the energy needed to heat the water while doing so? What about the liters of water flushed down the drain after going to the toilet?
January 7th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
From the article it sounds like the phone only needs sugar water to run, coke is just an example and isn’t crucial to the design.
January 7th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
it’s better that these drinks go to powering phones rather than eroding our insides.
January 7th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Despite the pictures showing it running on coke (an easily identifyable product thats recognisesd/available just about everywhere) the text seems to imply that it can run on any sugary drink or even just a sugar solution, but thats not so impressive to photograph.
So the problems of hidden water usage and recyclying of packaging might not be as bad as implied by the above comments.
Seems an intresting solution to a lack of stored power. The biggest downside I can see is the posability of a wet, sticky pocket when the seals fail.
January 7th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Great idea- just watch it being spilled all over the buttons..
solution: wipe-off touchscreen ;)
January 7th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
it is two products in one:
1. you can phone
2. and you can have a drink if you’re thirsty after your phone call
Don’t worry if you drink everything. Coke is everywhere on this planet. Always Coca Cola ;) Their whole marketing campaign is built upon the concept that a can of coke should not be further than an arm length away.
It could actually encourage people to buy bigger bottles of coke to refill their phones. What’s next? The Cola powered car?
January 7th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
That is just wicked
January 7th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Considering that coke cans are less likely to go to landfills than used batteries, I’d say that this is more eco-friendly than the conventional battery. A surprisingly simple solution, especially if you’re running outta “juice” – just buy a coke. No need for the charger.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Hell, you don’t even need coke. Just put some apple juice in there :D
January 8th, 2010 at 8:10 am
what about price ? when can we buy it ?
I want it …
January 8th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Loves it. It might not be as eco friendly as they suggest, but at least somebody is thinking outside the box.
January 8th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Oops, my ph0n3 b4tt3ry haz le4k3d aLL 0v3r my k3ybo4rd and m4de it all st1cky
At least I can lick it off ;-)
January 8th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
This is a perfect product for third world markets!
How many power outlets do think you can find in a shantytown?
But instead think about how many Coca Cola (or other soft drink) vending machines you can find…
It’s probably cheaper than using a solar powered battery charger for your standard cell also.
Nokia, give Zheng a call!
January 8th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
How recyclable are cell phone batteries? From what I understand, barely if at all. This sounds like progress to me, too.
January 8th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
This is complete nonsense. Sugar cannot be decomposed to oxygen and water, let alone generate energy in the process. For anybody with a minimal knowledge of chemistry this is absolutely obvious.
Sugar can be converted to carbon dioxide and water using oxygen (from air) and generate energy. Fuel cells do it; they use methanol instead of sugar though.
Next time you hear a designer invented a car that runs on water try to remember what you were taught in physics class.
January 8th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Does this sound like a hoax to anyone?
January 8th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
This is amazing!! I definitely want one of these!
To some of the other comments: If someone’s buying it to be eco friendly, it’s likely that they’ll recycle anyway. And I think that, at it’s current consumption, the increase in amount of soda-pop being produced that would be used for the phone would be near negligible. As for the usage of containers like cans, well, soda-pop comes in many other forms (eg. 2-liter bottles, soda-fountains, etc.). As for water consumption, well, it still isn’t that much more being produced and it gets returned to the environment anyway, which eventually flows back into the water supplies, just like when you flush liters down the toilet ;)
January 9th, 2010 at 1:12 am
that’s really exciting..
January 9th, 2010 at 9:59 am
it’s really great idea! amazing!
January 9th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
i’d drink the battery.. good to see creative ways to energize the world
January 9th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Well ,It is a nice concept , but only a concept. I could not imagine how can I take a phone with weird liquid,
It is innovation but not leading to the right way .
January 10th, 2010 at 12:41 am
S0 as long as you got your Sodastream with you, you’re always on. I like it.
January 10th, 2010 at 4:38 am
guys, it’s a Coke ad.
come on.
January 10th, 2010 at 5:19 am
This is a dumb idea. I GUARANTEE you are using more energy to make the cola than the amount it can actually produce. I don’t like the idea because cola isn’t easy to make, plus I’m not sure about the chemistry going on here… (sugar and enzymes making electricity?)
I guess in some cases it could be useful (you’re at a party, need a ride home, recharge your phone with coke) but I don’t see how it is eco-friendly.
creative? yes.
going to change the world? no
January 10th, 2010 at 6:18 am
wow, so now I have to buy something every time I want to “charge” my phone? people say this is better then batterys but it’s not in any way. how many times can you charge your phone? thousands? so whatever a phone battery cost/possible charges VS. $1.00+ per can of soda per charge.
it’s an extremely huge waist of time and resources. honestly how many people would even use this phone?
how about instead of these companies waisting money on crap like this spend it on solving some real world problems. like poverty and starvation for starters. open your eyes to reality people.
January 10th, 2010 at 8:14 am
I’d also like to add it’s kinda like the movie idiocracy. Which is kinda scary once you think about it haha if this was the beginning of people using soda for everything including watering our crops/plants with it…. haha whatever i’m high…..
January 10th, 2010 at 9:44 am
as a concept it’s great and is heading in the right direction, but phones are slim, smart, do music & video, run games and apps. People plug their phones into a charger and forget about them. Filling up your phone with sugary liquid every day is just not going to catch on with the masses, unless you make conventional phones extremely expensive and these phones cheap. Cheap phones are not “smart”. This idea has huge marketing issues.
January 10th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Crasy I love Coke and Nokia too .. and the phone look´s nice
January 10th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Please give it to HTC. Nokia is already green and has plenty of its own lame phone concepts.
January 10th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
wonderfull cell phone
what this prise?
January 10th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
It’s very easy to get hung up on the example of using Coke to refill this thing but it’s just as easy to see that a bag full of sugar would cost about the same and provide hundreds of times more energy.
Growing your own sugar cane would be a simple way of greening that part of the process.
It’s also easy to hung up on this being a phone and forget that the actual interesting bit is a machine that can convert sugary water into electricity.
Once you can see that, you naturally ask the obvious question: “Sugar is carbohydrate. It’s full of Carbon. What form does this Carbon end up in and where does it go ?”
I think we will find that the answer is that it ends up and Carbon Dioxide and it is vented to the atmosphere. If that is the case, this is certainly not green, regardless of what its fuel source is. It helps get you off the grid but it doesn’t help prevent global warming… in fact, it might even be worse than just plugging a normal phone into the wall.
January 10th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
@ Mike: SONY already have a functioning Sugar battery:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/23/sonys-achieves-worlds-highest-output-from-sugar-battery/
Not so much power from it, and maybe it doesen’t turn into water and oxygen, but still… not a hoax.
You can even make a battery from a lemon if you want (different chemistry). All you need is a lemon, some copper paper clips and some zinked nails. Watch this link (in swedish though):
http://testcentret.idg.se/2.8640/1.206865/sa-gor-du-ett-citronbatteri–som-driver-din-barbara?showGallery=true&img=6#selected
However, to power ie an iPod, you would need 5000 serial connected lemons…
76 000 to power your laptop :-)
January 11th, 2010 at 12:59 am
It may be a lie, but at the very least it’s a fun one.
If it’s not ridiculously expensive I’d consider one. After all; you might not be able to get current, but it sure is easy to get some sugary drink.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:05 am
what happens when you drop it and the case cracks? sugary sticky crap all over the place.
nice that it looks like a lightsaber hilt
just a thought
January 11th, 2010 at 8:23 am
Yeah, like Nick said: you only need sugar and water. Totally cool.
January 11th, 2010 at 8:25 am
…and really, how could the carbon dioxide output of this phone be any worse than a person breathing? A houseplant could probably clear up 10 times the carbon dioxide put out by this phone.
January 11th, 2010 at 9:20 am
all you people do is bitch. why not, instead of coming on here, putting on some act like you are some environmental saint, go out and try and better the situation like this guy is? bashing him won’t save the world you ignoramuses.
January 11th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
I am in doubt if the only sponsor was Nokia taking in consideration Coke´s subliminar advertising. Anyway that´s a good idea to think out of the box.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:39 am
i wouldnt use this product simply because i’m spending enough money on the soda i drink, let alone buying it to power my cell phone. This is a useless product, and anyone dumb enough to buy it, deserves its’ uselessness.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Does not matter that it is More or less environmentally friendly. I could not expect it to be anything but less. Come on whining morons who want to get to the nitty gritty art of nit picking..You are already drinking the coke right? Most people are either way.Using a portion of that coke you already have seems a lots less waste to me. The only problem I see is if you use this as an excuse to up your cola intake. Either way who cares if you do. If given the choice of aluminum cans versus lithium batteries in a land fill I would go with the can. Batteries in a landfill seem a incredibly more threatening…I am no leading authority in the matter and do not claim to be…I do see it as a step in the right thinking process. Whether its a fail or a succeed which I doubt the latter. It is one step closer to a better way of thinking and anything in that general direction is fine by me.
January 13th, 2010 at 1:48 am
I guess I will be drinking warm coke when I’m thirsty..
January 13th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Well, it isn’t eco friendly but it is cool. It doesn’t look like it takes a full can of coke, and I’m sure plenty of soda drinkers wouldn’t mind giving up 1/4 of their can to charge their phone. What difference does it make if they drink it or pour it in their phone.
January 13th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
@Michael from Sweden
Yes, people play with sugar-based fuel cells, although I don’t see how they can be advantageous over methanol or ethanol cells (think of fuelling your phone with vodka :) ); after all alcohols have more energy per unit weight that sugars. As for such a dirty fuel as coke, forget it. Unfortunately, fuel cells are not even close for use in mobile devices. I hope one day they will be.
This lady designed a picture of something that looks like a phone on one side, and has coloreful liquids on the other. Looks beautiful! She might as well design a car that looks like an air bubble and folds neatly into your poket – no need for parking space!
The trouble is this “coke-phone” is no more real than a “thought reading device”, but this discussion shows how many think the coke phone already exists, and these people are already lining up to place orders and discuss environmental friendliness of this thing.
Folks, read about fuel cells, and see what is or could become real and what is not, what is a thought in the right technological direction and what is not.
January 15th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
For those of you saying it’s misleading due to the manufacturing of the sodas used as the battery, I see your point, but disagree. Soda is STILL manufactured, without the product being used regularly. Just because this product could be made available doesn’t mean soda will suddenly be manufactured. Soda has existed even before this concept. Also, this product eliminates the need for regular lithium batteries, removing that entire process, so it really is helping the environment.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
it’s a fake
January 17th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
@micheal from sweden
couldn’t they just that vending machine out of the wall socket and use that to charge their phone
or are these wireless vending machines :p
ow and I only need 1 battery which will last my entire phone’s life
with this you need 1 can of coke every other day or something
or can i just recharge it?
January 17th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Yes, cornballer, I see your point. But, you see, the coke part was just to give an example of a commercial drink. That way, people will notice it more. However, the drink doesn’t have to be coke, or any soda, for that matter. It could be your leftover tea (if you use sugar). Or you could just make sugar water. I’m glad you raised the point, though, and it should be stressed that that does not create an excuse to by coke. Make your own sugar water.
January 17th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Yes, zwenkwiel, everyone knows how fast batteries run out, and how much power they use to recharge.
January 18th, 2010 at 5:42 am
Sugar to water and oxygen plus power, Wow, 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry! A designer (art) turns a Nobel Prize Winner to be, what a joke!
This lady got great imagination.
Sugar to water and oxygen, then what happened to the carbons?
What chemistry involved in the operation of the battery?
Which enzyme(s) is used in the battery?
What happened to the coloring of Coke? Only see crystal clear water at the end.
January 19th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
hAVE A COKE AND A ….cHAT?
January 20th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Redefines sweet talking on the phone…..
January 20th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Enough with fussing about the power source.
Cell phone powered with liquids seems like a great idea. It’s obvious that using Coke as a source of energy has its environmental burden.
But hey, take 1+1 = 2.
There is a liquid what we always carry with us and that is readily available. It’s urine. It seems as there has already been done research on urine batteries.
Just check:
National Geographic – Urine Battery
My Digital Life – Urine powered batteries
iecycle.org – The pee power: Urine Battery
I must admit that combined the phone and urine battery make a little gross device. However, it makes true recycling.
Next time you see someone leaning against car’s side and taking a leak the person might just be refueling his electric car.
January 25th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Great, clean site!
Sugar to power my cellphone, that’s fantastic. If this thing works, I want one right away! /trackback
January 26th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Great!!!It’s useful and funny~~
January 27th, 2010 at 2:11 am
先有技术后有设计
January 28th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Now, this is an interesting, and somewhat viable idea, but I have to say that the whole green debate, as good as the intentions are, is being held for all the wrong reasons.
Sure it’s a great thing to want to save the planet, but to say we’re doing it for the well being of the planet is rediculous. The planet will be fine when we’re gone, no matter what we do to it. It will take time, but eventually the Earth will be able to reset itself, and balance out the harm we have done to it. Even plastics degrade eventually.
What we should really be worried about is ourselves. Eventually we are going to run out of the resources needed for us to survive as lavishly as we’ve become accustomed to. Be as green as you can, its always smart, but do it for the right reasons. Otherwise you just start to sound a bit rediculous after a while.
One more thing about all of this green/eco-friendly talk:
When someone starts harping about the CO2 emissions from, well, pretty much any source you can think of, please remember that the CO2 in question was either around in the first place (i.e. the fizz in soda, dry ice, etc.) or was converted from some other chemical (oil) and will eventually be returned back to its constituant parts via photosynthesis, or some other chemical function.
If you’re really concerned about the CO2 content in the air, breath less. Every time you breath out, you’re expelling CO2 from your body as a waste product of the energy you consume simply being alive.
Your, critically thinking:
Dylan
January 28th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
January 31st, 2010 at 1:40 pm
congrats Dezeen for being Dezeen … hey and I gave you a mention here:
http://snaporaz.posterous.com/and-cokia
February 1st, 2010 at 10:28 am
Too many people are learning their science from cinema.
Sugar based batteries are demonstratable – give it a google. This outlines a phone using such a battery, which is entirely plausible. Turns out, batteries are used to power things.
As for ecology, what kind of impact does the construction of a battery have on the environment? Is the argument that the production of any/all soda worse than that of any/all commonly used batteries? Is this just an opinion?
Perhaps those High School grades were the rule, not the exception.
February 5th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
It is really a wonderful mobile phone by nokia. I think that samsung should also introduce such an echo friendly mobile phone.
February 6th, 2010 at 8:42 am
this is a new concept and its quite creative ..but i dun thikn it is gonna make much difference to the enviorment.. but anyway..i appreciate his idea and effort…gadget help
February 16th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Typical how everyone starts going on a tirade about Coke as the first obvious thing to complain about.
Forget those low-sugar sodas.
If this gets to mass production, I’ll just carry some triple-sec around.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Can’t believe that out of 68 comments… only 2 people are sensible enough to realize that this is just a concept picture!
If a designer would invent the first workable sugar-powered battery, then the thousand of researchers that actually know what they are doing would feel really stupid!
This is common misconception of science… things are not so easy: having an idea and actually make it work are two different worlds!
Also, instead of taking time to write some widely off track comments that ends up in validating a false claim, people should be a little more critical about what they read and accept as truth.
For those dumbasses who still think that such a phone really exists: I have plenty at home, just send me 100$ and you’ll receive it within 2 weeks!
March 6th, 2010 at 3:03 am
Hi,
We always look for new and strange products to deal with, specially when it comes to protecting the environment. Your product is very interesting. Can we get hold of the product for trade purpose? How can we be your Sole Authorized Dealer for these regions:
Middle East
gulf Region
South East Asia
Australia & New Zealand
Kind regards
March 17th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
So, now i can buy juice for my phone. Great! It is interesting if it really works.
March 19th, 2010 at 2:14 am
a very sweet deception.
March 21st, 2010 at 5:47 pm
A communicator that can reach across space: Star Trek…a cell phone hmmmm. Isn’t it wonderful how science fiction/fantasy can become reality. Of course if we really cared about the planet we wouldn’t be using lithium batteries installed in plastic and worked metal cases just for the convenience of wasting time, we would go visit people in person, not call or text every 35 seconds.
Most of the ‘green’ products we see are wonderful, makes everyone think they are helping the environment, alleviates guilt but are they truly green or just a brilliant marketing campaign. What are the costs of making a hybrid car.
EVERYTHING we use extracts a price from the planet. Basically we are just picking our poison. Paper bags, bad for trees: plastic bags, bad for landfills, now cloth bags, at what cost to grow the cotton, linen, flax, synthetic….
Solution to lithium/coke batteries….throw out your cell phones, ipods, laptops…
June 18th, 2010 at 10:10 am
what about just putting a sugar lump into the phone every so often… bull about the need for a can of coke – but I can see the free product placement here..