November 18th, 2009

Dell shuns paper for bamboo in some packaging

Posted by Heather Clancy @ 5:40 am

Categories: green tech, recycling

Tags: Dell Computer Corp., Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Heather Clancy

So, if you decide to invest in a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 or a Mini 10v netbook, you’ll get to check out its latest nod toward more environmentally friendly packaging: the company is using bamboo as the inner product cushion in the boxes. The outer box will be made out of 25 percent post-consumer materials.

Dell has pledged to reduce its packaging volume by 10 percent before 2012. Bamboo, which is strong and grow faster than hardwoods, will make up a bigger part of the company’s packaging mix starting early in 2010. The only snag could be the fact that most cities and towns aren’t exactly dealing with bamboo much in their recycling mix, so Dell say it is working with Georgia Pacific, UGS and Environmental Packaging International to ensure that its packaging can be easily handled.

November 17th, 2009

Your tech cast-offs could benefit new project in Tanzania

Posted by Heather Clancy @ 5:47 am

Categories: Africa, energy, green tech, recycling

Tags: Benefit, Organization, CAP Initiative, Productivity, Digital Cameras, Digital Photography, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Heather Clancy

This is the time of year when most of us start grasping around for tax-break ideas, such as capital investments or donations to non-profit organizations. Plus, it’s almost Thanksgiving here in the United States, when it is even more insanely cool than ever to think about other people. In that vein, I just wanted to share that I have heard about a new organization called Smallbean, which is seeking used and new technologies for a program called Citizen Archivist Project, or CAP.

The CAP initiative is centered on three public schools in Karatu, Tanzania, and it is focused on collecting and distributing electronics and technologies that could be used for both the learning process and for a community history project. The latter is seen as a way of helping share information about the Tanzania culture and build empathy for emerging nations in other parts of the developed and developing world.

The sorts of technologies that the organization seeks to collect include computers, digital cameras, audio recorders and solar charging suitcases. Smalbean also plans to work on the creation of solar-powered computer centers in the areas it has targeted. But it’s early days, so no progress to report at this time.

Check them out, regardless.

November 13th, 2009

Redemtech's green tech giveaway

Posted by Heather Clancy @ 2:02 pm

Categories: conservation, green tech, recycling

Tags: Green Technology, Twitter Inc., Nomination, Redemtech, Contest Rule, Asset Management, Branding, Financial Services, Operational Planning, Finance

Here’s one way to build a Twitter following. Technology asset disposition and refurbishment company is running a “Serious Good” contest in which it will give away $10,000 of refurbished equipment to a non-profit group, non-governmental organization, school or public library.

The catch is that you must submit your nomination via Twitter and follow Redemtech’s Twitter feed (their handle is @Redemtech, which you can find here).

The systems come from the company’s Red Rabbitt refurbished brand line, and they include Microsoft XP Professional and the Microsoft Office Suite.

Nominations will be accepted through Nov. 30. The contest rules are here.

November 10th, 2009

Electronics giants collect more than 3 million pounds of old TVs

Posted by Heather Clancy @ 4:33 am

Categories: environmental health, federal government, green tech, recycling

Tags: Heather Clancy

So far, the Electronics Manufacturers Recycling Management Company (MRM) has collected more than 3 million pounds of old-fangled televisions being discarded in the national transition from analog to digital formats.

The figure was released this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has been running a National TV Recycling Challenge to help divert at least some analog TVs from improper/irresponsible disposal fates. MRM was the winner of the challenge, which has so far recycled close to 8.2 million pounds of materials. The materials were collected between January and August. MRM is a joint venture of electronics giants Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba.

For more on the Plug-In to eCycling program, visit this link.

November 6th, 2009

It's public versus private in dispute over electronics recycling laws

Posted by Heather Clancy @ 6:45 am

Categories: conservation, energy, green tech, recycling

Tags: New York City, Law, Electronics, E-waste, Heather Clancy

Need some time to reflect on this, because I am out at a conference and I’m seriously jet-lagged. But this one slipped under my radar before, and I think it bears watching because it will be a guidepost for technology and electronics recycling laws all over the country — many of which are supposed to kick in during 2010 or 2011.

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition, along with officials from 18 state and local governments, is publicly calling on the Consumer Electronics Association and the Information Technology Industry Council to withdraw a lawsuit they filed back in late July challenging the constitutionality of New York City’s e-waste recycling law. Here’s a link where you can find the legal papers.

Those opposing the suit claim that if voluntary programs run by manufacturers were more effective, there would not be a need for local laws and that the public sector should not be responsible for bearing the financial burden of responsible e-waste disposal. The short of it is that neither side wants to be left holding the bag.

Here’s a statement from Wisconsin State Senator Mark Miller, who sponsored the state’s new law passed two weeks ago:

“This lawsuit isn’t really about the New York City e-waste law. This is really about the rights of states and cities to say that the manufacturers of toxic products need to be responsible for their products when consumers are ready to discard them. The outcome of this case could impact producer responsibility laws in all of our states, on a whole host of products.”

Think it doesn’t matter to you? Maine was probably the earliest state to pass a law on this issue, but you should care if you’re a resident of Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Here’s the letter they’ve sent criticizing the suit.

Arguments in the New York City suit are supposed to start in early December. This time, I’ll be standing by.

November 3rd, 2009

Deck the halls with LED

Posted by Heather Clancy @ 12:23 am

Categories: conservation, energy, green tech, recycling

Tags: Light-emitting Diode, Halloween, Engineering, Heather Clancy

Halloween is officially come and gone, which means the retail world is talking Christmas. If you’re going to make the plunge into LED holiday lights this season, HolidayLEDs.com has officially started its 2009 light recycling program. If you send in your old incandescent lights, you’ll receive a 15 percent discount coupon off LED replacements redeemable with HolidayLEDs.com. The collection effort will run through February 2010.

Last year, HolidayLEDs.com collected about 5,000 pounds of old lights. In case you’re wondering what happens to them, the company says it works with a recycling facility in Michigan where they are shredded, separated and then recycled as each component (glass, metal or plastic) dictates.

Here’s the mailing address:

HolidayLEDs.com
Attn: Recycling Program
118 Rosehill Rd., Suite 118
Jackson, MI 49202

November 1st, 2009

The current system is stacked against greentech in big buildings

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 11:39 am

Categories: Blogroll, air pollution, building, conservation, energy, engineering, environmental health, fossil fuel, geothermal, green tech, housing, law & politics, recycling, renewable energy, solar, water, wind

Tags: Green Technology, Harry Fuller' Other World Computing, wind turbine, OWC, Illinois, LEED, Larry O'Connor, building design, geothermal heating, electricity

The current financial systems in the United States makes it very difficult to build a large building using green technology. Most large buildings are built with loans. Those loans are based on standard commercial building costs. So much for warehouse space, so much for office space, etc. There is no margin for the added costs of putting in greener tech or better insulation or windows.

OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with one American CEO who actually went outside the banking system to get his new company headquarters built with the best of current green tech. The loan from the bank paid for a minority of the project, the rest was self-funded by Other World Computing (OWC) in Woodstock, Illinois. CEO Larry O’Connor says his company has always been conservatively run. The don’t like debt and don’t franchise, don’t over-expand.

It can be clearly shown how green tech makes the building more efficient and cheaper to operate. Yet the entire commercial lending and building system is based on least cost, highest profit. There’s no flexible formula to take into account energy or other operating costs or savings. The loan is so much per square foot, take it or leave it.

As O’Connor described it to me, “The bank doesn’t change the appraisal value of building, they do it on square footage. That’s a potential hinderance on long-term green investments.”

The assumption is recent years has been: buy land, build cheaply, flip the commercial space and move on. Let the next sucker worry about energy costs. Of course, at the construction stage it’s more costly to put up a wind turbine or install a geothermal heating system. But those are systems that deliver real savings to the building operator every year. O’Connor told me the geothermal heating system was 10% of the total project cost, way more than a standard gas furnace. But OWC will never pay a cent for natural gas heating, and has a greatly reduced carbon footprint as well.

OWC has built a headquarters he hopes will be in use for decades. No flipping here. So as they looked at green tech for power and water and paper, etc., they realized there’s a great ROI despite the higher original cost. Sure it’s cheaper to build an office building with single pane windows, standard electric or gas heating, powered by the local grid. But those operating costs, month after month, add up. And the company becomes hostage to vicissitudes of the marketplace for energy, water, paper.

As I blogged about OWC earlier, their offices are wind-powered, they have extensive LEED certified green tech for water and heating, a permeable parking area that collects and then cleans run-off, and numerous other clean tech features. O’Conner said the technology is not new, but there’s little incentive or even loan mechanism to get the tech in use for large buildings.

Naively, I asked about the great tax breaks and rebates for putting in greentech. That’s for your home or mine. Office buildings: zilch. O’Connor said they made these green choices because the ROI is so clear and it frees his company from the almost certain grief of the next energy price run-up.

O’Connor said all the tech in their building was installed by local contractors using standard equipment. He said it’s important to work with a design firm that really knows LEED buildings and green tech. That’s where the whole system gets put together before any site work is done. For OWC’s new green HQ it was Harris Architects in Palantine, Illinois.

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October 30th, 2009

Digital River e-commerce suite aids with levying environmental fees

Posted by Heather Clancy @ 12:53 pm

Categories: European Union, conservation, federal government, green tech, recycling

Tags: E-business, Digital River, Web Technology, E-business/E-Commerce, Internet, Heather Clancy

As Gartner has recently proclaimed, businesses aren’t just interested in Green IT, they’re interested in IT that helps satisfy green initiatives.

Digital River, which provides a suite of services for enabling e-commerce, has come up with something that definitely falls into the latter category. Specifically, the company has come up with a feature for its e-commerce software that helps electronics companies collect fees related to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE).

Here’s some context: WEEE, which is big across Europe, requires that any company (”producer”) that has brought an electronic or electrical product into the European Commission to assume the obligation related to its responsible disposal. Some companies have begun to charge fees at the point of sale to cover this, which may or may not be made visible to the consumer. The feature that Digital River has developed allows you to levy this fee and show it. The challenge is that the fee might be applied differently from country to country. Some don’t really want consumers to see the fee, while others require that it be exposed. Digital River’s software lets you do either.

This is a feature that is embedded into the core feature set of the Digital River e-commerce suite, so you don’t have to pay more to use it, according to Digital River executives.

So, if your company offers e-commerce of its Web site AND it has e-commerce capabilities in countries like France or Germany, it may want to read up on these issues. If you’re interested in learning more about WEEE or about how other environmental directives might impact your e-commerce activities, you can visit this link on the Digital River Web site.

October 26th, 2009

Midwest tech firm now wind driven

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 2:52 pm

Categories: Blogroll, air pollution, building, conservation, energy, engineering, environmental health, geothermal, green tech, recycling, renewable energy, solar, water, weather, wind

Tags: Other World Computing, Telecom & Utilities, Harry Fuller

Other World Computing (OWC) is in McHenry County, Illinois, and now their power comes from the wind. OWC claims the title of “first 100 percent on-site wind powered technology manufacturer/distributor in the U.S.” It’s using Vestas-made wind turbines for all its daily electricity needs.

The new OWC Wind Turbine will generate an estimated 1,200,000 kWh (kilowatt hours) per year – more than double the 500,000 kWh per year of energy the OWC building operations require. Under Illinois law OWC can sell that unused electricity back to the local electric company.

OWC says its wind turbine installation was designed to produce power at wind speed as low as 9 mph. The OWC campus averages wind speed of 10-15 mph. The wind turbine sits atop a tower 131 feet high. The blades extend the turbine’s total height to 194 feet. The blade housing can rotate 360 degrees so it can turn facing into winds up to 150 mph. During extreme winds, the blades automatically go “flat” with the narrowest point into the wind and in essence, shut the turbine down until it senses safe operational wind speeds. Whenever there isn’t adequate wind power generation, the local utility company will remain as the backup power source for OWC. Additionally, in the event of a combined wind and utility company power blackout, OWC has two additional on-site backup power systems so it can continue serving its customers without interruption.

OWC HQ’s OTHER GREEN INITIATIVES

• Geo-thermal ground-coupled heat pump system

• Fiber optic rooftop light-harvesting technology

• High insulation value glass windows and exterior sunshade technology for reduced cooling costs

• High insulation value materials throughout the building for reduced energy use

• “Smart” sensors to detect and adjust energy in unused rooms

• Permeable Paver system for environmentally friendly run-off water handling

• Bio Swales landscaping for water conservation

• Use of native plants and prairie grasses for water conservation

• Sloan Waterless Urinals and dual-mode toilets for water conservation

• Sloan high-efficiency hand driers in washrooms for energy/paper savings and a drinking water filtration system to eliminate need for delivered water

• Company-wide recycling with near-zero waste generation

• Low-impact cleaning products

On their website OWC bills itself as 100% wind-powered. It is primarily an Apple and Mac service and sales company that supplie numerous iPod and iPhone add-ons. They’re based in Woodstock, Illinois, northwest of the Chicago conurbation.

Vestas, which made the wind turbine, is a century-old Danish company which claims 20% of the world wind turbine market.

October 20th, 2009

Fly ash fan sent me this email

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 8:18 pm

Categories: Blogroll, cars & traffic, engineering, fossil fuel, green tech, housing, recycling

Tags: Ash, E-mail, Online Communications, Harry Fuller

“K.C. Missouri put down on a heavy traffic street [poured] fly ash 30+ years ago. Was still in great shape, but city tore it up this summer. My next house will be fly ash. If any humans are left in 4000, my house will probably still be standing…
“Lasts so much longer, than asphalt, that needs replacing every 2-3 years in heavy traffic. I figured if the did this on rural Kansas roads, then it would create a road or bridge that would last for 20+ years, so money could go for high traffic city areas, that need fly ash even more.”