Measurement of environmental impact of electronic devices

A method for measuring the environmental impact of charging a mobile device, comprising:

• coupling a mobile device to a charge control unit to charge the mobile device;
• receiving, at the mobile device, an identifier from the charge control unit, wherein the identifier indicates whether or not the charge control unit is drawing energy from an alternative renewable energy power source;
• testing, at the mobile device, to distinguish whether or not the charge control unit is drawing energy from an alternative renewable energy power by assessing the identifier, 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;
• measuring energy delivered from the charge control unit responsive to a determination via the testing that the charge control unit is using alternative renewable energy to charge the mobile device;
• calculating, at the mobile device, a CO2 emission reduction based at least in part on the measured energy to measure the CO2 emission reduction if the mobile device detects a connection to the alternative renewable energy source, wherein calculating the CO2 emission reduction comprises multiplying a stored CO2 emission coefficient by the measured energy, 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;
• sending, from the mobile device, data configured to represent the measured energy or the CO2 emission reduction or a combination thereof to a remote server to be converted to points to represent accumulated measured energy or accumulated CO2 emission reduction or a combination thereof to be awarded in a user point program to enable a user to benefit based on the points;
• and
• displaying data configured to represent the measured energy or the CO2 emission reduction or a combination thereof on the mobile device.

An article comprising:

• a non-transitory signal bearing medium comprising machine-readable instructions stored thereon, which, if executed by one or more processors, operatively enable a mobile device to:
• receive an identifier from a charge control unit, wherein the mobile device is configured to be coupled to the charge control unit to charge the mobile device, wherein the identifier indicates whether or not the charge control unit is drawing energy from an alternative renewable energy power source;
• assess the identifier to distinguish whether or not the charge control unit is drawing energy from 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;
• measure energy from the charge control unit on condition of use of an alternative renewable energy source by the charge control to charge the mobile device;
• calculate a CO2 emission reduction based at least in part on the measured energy to measure the CO2 emission reduction if the mobile device detects a connection to the alternative renewable energy source, wherein calculating the CO2 emission reduction comprises multiplying a stored CO2 emission coefficient by the measured energy, 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;
• display data configured to represent the measured energy and the CO2 emission reduction on the mobile device;
• and
• send the data configured to represent 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 awarded in a user point program to enable a user to benefit based on the points.