On November 11th, 2009, at the I-Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign, IL, Willie Cade gave a lecture titled, “The Truth, Tragedy, and Transformation of E-Waste”.

Read the full story at Green Inc.

California regulators on Wednesday approved the nation’s first energy efficiency standards for televisions, requiring their electricity consumption to be cut nearly in half by 2013.

Read the full story at Greener Computing.

We follow e-waste issues pretty closely here, because despite green IT’s huge potential for game-changing innovation, issues around the disposal of old gadgets represent the industry’s seamy underbelly.

So it’s always interesting when news about e-waste makes one of its occasional splashes into the news; when, after weeks of total or near silence about e-waste issues, you get a slew of headlines on the subject.

That’s been happening for the past week or so around these parts, as bad news crops up from a number of corners about e-waste, with just a small taste of some good news about how organizations are addressing it.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing new requirements for audio/video (AV) products to earn the Energy Star label. AV products meeting EPA’s new, more stringent specification will help protect the environment and reduce energy costs because they will be up to 60 percent more efficient than conventional models.

If all AV products sold in the United States met the new Energy Star requirements, Americans would save more than $1 billion in energy costs annually while reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 1 million vehicles every year.

EPA revised the earlier Energy Star requirements for AV to address the rapid turnover of products and technologies, as well as changes in usage patterns within the category. The more inclusive and flexible specification will promote greater energy efficiency in today’s diverse market for audio/video products.

The new requirements for audio/video equipment cover a wider range of products including home-theater-in-a-box, audio amplifiers, AV receivers, shelf systems, DVD players, Blu Ray players, and docking stations that offer audio amplification or optical disc drive functions. Commercial AV products are also covered.

To earn the Energy Star label, AV products must consume less power when they are on and must power down automatically after a period of inactivity, using only small amounts of power to maintain settings and other features.

The new requirements for audio/video products previously eligible for the Energy Star will be effective July 30, 2010. For products previously excluded from Energy Star, such as commercial AV products and docking stations, the new requirements are effective immediately.

More information on Energy Star qualified audio/video products: http://www.energystar.gov/av

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

Dell will start shipping two of its products padded with bamboo cushioning, a part of the company’s broad plan to reduce its packaging while using more recyclable material.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

In the past week, the company that aims to eliminate mountains of e-waste and bring energy efficient power supplies to gadget-owners around the world has made several big steps forward.

Read the full story in Scientific American.

Gadget makers often rely on piezoelectricity — the ability that some solids have to produce voltage when pressure is applied to them — to power tiny embedded systems, such as a BlackBerry Storm 2’s touch screen or a car’s airbag sensor. Whereas lead-based compounds typically have the greatest piezoelectric potential, the heavy metal has fallen out of favor as device-makers push to eliminate it from all electronics in an attempt to reduce toxic waste.

Read the full post at the Consumer Reports Electronics blog.

With early Black-Friday deals abounding, maybe you’re planning on getting some sleek, new electronic item to replace an old clunker. And you’re probably planning on heaving that old computer, TV, printer, or whatever to the curb, right? Do us all a favor and recycle it.

Read the full story in Greener Computing.

The Green Grid consortium is putting the final touches to a new Data Center Design Guide, which will aim to bring together the plethora of advice on how to curb energy use in firm’s server farms and provide a comprehensive overview of environmental best practices for data center managers.

Read the full story in the Daily Illini.

Willie Cade, founder of PC Rebuilders and Recyclers, spoke at the I Hotel and Conference Center on Wednesday to inform people about e-waste and what can be done to collect and reuse it.

Cade emphasized the importance of reusing e–waste, or discarded programmable electric devices, to get their full potential. He compared a horseless carriage to a Ferrari to create a visual image for the group of about 200 attendants.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

IBM holds a lot of patents — in fact, it earned the most of any organization in 2008, with 4,186 new patents to its name.

And as readers of our sites should know, IBM is focused in a big way on sustainability and the role technology can play in achieving greener operations in any number of arenas, from water to supply chains, data centers to traffic.

But a new announcement from Big Blue this week serves to underscore the shifting role that technology can play in environmental issues, and how IBM is changing its own role to focus on that shift.

IBM yesterday announced the top five technologies developed under its Corporate Environmental Innovation Program in the past year, the five solutions that can have a significant impact on energy efficiency or environmental impacts.

Of the top five, only three are traditional IT-related technologies, with the remaining two falling under what has become known as “Green IT 2.0,” or technologies that can be applied to business operations beyond the data center or computer fleet, putting computing power to work on the firm’s environmental footprint.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

Fortune Data Centers’ San Jose facility earned the prestigious LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council last week, six months after opening the green facility.

With the certification, Fortune Data Centers has joined a very small number of LEED-rated data centers; the company estimated that it is one of only five such buildings in the United States.

The eight-megawatt data center can also brag a gold-star tenant: internet phenomenon Facebook confirmed that it is leasing some of the floor space in the facility, part of an ongoing expansion for the website, all of which has gone to green data centers, according to Data Center Knowledge.

Read the full story at Ars Technica.

The Green Grid, which helps the IT industry manage its energy use, has analyzed current and pending energy regulations in Europe, and concluded that datacenter managers need to be proactive about limiting their energy use and plan expansion carefully.

Read the full post at the Sustainable Electronics Initiative Blog.

Since writing the first part of the eBook mini-series, I have been interested in the life cycle assessment comparison of books and eBooks. This concept may sound simple at first, but it quickly becomes much more complicated. While a true analysis (one worthy of publishing in a scientific journal) would require months of work, data collection and analysis, calculations, and report-writing, I opted for a much simpler approach (one that may be publishable on an informal blog, such as this one).

In order to complete a very simplistic life cycle analysis, I had to take into account books and e-books. This in itself presents a significant problem when taking into account the boundary of book sales. To keep things simple, I decided that my boundary will include the first Harry Potter book. How did I choose this boundary? It was the first thing that popped into my head, since this was a very popular book that was read by a wide range of age groups. My boundary for e-books included just the Amazon Kindle. I figured that focusing in on just one, very popular e-reader would be the best course of action.

I completed my life cycle analysis on the Life Cycle Analysis Calculator, which can help you create a simple LCA using very basic information. Keep in mind that the simpler the LCA, the more uncertainty and potential errors there are. With that, I want to emphasize that this was an exercise is very simple comparison, and not one which should be taken as fact. This is more of a possible general trend, rather than scientific fact.

Read the full story in InfoWorld.

Companies worldwide are recognizing the value of embracing green tech — and not just IT vendors such as HP, IBM, Cisco, and Dell. Organizations large and small, from universities to SMBs to sprawling corporations such as Procter & Gamble, have embraced sustainable technology practices for one (or more) of the usual reasons: saving money on various forms of waste, cutting carbon emissions, complying with current or future legislation, and simply being better environmental stewards.

Luther, Linda (2009) Managing Electronic Waste: Issues with Exporting E-Waste (October 7, 2009). Washington, DC : Congressional Research Service.

Summary: Electronic waste (e-waste) is a term that is used loosely to refer to obsolete, broken, or irreparable electronic devices like televisions, computer central processing units (CPUs), computer monitors (flat screen and cathode ray tubes), laptops, printers, scanners, and associated wiring. E-waste has become a concern in the United States due to the high volumes in which it is generated, the hazardous constituents it often contains (such as lead, mercury, and chromium), and the lack of regulations applicable to its disposal or recycling. Under most circumstances, e-waste can legally be disposed of in a municipal solid waste landfill or recycled with few environmental regulatory requirements. Concerns about e-waste landfill disposal have led federal and state environmental agencies to encourage recycling. To date, 19 states have implemented some form of mandatory e-waste recycling program. These state requirements, mixed with increased consumer awareness regarding potential problems with landfilling e-waste, have led to an increase in recycling. With that increase have come new questions about e-waste management. Instead of questions only about the potential impacts associated with e-waste disposal, questions have arisen regarding the potential danger associated with e-waste recycling—particularly when recycling involves the export of e-waste to developing countries where there are few requirements to protect workers or the environment. Answering questions about both e-waste disposal and recycling involves a host of challenges. For example, little information is available to allow a complete assessment of how e-waste ultimately managed. General estimates have been made about the management of cathode ray tubes (CRTs, the only devices where disposal is federally regulated), but little reliable information is available regarding other categories of e-waste. For example, accurate data regarding how much is generated, how it is managed (through disposal or recycling), and where it is processed (either domestically or abroad) are largely unknown. Further, little information is available regarding the total amount of functioning electronics exported to developing countries for legitimate reuse. What is known is that e-waste recycling involves complex processes and it is more costly to recycle e-waste in the United States, where there is a limited recycling infrastructure. It also is known that most consumer electronics manufacturers (who provide the market for material recovery from recycled electronics) have moved overseas. As a result, the majority of e-waste collected for recycling (either for reuse or recycling) appears to be exported for processing. Although there may be limited data regarding how e-waste is managed, the consequences of export to countries that manage it improperly are becoming increasingly evident. In particular, various reports and studies (by the mainstream media, environmental organizations, and university researchers) have found primitive waste management practices in India and various countries in Africa and Asia. Operations in Guiyu in the Shantou region of China have gained particular attention. Observed recycling operations involve burning the plastic coverings of materials to extract metals for scrap, openly burning circuit boards to remove solder or soaking them in acid baths to strip them for gold or other metals. Acid baths are then dumped into surface water. Among other impacts to those areas have been elevated blood lead levels in children and soil and water contaminated with heavy metals. The impacts associated with e-waste exports have led to concerns from environmental organizations, members of the public, and some Members of Congress.

Read the full story in ComputerWorld.

Environmental groups like the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, among others, have been in the news lately, chiding gadget makers in general and Apple in particular for bad environmental policies. They’re bringing attention to the growing mountains of toxic PCs, cell phones, iPods and other electronics in landfills and pushing governments for “green” regulation.

This problem is real, and I applaud these and dozens of other organizations that are working to make a difference. But their prescriptions for consumer action — what they want you and me to do about e-waste — is actually bad for the environment. I’ll tell you why in a minute. I’ll also outline a superior alternative to the recycling they are demanding. But first, let’s review the problem.

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

Massachusetts is considering adopting energy-efficiency requirements for televisions, becoming the only state — besides California — weighing such a move.

Read the full story at GreenerDesign.

Canon U.S.A. has announced its first set of products developed with the company’s own life cycle assessment design system, which looked at the lifecycle emissions and environmental impacts of the products and their materials.

The new imageRUNNER ADVANCE series of multifunction office devices are expected to result in 30 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than previous product models. Canon designed the new products to be smaller and lighter than previous models and to use less packaging, all leading to fewer materials used, fewer transportation emissions and more efficient shipping.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

In an hour-long webcast yesterday, IBM showed how putting the company’s own technology to work on overhauling its Lexington, Ky., data center highlights the potential of energy efficient IT projects.

The webcast, featuring IBM’s VP of Global Technology Services, Steven Sams, in conversation with GreenBiz.com Executive Editor Joel Makower, showed how CIOs are starting to take green IT seriously, and how IT can expand business operations while cutting costs companywide.

Read the full story at Ars Technica.

It’s estimated that the power a server burns over its lifetime will soon cost more than the server itself. A panel of industry speakers discussed a lot of options for saving power, and described how institutional issues can block their adoption.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

Green IT may be on the rise, but most IT professionals are not yet looking at the best ways of reducing computing’s impact: According to Gartner’s survey of IT managers, only 52 percent are actively measuring their data centers’ energy use.

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

In no segment of the electronics industry is the new supplanting the old faster than for boob tubes. Last year, 91 percent of the 37 million TVs sold in the United States had flat screens, according to the market research firm DisplaySearch. The number of tube TVs sold has fallen spectacularly, from 15.6 million in 2006 to 3.1 million last year. Asking a Best Buy salesman where the tube TVs are is a fail-safe way to induce giggles. The chain doesn’t sell them anymore.

As new TVs enter the home, many people hide the old ones in basements, garages or closets. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 99 million TVs were stored this way two years ago. But many TVs are simply tossed. In 2007, 27 million units were discarded, and 77 percent of them were tossed out with the trash (most of the rest are recycled).

Responding to potential landfill contamination, 18 states, including Virginia and Maryland, require manufacturers to help pay for electronics recycling. Montgomery County’s recycling program took in 122 tons of TVs in July, more than double the load in July of last year.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Electronic devices are the fastest-growing source of power demand in the world, but there is resistance to efficiency.

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

As my colleague Jad Mouawad and I write in an article in Sunday’s Times, virtually no electronic gadgets in American households — including televisions and computers — are subject to energy efficiency requirements.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

Today’s data center is going through a constant state of flux in an attempt to keep up with current demands. The data landscape grows exponentially, and with that growth comes the need to expand current storage and data center infrastructures. This expansion is a fact businesses in every vertical have come to accept, but it comes with a price.

Google has rolled out a new site that aggregates their current applications with suggestions for how government agencies can use them. From the web site:

Most people reach government and other public sector websites by using Google and other search engines. This site is a guide to the tools and best practices that can help you reach, communicate and engage with your community. Most of these tools are free, so they can also help you do more with less.

Check it out at http://www.google.com/publicsector/.

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

California today unveiled energy-efficiency requirements for televisions, becoming the first state in the nation to devise regulations for one of the largest users of energy in American households.

The proposed requirements, which still require final approval, would apply to new televisions for sale starting in 2011. By 2013 — when the standards tighten further — total energy consumption would be reduced by an average of 49 percent, according to the California Energy Commission, the body that announced the rule.

Read the full post and comment at Software Advice.

In case you haven’t heard (or aren’t obsessively following IT trends like we are), the great trend in software is the evolution from traditional “on-premises” software (e.g. client/server software installed at the office) to Software as a Service (SaaS) (i.e. web-based applications that are managed in the vendors’ data center and accessed “on-demand” through a web browser).

Given what’s at stake for software companies in either camp, debating the merits of each model has led to some fiery discourse. We thought we’d fan the flames by introducing another angle: which model is “greener;” that is, better for the environment.

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

Europe has long used a letter-grading system for indicating the efficiency of consumer electronics (above right). The labels runs from the letter G, representing the least efficient electronics products, to A, representing the top tier of efficiency.

But after more than a decade, the authors of a new study note, “the embrace of innovation has led to the development of so many energy-efficient products that for many product categories, the highest class of the scale has already been achieved or even surpassed. The E.U. Energy label has become a victim of its own success with too many appliances crowded in the top of the scale.”

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

A new study by CDW finds that companies could save millions every year by implementing energy efficient procurement policies, power management solutions and virtualization technologies.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

Most data center managers keep their facilities much too cold — as much as 15 percent too cold, according to a server expert at Intel.

In an article by Rik Myslewski published yesterday in The Register, Dylan Larson, Intel’s director of server platform technology initiatives, explained last week that keeping data centers in the low 70s and high 60s leads to a significant amount of excess cooling, and wasted energy.

Read the full post at Green, Inc.

A new study analyzing the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader’s impact on the environment suggests that, on average, the carbon emitted over the life of the device is offset after the first year of use.

Read the full story in Government Computer News.

The White House has opened an online storefront where federal agencies can purchase cloud computing services. Vivek Kundra, the federal chief information officer, said that the new service — called Apps.gov – is designed to reduce redundancy and costs by pooling information technology resources across government organizational boundaries, Kundra said.

The General Services Administration assembled an interagency team to build Apps.gov, GSA officials said. Creating a way for agencies to share resources, rather than operating separate and distinct IT systems, was a priority of the team, Kundra said.

Energy efficiency is another consideration.

Besides encouraging better collaboration among agencies, Kundra said he expects cloud services to reduce energy consumption because agencies will be able to share IT infrastructures.

This new fact sheet from U.S. EPA is targeted at businesses that are disposing of equipment containing hazardous waste (e.g. computer equipment). The brochure gives a list of questions to ask potential recyclers before sending outdated equipment to them.

The Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI), hosted by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), is pleased to announce the availability of its online “Ask an Expert” service for the submission of questions related to electronics and their environmental impacts.

Questions related to electronic waste issues, sustainable electronics design, improving electronics manufacturing processes and related topics can be submitted via an online form available at http://www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu/services/askexpert.cfm. SEI staff members will provide one hour of free Internet and/or literature searching related to your sustainable electronics question. Also provided is input from ISTC staff scientists and/or referrals to external contacts for further information on technical questions. Responses can be expected within a week (usually within 1-2 business days). Citizens, organizations, government agencies, businesses, non-profit groups, and academic institutions are all invited to use this free service.

The responses obtained from the Ask an Expert service are meant for informational purposes only and should not be construed as endorsements by SEI, ISTC or any affiliated organization. Responses are also meant to be starting points for inquirers rather than definitive answers, advice or prescriptions for action. Inquirers must draw their own conclusions based upon the information provided.

In the near future, questions and answers received via this service will be archived and searchable on the SEI web site, www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu. An extensive collection of resources is also under development for the web site and archived Ask an Expert questions and answers will be integrated into relevant resource collections.

According to the U.S. EPA, Americans own nearly three billion electronic products and continually purchase new ones to replace those deemed “obsolete,” even though about two-thirds of the devices are still in working order. As designers, manufacturers and the general public are becoming more aware and concerned about this issue, SEI’s Ask an Expert service will be one way to address concerns and assist in more sustainable practices.

SEI is a consortium dedicated to the development and implementation of a more sustainable system for designing, producing, remanufacturing, and recycling electronic devices. Members of the consortium include academia, non-profit organizations, government agencies, manufacturers, designers, refurbishers, and recyclers. Specific elements of the SEI include programs for research, education, data management, and technical assistance. SEI conducts collaborative research; facilitates networking and information exchange among participants; promotes technology diffusion via demonstration projects; and provides forums for the discussion of policy and legislation.

For more information on SEI, visit www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu or contact Dr. Tim Lindsey, Associate Director of ISTC, at 217-333-8955 or tlindsey@istc.illinois.edu. For more information on the Ask an Expert service contact Laura Barnes, ISTC librarian at 217-333-8957 or lbarnes@istc.illinois.edu.

ISTC is a unit of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Read the full post at Reuters.

In a relatively short time, the EPEAT system (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) has become the green standard for computer products in the U.S. And now the rating program — which ranks PCs and displays based on 51 environmental criteria and compiles the information into a searchable database — is expanding its reach internationally.

With the expansion, buyers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Mexico will be able to assess products based on environmental performance in their country. Jeff Omelchuck, EPEAT’s executive director, said the program’s rapid progress is a sign of the growing importance of green in the consumer electronics industry.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT
Register at http://www.newstarenergyservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ForresterWebinar_email_NS.htm

Features  guest speaker Doug Washburn, who will describe the potential impact of PC power management on your company’s bottom line.

September 10, 2009 – 1:00 PM EDT, 12:00 PM CDT, 11 AM MDT, 10 AM PDT

In these tough economic times, sustainability leaders and CIOs are looking for projects that deliver a fast payback and lower their environmental impact. In this session, IT executives and a PC power management expert will discuss their approach to greening IT operations and delivering rapid paybacks for the investment.

It is estimated that U.S. businesses are collectively wasting $2.8 billion dollars a year to power unused machines, emitting about 20 million tons of unnecessary CO² – roughly equivalent to the output of 4 million cars. There are simple ways to reduce that waste. For example, a company with 10,000 PCs can save over half a million dollars annually simply by shutting down their PCs when they are not being used and automatically powering them on when they need to be.

Join this webcast and learn how enterprises, government agencies, and educational institutions are:

• Reducing PC energy costs by up to 60% – with a 6 to 12 month payback on IT investment
• Making a positive environmental impact – reducing PC energy waste & carbon footprint
• Having no impact on end user or IT productivity

Read the full story in GreenerComputing.

Looking to get the most energy savings out of your data center? The newest technique, called “power-capping,” may be your answer, even though at first blush it sounds like a very scary proposition.

Power-capping does exactly what it says: It limits the amount of electricity that servers can consume at any given time. This not only controls the amount of electricity used in a data center, but also increases data center density. So enterprises save in two ways: Lower utility bills, and less real estate needed for their data center.

Read the full story at Mother Nature Network.

The field of bioplastics (plastics made from feed stocks other than petroleum) has been growing every year, but for the most part the use of biodegradable or “organic” plastic has been limited to low-cost items like plastic forks and food packaging.

That is changing. Samsung’s much anticipated “green” phone called ‘Reclaim’ will be hitting Sprint stores the week of Aug. 10 and the casing is made largely from corn-based plastic.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

The U.S. is well behind South Korea in green IT, and could well fall even further behind if action isn’t taken soon, warns a new report. Even in areas where the U.S. holds a clear advantage, such as cloud computing, it could give up its lead.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation’s Daniel Castro wrote the report, available here. Castro notes that the private sector can only go so far when it comes to Green IT; government action is needed to spur development.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

Walmart’s move to include green labels on all of its products that detail such things as the amount of energy used to make them is an excellent model for what should be done for Green IT. To date, although there are several green standards for computers and IT, none really hit the mark.

Download the publication at GreenerComputing.

It isn’t always easy to know where to begin in moving to greener and more efficient operations. With that in mind—along with Microsoft’s commitment to share best practices with the rest of the data center industry—this paper presents the top ten best business practices for environmentally sustainable data centers.  The items in this list were submitted by senior members of Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services (GFS) Infrastructure Services team. Their backgrounds include expertise in server and chip development, data center electrical and mechanical engineering, power and cooling architecture and design, research and development, and business operations and administration.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

Dell unveiled an energy savings calculator today that goes beyond what most others offer.

More than just monitoring energy usage, this tool allows a customer to view power consumption for individual components, such as monitors or graphics cards, and compare the current savings to older configurations. It can establish aggregate savings for an entire year in a variety of currencies.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

Greenpeace activists showed their disdain for a major computer company in a demonstration that is characteristic of the non-profit organization. In a direct action this morning, several Greenpeace activists scaled the campus of Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto, Calif. and painted “Hazardous Products” in non-toxic children’s finger paint on the roof.

The San Francisco-based environmental organization criticized HP for delaying commitments to remove toxic chemicals — such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) — from its line of computer products. The company postponed removal of these chemicals, which are considered toxic, from the end of this year until 2011…

On HP’s website, the company published this statement regarding use of materials:

“We still use certain BFRs in printed-circuit boards because suitable alternatives are not yet available. As technologically feasible alternatives become readily available that will not compromise product performance or quality and will not adversely impact health or the environment, we will complete the phase out of BFR and PVC in newly introduced personal computing products in 2011.”

Read the full story at ClimateBiz.

Companies using outsourced data centers can save thousands of dollars per year in energy costs, as well as make significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent study.

Read the full story in Consulting & Specifying Engineer.

One of the most well-known landmarks in North America will soon be powering one of the most-visited websites in the world.

Internet search engine Yahoo has announced that its newest data center will be primarily powered by Niagara Falls, the nearly 170-ft high waterfalls located on the border between New York state and Canada. Ground will break in August 2009 and the center is expected to open in May 2010 in Lockport, N.Y.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

It was likely only a matter of time, but the global economic downturn has taken its toll on green IT projects, according to new research from Forrester.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

There is now somewhere to take some of the 99.1 million television sets that sit unused in closets and basements.