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Archive for October, 2006

Green Asus

Saturday, October 14th, 2006

New Images and Details About the Asus Green PC Concept

Asus presented its proposal of a Green Pc. It consists of a modular system; every component of it is feeded by induction and transmits datas through a wireless wideband connection (UWB). The taiwanese company’s representatives said that the design was developed even in line with the burdens, wich WEEE directive imposed to informatic market. The modular system makes more flexible and effective every component’s substitution and recovery.

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see also:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction

Asus gets futuristic with modular PC; February 23th, 2006

Asus focuses on green laptop design; February 23th, 2006

A glimpse into the future: Asus Green PC; March 15th, 2006

green.asus.com

www.asusdesign.com [concept developer]

Tags: energy cycles, material cycles
Posted in products, research | No Comments »

One Laptop per Child

Monday, October 2nd, 2006

http://www.laptop.org

Here is the official website of One Laptop per Child (OLpC) non-profit association, founded by Nicholas Negroponte. Its project’s aim is to produce a laptop which costs no more than 100$, in order to give access to every child in the world (especially those living in developing countries) to knowledge and to up-to-date learning methodologies. It was given notice of OLpC’s creation and its ambitious research project during the World Economic Forum in Davos (Swiss), January the 28th, 2005.

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see also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Negroponte

Tags: accessibility and knowledge
Posted in activism | 1 Comment »

more from Greenpeace

Monday, October 2nd, 2006

toxic-chemicals-in-computers.pdf

greener-electronics-guide.pdf

Toxic chemicals in computers* is a study which was conducted by Greenpeace in order to gain information on the presence of certain hazardous substances in a range of laptop computers, and to investigate testing methodologies for verifying their presence or absence. The laptops chosen for this investigation are: Acer Aspire 5670 Series (5672WLMi), Apple MacBook Pro, Dell Latitude D810, Hewlett Packard (HP) Pavilion dv4000 Series (dv4357EA), Sony VAIO VGN-FJ Series (FJ180). The results are worrying.

The Greener electronics guide** ranks leading mobile and PC manufacturers on their global policies and practice on eliminating harmful chemicals and on taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers. Companies are ranked solely on information that is publicly available. A note to think about: “until the use of toxic substances is eliminated, it is impossible to secure ‘safe’ recycling. For this reason, the points awarded to corporate practice on chemicals [...] are weighted more heavily than criteria on recycling.”

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see also:

* Rotten to the Core; September 18th, 2006

* Treehugger about Rotten to the Core; September 21th, 2006

** Ecco la ecoguida ai prodotti elettronici
(Italian only)

** greener-electronics-ranking-c.pdf

** greener-electronics-apple-rank.pdf

** Treehugger about Greener Electronics Guide; August 30th, 2006

Tags: energy cycles, material cycles, health and safety
Posted in activism | No Comments »

DELL goes sustainable

Sunday, October 1st, 2006

Dell to phase out brominated flame retardants and PVC by 2009

Chemical_Use_Policy.pdf

Dell responded to the recent studies about the environmental performance of the electronics industry by pointing to its Chemical Use Policy (pdf): “Dell believes that if reasonable scientific grounds indicate a substance (or group of substances) could pose significant environmental or human health risks, even if the full extent of harm has not yet been definitively established, precautionary measures should be taken to avoid use of the substance(s) in products. Dell is committed to eliminate in our new products all remaining uses of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by 2009″.
In the article we read: “We’re curious to know if the company plans to make different products to meet each local regulations or if they will meet the toughest one [...] and sell the same products all around the world.”

see also:

Dell To Produce Low-Lead PC; February 3th, 2005

Dell Introduces Two New Eco-Friendly Desktops; June 4th, 2005

Computer Recycling World Tour by Dell; September 18th, 2005

Tags: energy cycles, material cycles, health and safety
Posted in products | No Comments »

Solio

Sunday, October 1st, 2006

http://www.solio.com/v2

Solio, the Universal “Hybrid” Charger is powerful enough to charge all of your handheld electronic products at home or on the move, anywhere under the sun. It works by absorbing power from either the wall socket or the Sun, storing this energy within the Solio’s own internal battery.

(more…)

Tags: energy cycles
Posted in products | No Comments »

Computer TakeBack Campaign

Sunday, October 1st, 2006

http://www.computertakeback.com

The goal of the Computer TakeBack Campaign is to protect the health and well being of electronics users, workers, and the communities where electronics are produced and discarded by requiring consumer electronics manufacturers and brand owners to take full responsibility for the life cycle of their products.
Three principles are essential to the Campaign’s goal: Take it Back (EPR, extended producer responsibility); Make it Clean (toxics use reduction); Recycle Responsibly (incentives, labels on devices and all hazardous components, performance standards for responsible recycling practices).

Tags: material cycles, health and safety
Posted in activism | 1 Comment »