Such a simple problem, with such frustrating results: the loss of a cell phone charger. Or perhaps it was only left behind on a trip from home, but for anybody to whom it’s happened, you know that a dead cell phone is debatably one of the most teeth-clenching, though trivial, situations to find yourself in. Increasingly frustrating is the difficult task of finding a replacement charger — nobody seems to have the same make and model of charger type available to borrow, and a “universal charger” can cost up to $20, and may not even include what you need.

Problem solved. It’s almost as if they heard the silent cursings and have come to our aid. Well, being that “they” are a group of cell phone companies, their customer service reps probably heard a lot more than silent cursings.

This past Tuesday, the GSMA, an association of mobile device companies that represents names such as Motorola, Nokia, LG and other major brands, has come together to replace the “universal charger” of the past — with multi-pronged plug-ins and various confusing gadgets — with a standardized charger that fits all cell phones.

The association is promising that by 2012, what they’re calling a universal charging solution, or UCS, will be on the market. Although the main initiative seems to possess some environmental undertones, the UCS can only be projected to alleviate one of the silliest (but, at times, angering) nuisances of day to day life.

Now, if only all of life’s simple frustrations can be forgone the way the cell phone industry plans to do away with the charger annoyance. What are some other issues that society’s stress factor would benefit from if corporate leaders put their heads together?

There’s the annoyance of the two pronged plug in versus the three pronged ones. And we can’t forget the age-old — well, computer-age-old — problem of Macs vs. PCs. And what about music files that are only compatible with one personal music player? Songs that play on an iPod but not a Zune, for example.

We’d love to continue to be self-serving and list a slew of other pestering inconsistencies, but we’re impressed that, according to the GSMA, the universal cell phone charger was conceived not solely to please users, but to kick off an industry-wide effort to reduce energy consumption.

Industry-standard remote controls for TV, DVD players and sound systems, for example, would not only eliminate customer frustration with their set of three or four remotes, but would, like the universal charger, be more efficient. Producing one remote, versus several per household, would consume a fraction of the energy and resources.

We hope this universal charger will set a standard for other industries to meet—for the greater happiness of both the customer and the planet.