Green Options

It’s time once again for the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics, and the results are sobering. Despite plentiful attempts at greenwashing, most electronics companies are not making the changes necessary to significantly cut carbon emissions.

Recycling electronics is never easy, so it’s extremely helpful when electronics companies take it upon themselves to help out. Panasonic announced today that is creating a program in the United States to let consumers easily recycle Panasonic products free of charge. The program, which is scheduled to start November 1, is being managed by the Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company—a joint venture between Panasonic, Toshiba, and Sharp.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have developed a new type of silicon solar cell that is flexible enough to be used on a curved surface or fabric. Currently, most solar cells are rigid due to the use of plastic in their production.

Sharp’s new solar-powered streetlight can do it all. Not only does the light operate for ten years without needing maintenance, but it also automatically turns on when it detects an earthquake.

The light use a high-intensity LED spotlight that has a service life of about 40,000 hours. It charges using built-in solar panels during the day, and shines automatically at night. Best of all, Sharp’s streetlight doesn’t create any light pollution—it’s illuminated with a directed light that doesn’t shine into the sky.

If you own a big-screen TV, you may have some inkling about the amount of energy that goes into powering it. And while LCD TV’s use significantly less energy than plasma screens, these power-suckers are still nothing to scoff at.

Fortunately, television manufacturers are beginning to realize that rising energy costs mean they have to address this problem. Sharp is presenting their environmentally-friendly way of watching TV at the IFA electronics show in Berlin. The company is also one of the biggest solar panel manufacturers in the world, and it believes that a single panel can provide enough energy to power an LCD TV for four and a half hours a day with no extra electricity from the grid.

Europe is pushing to help solar power spread and Italy is reacting by going forward quickly. The country’s demand is rising even if a large part of Italians are quite doubtful about the advantages of installing solar panels on their homes. The lack of a national strategy, together with an insufficient information, is impeding the use of alternative energy and producing confusion about prices, productivity and maintenance costs.

Despite that, is very surprising what can be done locally. I recently learned about an ecological cemetery in a small town near Milan, in the north of Italy.

Three large electronics manufacturers are taking a proactive step in an industry screaming for action. Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba have established an electronic product recycling management company, Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company, LLC (MRM), to spearhead electronics recycling and collection in the United States. This dream team was formed to provide a recycling service to electronics manufacturers and others, including state and local governments, and to meet recent Minnesota requirements on recycling electronics.

“We believe that forming an independent company to manage collective electronic recycling programs is the best way to achieve the economies of scale and efficiencies to create a sustainable recycling system for used electronics products.” Said David Thompson, MRM president.  

One very important thing the new company is striving for is to provide convenient recycling opportunities for consumers. There’s no question most people have an old TV or computer lying around that they would like to throw away but are too conscious to just toss in a landfill or dumpster. So with the work of MRM, that conundrum is solved. It already seems MRM is making some waves. According to Brad Moore, the commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency:

“In the first five months since Minnesota’s new electronic recycling law took effect, MRM collected approximately 750 tons of used products - a significant amount.”