Solar Powered Phones for Disaster Relief in Haiti

1000 solar powered mobile phones are being sent to Haiti, a country where communication has been cut off from its roots due to the recent earthquake. Intivation (a cell phone company that manufactures solar chargers that are built into a phone) and Digicel (a Haitian mobile operator) will take the initiative of sending these phones there. These phones can work in areas with unsteady electric supply and use solar power to juice themselves up instead.

Solar powered handsets overcome the barriers in connecting the unconnected. While electricity is scarce and costly in the emerging markets, sunshine is generally abundant and inexpensive. Solar powered handsets are both efficient and relliable. With the solar cell fully integrated in the handset, it allows the typical user to to recharge their phone by placing it in the sun for less than 2 hours.

This allows people in developing markets to become more and more mobile and the solar power gives them the freedom to do so. And of course there is the environment: solar-powering reduces the consumption of conventionally produced electricity, sparing precious resources and reducing harmful emissions,

These phones were released in June 2009 and more than half a million of them have been sold by Intivation worldwide. The mobile operator, Digicel has shown a huge support to the disaster relief funds with itqs generous contribution of $10 million in $5 credits to its one million customers in Haiti. This act and initiative by these companies is sure to help Haiti back on its communication track soon.