I was cruising some environmental websites this morning and I stumbled across this article about greener electronics.  Batteries and the electronic devices they power do bad bad things to the earth once they are thrown away.  Electronic devices also consume power which usually means carbon-dioxide emissions.  And many of us don’t think about the resources used to make something like a cell phone–For example, Taiwanese chip manufacturers put a huge burden on the country’s fresh water supply.  Who, even among residents of Taiwan during a drought, realize the impact of electronics on water supplies?

Luckily there is quite a bit we can do as consumers of electronic devices to help the situation.  Greenpeace ranks electronics companies’ "greenness" based on a number of factors.  The results are surprising: "Lenovo soars, Apple bombs."  Consider this the next time you’re choosing a new laptop.  Treehugger has an entire guide about what you can do to "green your electronics".  What do you do with your batteries when they die?

Industry giants are realizing the consumer-driven trend toward green.  In an NPR piece I heard this morning, members of the Green Grid are meeting in Denver today to discuss industry standards for power conservation.

As consumers demand greener electronics and greener practices from electronics manufacturers, companies are falling in line.  I hope things continue to move in this direction and I believe they will.

Posted in Uncategorized by Brian Ballantine | on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 9:35 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.