Eco-design of consumer electronics-myth or reality?

Assignment as part of CH311

Environmental Science and Engineering

D. Pramod Reddy

(SC12B079)

Avionics

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology

Thiruvananthapuram

September 2014

Acknowledgement

First of all, I would like to thank Dr. KG Sreejalekshmi for her encouragement to study about Eco-

design of consumer electronics, which is a major topic of interest at the present day. It provided me

an environmental insight in producing an electronic good. Next, I would like to thank various sources

which provided me with sufficient references to do this study.

Abstract of Study

This assignment gives an idea about Eco-design of Consumer electronics. Starting with eco-design

and consumer electronics, it answers why eco-design is needed, what are the steps to be taken for

eco-designing a product. Later it gives information in present by some case studies. It gives

information on how corporate companies uses different strategies for making a product eco-efficient.

Some myths and realities are studied and concludes with whether eco-design of consumer

electronics is a myth or reality.

Contents

What is Eco-Design?

What are Consumer Electronics?

Need for Eco-design of Consumer electronics

Steps taken for Eco-design of Consumer electronics

Case Studies

Corporate Strategies for Eco-Efficiency

Myths and Reality

Conclusion

Bibliography

What is Eco-design?

Eco-design an approach to design of a product with special consideration for the environmental

impacts of the product during its whole life cycle, which includes procurement, manufacture, use

and disposal. The term product includes hardware as well as software.

Eco-design assumes that the effect a product has on the environment should be considered and

reduced. These products are flexible, reliable, durable, and reusable. In addition to proving

economical reasonability and social compatibility, these products represent an ecological necessity.

The goal of eco-design is sustainability, which simply means that these products are built, used and

discarded in a way that doesn’t pose a significant threat to the environment. It can be accomplished

through the application of 3 concepts: cyclic, solar and safe.

“Cyclic” refers to the production of goods from materials that are either compostable or

recyclable.

“Solar” means that products are made using renewable sources of energy.

“Safe” means any byproducts of manufacturing released into the environment should be non-

toxic.

The first goal is the attempt to avoid waste and toxic substances in the stage of production. Next,

minimizing the environmental impact of a product was promoted. This applied to the entire

ecological life cycle of a product, namely from raw material extraction to the ultimate disposal of

a product. Now it is the aim to optimize the entire socio-economic system of the product as well

as that of its use to meet the criteria of sustainable development for the future (Eco-design). It

aims at advancing prosperity while reducing "environment spending".

What are Consumer Electronics?

Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in

entertainment, communications and other office productivity. Like computers, mobile phones,

digital cameras, televisions, MP3 players, air conditioners, fridges etc.

Today electronics and semiconductors are so pervasive that every product has some portion of

electronics and semiconductors. As the economy is growing, the market for electronics is also

increasing drastically.

Need for Eco-design of Consumer Electronics

Many consumer electronics may contain toxic minerals and

elements, and many electronic scrap components, such as CRT’s

may contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium,

mercury, dioxins and brominated flame retardants. These are

harmful for environment, so when consumer electronics are

discarded and thrown away without proper care these harmful

toxins will be released into the environment leading to disasters for human life. So, the need for

eco-design comes into play at this point which helps in recycling these discarded wastes, also to

reduce consumption of energy of these products.

Even the Earth’s protecting shield ‘ozone layer’ is also depleting due to the release of ozone

depleting substances like chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) by products like air conditioners and

refrigerators.

In general, if we ask why do we need eco-design?

Because there are currently 7.125 billion people and only one earth to sustain us all.

Because 20% of people consume 80% of the world’s resources.

Because consumption of plastic materials has increased from 5 million tonnes in the 1950’s

to over 100 million tonnes today.

Because today’s 800 million cars is expected to rise to 3.5 billion cars by 2050.

Because over 36.33 billion metric tonnes of CO2 is released every year which increases

global warming.

Because in 2011 India consumed 3,292,000 bbl/day of oil and one day we will run out of

oil…

Because a globalized world means globalized problems and each year 50 million tonnes

of e-waste is created most of ends up in dumping.

Eco-design helps to put these complex pieces together and helps to create a sustainable future.

Steps taken for Eco-design of Consumer

Electronics

When implementing eco-design in consumer electronics, different

environmental issues linked to the different life cycles are to be taken

care of.

Such as the following:

1)Material Selection: An important environmental consideration concerning raw materials relates

to environmental conditions, this goes not least for many metals, where low quality of ores and use

of obsolete technology gives rise to severe pollution of mining places. Before selecting materials,

following rules should be followed:

Use as few different types of materials as possible.

Avoid usage of hazardous substances.

Avoid using scarce materials.

Use material which can be recycled.

Avoid over-dimensioning so that consumption of materials can be reduced.

Reduce packaging, label materials and reduce wastes.

2)Manufacturing Process: Eco-design does also embrace considerations concerning changes in

the manufacturing process. Changes in painting process of product surfaces from solvent paint to

non-solvent paint, is also a part of eco-design. The adhesive process can lead to emission of organic

solvents or welding fumes. A simpler product design may make it possible to reduce or avoid gluing

processes, reducing the consumption of chemical and emissions, at the same time strengthening

the potential for reuse and recycling.

3)Energy Consumption: It is one of the main goal of eco-design. The energy consumption can be

reduced by making stand-by mode, which uses a little energy for the power supply to keep the

device active, mainly in computers. The materials used for building the product also greatly

influences the energy consumption.

4)Recycling: The products designed should be convenient for recycling, which is necessary for

preventing the harmful minerals present in the product from entering into the environment, which

makes the life difficult.

Case Studies

Eco-friendly refrigerators: Old Refrigerators may contain coolants like chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs) which are capable of depleting ozone layer. But now the new eco-friendly

refrigerators use less harmful coolants compared to CFCs and also uses less energy

consumption.

Energy efficient TV: Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs use less energy as compared to older

plasma models, so these are considered to be the most energy-efficient type of television.

The Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) type of screen technology uses organic material to

create light. It can provide excellent color, brightness and contrast. It is most safe for

environment, often it is believed that OLED technology has the potential to be a hundred

percent energy-efficient in the near future.

EPEAT certified Computers: Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool certified

computers contain minimal levels of toxic components like lead, mercury, brominated flame

retardants, PVC and cadmium and have parts that are made from post-consumer recycled

plastic or renewable, bio-based materials. Apart from low energy consumption it also focuses

on materials used in manufacturing, packaging, recyclability and other standards that take

into account the entire lifecycle of a computer. Consumers who purchased EPEAT computers

in 2009 helped to prevent the disposal of 72,000 metric tonnes of hazardous waste and save

over 10 billion KWh of electricity.

Some of the few EPEAT computers are MacBook Pros, Dell Studio hybrid and ASUS Natur.e

series. The processors of intel are also becoming more eco friendly … as generations passes.

Eco-friendly Air Conditioners: These air conditioners minimize the energy consumption

and release of harmful gases like CFCs into the atmosphere.

All these Eco-designs helped the atmospheric abundance of increasing rate of CFCs to fall

Solar Devices: Solar energy became the most renewable energy today. Most of the

electronic devices like calculators, GPS devices, solar chargers for mobile phones, digital

watches, heaters etc. Also Solar panels are used for household energy purposes.

World Renewable Energy Production:

All these above mentioned Eco-design represents increase in the use of Eco-design in consumer

Electronics.

Corporate Strategies for Eco-Efficiency (Hewlett Packard)

Approach to eco-efficiency:

Hewlett Packard (HP) is committed to providing products that are eco-efficient in all stages of its life

cycle. It realizes that “environmental impacts can occur at every stage of the product life cycle, from

product design, through manufacturing and transport, to use by customers and, finally, disposal at

the end of a product's life”. Its programs and processes were developed to minimize these impacts

as illustrated in the figure below.

Source: www.hp.com

Product Design Stage:

In 1992, HP established a Design for Environment Program that had 3 priorities: energy efficiency,

materials innovation, and design for recyclability. They wanted to create products that required less

energy to manufacture and use, required fewer materials and had less of an environmental impact,

and were easier to upgrade or recycle.

The program developed Design for Recycling (DfR) standards that focused innovation towards

products with minimal environmental impacts.

These design features include:

Modular design to allow components to be removed, upgraded or

replaced.

Eliminating glues and adhesives, for example, by using snap-in features.

Marking plastic parts weighing more than 25g according to ISO 11469 international

standards, to speed up materials identification during recycling.

Reducing the number and types of materials used.

Using single plastic polymers.

Using molded-in colors and finishes finishes instead of paint, coatings, or plating.

Relying on modular designs for ease of disassembly of dissimilar recyclable materials.

This provides designers with a clear set of guidelines to assess a product's recyclability before it is

even produced.

Some examples of products designed for the environment include the HP laptop, HP All-in-One, HP

CRT monitors, and others listed below:

Parts and resins in monochrome laser jet print cartridges have decreased by more than 50%

since 1992.

Compared to their predecessors, HP laptops use significantly less energy when in lower

power mode. After a period of inactivity, the HP laptop automatically switches to lower power

mode and consumes less than one watt of power; the Energy Star requirement is 15 watts.

HP uses recycled glass from discarded cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors in the manufacturing

of new CRT monitors. Up to 40% of glass in new HP CRT monitors is recycled glass from

discarded CRT monitors.

The HP All-in-One combines a printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine into a single product

and reduces material consumption during production by 40%.

The average pages printed per gram weight of LaserJet cartridge has increased by 139%

from 1990-2004.

Production Stage:

HP is one of the first multinational businesses to obtain a single, global ISO 14001 certification for

worldwide manufacturing operations. HP has reduced energy consumption and toxic emissions

during production by ensuring environmental management processes are in place at their

manufacturing facilities. Such processes help HP determine their ecological footprint. As a result, in

2004, HP reduced natural gas use by 12%, solid waste volumes by 3%, water use by 7%, and

hazardous waste volumes by 20%.

Distribution Stage:

Looking at product distribution, HP participates in Clean Cargo and Green Freight Groups and has

concentrated on reducing toxic emissions from transportation by focusing on product packaging.

For example, HP decreased unused space in camera packaging by 25% by using a high-density

polyethylene. As a result this created more efficient shipments because HP could ship 50% more

products per pallet while decreasing packaging materials use by half. While reducing transportation

impacts on the environment, HP saved $1 million in packaging costs.

Recycling Stage:

In 1991, HP launched the Planet Partners program that operates globally and handles the end-of-

life recycling processes for its products. It collected and recycled more than 120 million pounds of

used products in 2003. In 2004, almost 360,000 pounds of inkjet cartridges and approximately 27

million HP LaserJet print cartridges were recycled. Furthermore, more than 95% of the materials of

returned HP inkjet print cartridges were diverted from landfills.

Some initiatives HP has taken to increase customer awareness of recycling are the following:

E-coupons: e-coupons offer online recycling customer’s savings on new products from

HPshopping.com.

In-box labels and envelopes: Postage-paid labels and envelopes are included in many

replacement HP LaserJet and inkjet print cartridge boxes in the United States and Europe.

Standards: HP has global recycling standards for management of end-of-life computer

hardware products that address labour and safety at supplier operations.

Public policy: HP has worked closely with national, state and provincial governments to

develop shared responsibility recycling legislation where producers are responsible for the

recycling of their products.

With these initiatives, HP succeeded in recycling 1 billion pounds of electronic products and supplies

by 2007.

Myth and Reality…

“Green is Expensive” __ implies that all the products which are eco-friendly comes at cost.

But in reality it doesn’t hold true in long term time. Because buying a eco-based product like solar

panel costs a lot but in long term use it provides energy as long as it lasts which makes much amount

than we spend on conventional source of power. Hence “green is expensive” no longer holds true.

“Less efficient” __ renewable energies are less efficient than conventional sources of power.

In some sense its true that it is economically less efficient than traditional or conventional power

sources because it takes much time to produce power and takes much space and other additional

terms also adds up. But if we think in environment perspective renewable energies are much efficient

than conventional energies like fossil fuel, nuclear energy.

Often it is assumed by several people that though companies say that their products are

Eco friendly, yet they do harm the environment. Its not true because all above mentioned points and

statistics contradicts this statement, unless some companies do not follow them.

Governments of different countries established several agencies that take care of the products in

the market manufactured by several companies, whether they are up to standard or not and gives

rating based on their performance. Like

Energy Star An international standard for energy efficient consumer products originated in the

United States. It was created in 1992 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department

of Energy.

EPEAT The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is a method for

consumers to evaluate the effect of a product on the environment. It is assessing lifecycle

environmental standards and ranks products as gold, silver or bronze based on a set of

environmental performance criteria.

Conclusion

Today we see the demand and opportunity to use Eco Design across all sectors. Designers have

access to sophisticated tools, data and insights. The challenge lies in bringing these together across

the innovation funnel (from concept creation, through production and final use/disposal) to

communicate environmental performance. Regardless of scale of the design, be it a small cardboard

box, a laptop computer to large scale construction project.

Many multinational companies are striving hard for better results in designing eco-friendly products

because eco-design has the potential to optimize the performance of products by reducing material

and energy input over the entire product life cycle stages.

Eco-design opens the focus on all life cycle stages of product system and other aspects and makes

other field of actions visible. Results of a systematic eco-design process are innovative solutions

that are characterized by lower life cycle costs. Furthermore, the eco-design process leads to higher

legitimacy of the product itself and the company which produces the product. Therefore, Eco design

will be a key success factor for the company.

Regarding the question, whether eco-design of consumer electronics is a myth or reality?

From all the references, data, statistics collected and including experience, we can clearly state that

it is a “Reality”. Although multinational companies are trying to reduce their carbon foot print, using

most of recycled products is still a myth which is going to be reality in the future.

Bibliography

ECODESIGN Implementation: A systematic Guidance on integrating environmental

considerations into product development __ google books.

http://thrustybook.com/how-hp-dell-kodak-and-sony-achieve-eco-efficiency-extranet-4439

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Product_Environmental_Assessment_Tool

http://www.ecodesign.at/einfuehrung/allgemein/ecodesign/index.en.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMasgfo1BdA

http://www.theozonehole.com/cfc.htm

http://genesi-fp7.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/An-Introduction-to-Eco-design.pdf

http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/walep/walep2002/walep2002-01.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/ecodesign/doc/list_of_ecodesign_measures.pdf

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-tech/sustainable/5-myths-green-

technology.htm#page=1

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2013/12/20/the-pros-pick-four-solar-stocks-for-

2014/

Google images

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