Category: Consumer Information

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Continuing the Conversation

Note: This post was written by SEI staff member, Amy Cade.

Last week we announced some highlights from our symposium held in February. Electronics & Sustainability: Design for Energy and the Environment elicited a frenzy of information and thought provoking ideas. An extensive amount of topics were covered through a variety of perspectives.

In hopes of continuing the discussion I plan on posting a multi-part series addressing different topics raised at the symposium.

The first of this series will continue the topic from a recent post: export.

Continue reading “Continuing the Conversation”

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SEI Symposium

Note: This post was written by SEI staff member, Amy Cade.

The 2010 Electronics and Sustainability: Design for Energy and the Environment Symposium held two weeks ago was a great success! Over 20 impressive speakers in the fields of academia, manufacturing, retail, government, and recycling presented their take on electronics and sustainability. We had an impressive turnout, lively conversation, and overall, a great time had by all.

Here are some highlights from the event: Continue reading “SEI Symposium”

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Designing Wastefulness

Note: This post was written by SEI staff member, Amy Cade.

In one of my classes at the University of Illinois, each student was assigned to study a modern product in depth and then give a presentation on it a couple weeks later. The overall theme for the presentations was, “Newer is Better!” Whether it was a presentation about LED lights, Blue Ray lasers, Teflon, or electronics, the message was clear, this new technology far exceeds the old so it’s out with the old, in with the new.

I agree that most of these products exceed their earlier generation versions. They usually offer more features, perform better, and they even often use less energy. I am all for better designs, in fact, that is what my 4 years of undergrad in Industrial Design was all about.

I am, however, fearful that these designs encourage wastefulness. Continue reading “Designing Wastefulness”

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Electronics and Sustainability: Design for Energy and the Environment

Note: This post was written by SEI staff, Aida Sefic Williams.

The Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI), part of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), is hosting their first electronics and sustainability symposium. The event will be he held on February 23 and 24, 2010 at the I-Hotel and Conference Center.

Continue reading “Electronics and Sustainability: Design for Energy and the Environment”

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The Future of E-Waste

Note: This post was written by SEI staff member, Amy Cade.

Electronic recycling has been a recognized problem for a while now but not a whole lot has been resolved.

Europe, among other places, has been actively trying to solve this issue since early 1990s.  So, what can we learn from them? What are the absolute best solutions for our environment when it comes to electronic waste and what is feasible? Continue reading “The Future of E-Waste”

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Greener Electronics Start with Smarter Designs

Note: This post was written by SEI staff member, Amy Cade.

Have you ever had a career hero? Someone in your line of work that you really admire? Perhaps a cliché example would be to aspire to have the business sense of Bill Gates.

I have three industrial design heroes. The first is Henry Dreyfuss, an American designer who made significant advancements in the usability and function of products during the middle of the century. The second is William McDonough, a designer and architect known for his ultra sustainable ideas. And the third is Naoto Fukasawa, a well-known Japanese designer famous for his simplistic and sleek products. I became interested in the latter after seeing just one of his designs in an industrial design class I had my sophomore year of college. It was, surprisingly enough, a CD player. Nothing really relevant to anything I was interested in much less relevant to that year (the age of ipods.)  Nonetheless, I was blow away. Continue reading “Greener Electronics Start with Smarter Designs”

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E-waste International

ewaste-computer-recycling-image[1]Note: This post was written by SEI staff member, Amy Cade.

As Aida mentioned in an earlier post, a lack of a global standard for e-waste is one of the biggest problems we, in the e-waste industry, have to deal with.  Inconsistencies between states, countries, and continents not only make it hard on the manufacturers but also on the well-intentioned collectors.

Sunil Herat, a senior lecturer in waste management at Griffith University in Australia, addressed this problem in a recent paper titled International regulations and treaties on electronic waste (e-waste).  Herat has given an overview of the different policies in different regions.  This post will be a summary and commentary of that document. Continue reading “E-waste International”

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eBook opinions: Part 1

ebooksNote: This post was written by SEI staff, Aida Sefic Williams.

As the world has become more technologically advanced, the tech gurus around the world have been creating gadgets that will capture the hearts of many consumers. In a world today where it seems that the majority of people have laptops and smart phones (iPhones, Blackberries, etc.), the logical progression was to create a newer, cooler, hipper gadget – the eBook. The eBook is a convenient way to read books through an electronic device. This new technological wonder is marketed for giving you the multitude of resources you would encounter in a library, but all the resources will be available at your fingertips through a very portable device.

Continue reading “eBook opinions: Part 1”

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Diigo Digest: Finding Electronic Recyclers, Part 2

NCERNote: This post was written by SEI staff member, Amy Cade.

Last July I posted an article called “All You Need to Know About Finding an Electronic Recycler.” For this article I researched recyclers, databases, magazines, and manufacturers to find the most comprehensive and responsible electronic collection agencies. I then whittled those down and only suggested a few that I thought gave an overall sense of the type of resources available. It wasn’t until last week that I found an article that did exactly this… only better!  The article is by NCER (National Center for Electronics Recycling.) It was intended for the State of West Virginia, so some of the suggestions are rather specific for West Virginia but others, like the manufacturing programs, are nationally run.  Here is what NCER says about specific manufacturer collection programs: Continue reading “Diigo Digest: Finding Electronic Recyclers, Part 2”

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Energy Efficiency for Individuals and Industries

Note: This post was written by SEI staff, Aida Sefic Williams.

“Energy efficiency” has been a popular phrase for several years in industries and households. The main motivation behind energy efficiency has been to lessen the environmental impact of our energy needs. With the use of computers, automobiles, televisions, heating and cooling systems within our buildings, and many other everyday operations, people have been increasing their need for energy. In order to get the electricity we need to power most of our electronic gadgets and to provide us with comfortable living conditions, fossil fuels are extracted, processed, and finally used. All three main processes not only deplete the earth of its natural materials, but they also pollute our environment. In current economic times, however, there is another reason we should become more efficient with our energy – we can save money. Continue reading “Energy Efficiency for Individuals and Industries”