A recent report reveals that of all the states with takeback programs for used computers, Texas ranks last. The Lone Star State’s takeback law mandates that all computer manufacturers and businesses must provide their customers with free recycling options. All discarded electronics, from desktops to monitors, fall within this category. Released by the Texas Campaign for the Environment, the report generated per capita rates for all states that host computer takeback programs. This is the first report released since the program was introduced in 2008. While computer manufacturers were able to recover approximately 15 million pounds of used electronics in Texas, this amounts to only a half-pound collected per person. Minnesota, on the other hand, was able to collect nearly 3 pounds of discarded electronics per person during the first year of its takeback program. The policies there are comparatively more rigorous, since businesses are charged with a fine if they fail to collect a certain percentage of what is sold. Executive director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment Robert Schneider said in a statement, “The Texas TakeBack program is a phenomenal idea poorly executed. Of all the computer makers, only Dell took ‘free and convenient recycling’ to heart when they designed their recycling program.” In fact, out of the 15 million pounds recovered in Texas, the Austin-based Dell, Inc. was responsible for no less than 13 million, an amount made possible through the corporation’s partnerships with Goodwill and Staples. While Dell is largely responsible for electronics recycling in Texas, other manufacturers are attempting to make proper computer disposal as easy as possible by offering convenient mail-back programs, considered the default option in the Texas program. Even the Texas Campaign for the Environment admitted Dell’s massive statewide role in the first year of the takeback program. The report stated, “By any measure, the first year of the Texas TakeBack program would have proven a complete failure without the disproportionate share of the recovery and recycling load borne by Dell Computers.” The less-than-stellar results of the report will hopefully be the incentive the state needs to do better in the future. Schneider added, “We want the program to be effective, not just on paper.” Read more: Bamboo Used to Make Laptop Computers Guess Who Tops Newsweek’s Greenest Company List? 8 Ways Gadgets Have Gone Green
The rest is here:
Texas Ranks Last in Recycling Old Electronics
Despite valiant attempts to extend the life of our electronics, eventually they pass the point of no return and bite the dust. Environmental responsibility prevents us from dumping them in the trash to be carted off to the local landfill (thank goodness), but what do we do with them? The National Center for Electronics Recycling
More here:
E-Cycling Programs: Where Old Electronics Go to Die
In a city of cement, die-hard gardeners usually have to content themselves with a window box of gardenias or a series of never-ending potted plants. The prospect of growing anything even remotely more ambitious is extinguished by factors that characterize an urban environment, such as lack of living space. Luckily, in the City of Angels, wannabe gardeners can now grow some of the tastiest fruits and vegetables year round, thanks to Lucas Brower and Jesse Kamm’s company, Home Grow Micro Farms . The pre-planted garden boxes that Brower and Kamm deliver to clients’ homes are already prepared with top-notch organic seeds and fertilizers. For those worried about space, each garden box takes up only 3 square feet, offering a simple alternative to traditional city gardening. After the micro farm has reached the end of its production cycle, Brower and Kamm will personally exchange the old garden box for a new one with fresh seeds. Surprisingly, these garden boxes require little to no physical labor, as the structure of the boxes ensures that the seeds receive a sufficient amount of water each day without any need for manual watering. Home Grow Micro Farms’ menu makes these mini-gardens a tempting and stress-free treat. Even in the winter months of January and February, customers have the option of growing their own broccoli, beets, carrots, pumpkins and herbs. In the spring and summer months, gardeners can pick tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, melons and watermelons. Brower and Kamm recommend that clients check their garden boxes for approximately two minutes each day. While not all boxes are equally productive, they estimate that the vegetables should be ready for a first harvest within 30 days of delivery. Read more: The Future of Urban Gardening The Lifecycle of Your Dinner The Next Wave in Composting
Excerpt from:
A Garden in the City: Home Grow Micro Farms
Images via Ecofriend There are three key design points we encourage all gadget designers to hit: 1) Design stuff that is cradle-to-cradle and doesn’t need energy from the grid; 2) Design something that will actually function as you say it will; 3) Design stuff that would have a fighting chance on the consumer market. While the Aeolus cell phone concept does indeed try to use wind and solar power to maintain a charge, it unfortunately fails on the other two design points. And without those, this “sustainable” concept design is … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Read the original:
Cell Phone Charges With Wind and Sun, But Doesn’t Matter Since It’s Ugly
Eco Factor: Hydrogen fueled prototype touches 4,414 kilometers mark with just one liter of fuel. French students’ hydrogen fueled vehicle did wonders for them at the Shell Eco-marathon 2010 . The competition that challenges high school and college student teams from around the world to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles saw team Polyjoule breaking a five year record on the very first day of the event by recording 4,414 kilometers on the equivalent of one liter of fuel. The joint effort by Polytech Nantes and Lycée La Joliverie helped the enthusiastic team break its own record by crossing another 482 kilometers mark. Although the hydrogen-powered prototype broke down during pre-marathon testing, but the electronics monitoring system that minimizes energy loss helped in defeating the 200 competitors. The extra 482km recorded on the last day of the annual event pushed their 4,414 kilometers mark to 4,896.1 kilometers. The victory is a result of five years of hard work put into the research. The students hope to come again next year to set another record for the others to follow. Via: Gizmag
View original post here:
Team Polyjoule’s concept breaks five year Shell Eco Marathon fuel efficiency record
Eco Factor: Eco-friendly wristwatch to be powered by solar energy. HP has stated that it’s developing a next-generation wristwatch for the U.S. Military. The wristwatch, lovingly referred to as a next-gen “Dick Tracy” watch, may eliminated the need for soldiers to carry cumbersome technological gear and backup batteries. The company plans to unveil a prototype within a year. The watch’s screen will be able to made of plastic and will run on solar energy, making it less likely to malfunction or run out of power. The watch will have a flexible display that shows maps and other strategic information to soldiers in remote battle fields. The company will make the display from plastic rather than glass as plastic is light in weight, uses less power and is less destructible. Plastic displays also use 40 times less raw material than glass displays. Flexible solar panels will be printed onto watches, using a technology developed by PowerFilm Solar . Via: CNN
Go here to see the original:
HP developing a solar-powered ‘Dick Tracy’ wristwatch for U.S. Military
Images via Yanko Design Rechargeable batteries are a solution for keeping batteries out of the landfill, but you still have to have the right size for your device, which means buying more batteries. What if you could buy just a small handful of batteries that fit all of your devices? That’s the solution presented by The A to D Battery, a single nickel hydroxide battery core wrapped in memory foam that you can simply squish right into that remote control. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Bamboo is not just for pandas anymore. The renewable material is being utilized in ASUS laptops as an alternative to plastic casing, and it also serves as the packaging for Dell Inspiron notebook computers. A primary reason for using bamboo as the…
The great thing about rechargeable gadgets is their portability. But the even better thing is that they often consume less energy lessen the chance of the dreaded “vampire power” drain. So we searched our networks for the coolest…
View original here:
Cool Battery-powered Gadgets
Photo via lemuelinchrist Bats have an incredible ability to navigate using echolocation, weaving their way around obstacles and finding prey based on the bouncing around of the sounds they emit. Engineers and biologists from the Universities of Strathclyde and Leeds in Britain have decided it’s well worth looking in to just how they do it so that the technique can be employed by humans for everything from robotic vehicles to testing structures for flaws. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Go here to read the rest:
Researchers Decode Bat Sonar to Improve Everything from Buildings to Robots