2009 Consumer Electronics Show Greens Its Act

The four-day show reached its finale today with more than 2,700 exhibitors introducing the latest in digital entertainment, high-performance audio, TV, imaging, electronic gaming and communications equipment. From thin, thinner, and thinnest designs; to manufacturing, packaging and recycling, the industry is moving towards greener technologies.

Sony announced the availability of the industry's first Organic Light Emitting Diode, or OLED, television in the United States. The 11-inch XEL-1 model is just three millimeters thin and offers picture quality with high contrast, exceptional color reproduction, and rapid response time.

Sony's XEL-1 OLED television (Photo courtesy Sony)

The OLED display panel uses very low power levels since the light-emitting structure of the panel eliminates the need for a separate light source. Since OLED displays create their own light, any mercury associated with traditional backlighting is eliminated. The XEL-1 OLED is now available for about $2,500.

In his keynote address, Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation, said he recognizes how closely linked Sony's business activities are to environmental issues across all Sony divisions.

Sony Electronics is striving to create the ultimate closed loop product life cycle, Stringer said, using recycled materials, innovating production processes, building energy efficient products, and increasing the ease of recycling to reinforce Sony's commitment to sustainability and consideration for the environment.

Hitachi introduced the Ultra Thin LCD - a high definition liquid crystal display monitor with a profile of just 1.37 inches - minimizes its impact on the environment with specs that contribute to energy saving and carbon dioxide reduction in household use as well as packing and shipping logistics.

Hitachi says it has reduced its use of chemical substances monitored by the Japanese chemical standards body, J-Moss.

Philips introduced "The Ultimate Thin & Slim Eco TV," designed with a power-saving feature enabled by the backlight dimming technology which is designed to dim down the LCD panel backlight to reduce the power consumption while maintaining a clear, brilliant picture.

Motorola's Moto W233 Renew (Photo courtesy Morotola)

Motorola showcased the Moto W233 Renew, the first mobile phone with a protective housing made from recycled plastic water bottles.

For this first certified carbon neutral cell phone, Motorola has arranged with Carbonfund.org to offset the amount of energy needed to manufacture, distribute and operate the phones through investments in renewable energy sources, including the New Bedford Landfill Methane project, and reforestation.

"Today, natural resources, energy and time are more precious than ever before," said Jeremy Dale, corporate vice president, marketing, Motorola mobile devices. "From the product’s design, to the packaging to our partnership with Carbonfund.org, we wanted to ensure that this device makes the right impact with consumers and the environment."

The new phones are available from AT&T starting Tuesday. A postage-paid recycling envelope in the box makes it easy to return a previous mobile phone for recycling at no cost.

Many companies are slimming down their products, designing them to be energy efficient and using renewable materials - such the speakers from Taiwan's Medien Technology with cabinets made of quick-growing bamboo instead of wood.

Fuji showed its new eco-friendly, high performance EnviroMAX Battery line. These alkaline batteries contain no cadmium, lithium or polyvinyl chloride, and no ozone-depleting compounds are emitted during manufacture.

EnviroMAX batteries are made with recycled materials, and are packaged in recycled or recyclable materials. Fuji calls them "landfill safe."

CES attendees entranced by the latest Sony PlayStation (Photo courtesy Sony)

On the show's Knowledge Track, the Greener Gadgets session Saturday featured Jeff Omelchuck, the founder and director of the Green Electronics Council and the executive director of EPEAT, the independent third party green certification system for electronics. EPEAT is used by the U.S. and Canadian federal governments, many states and provinces, and large corporate purchasers to specify green electronics on their purchase contracts.

Omelchuck says purchaser demand for green has created a $60 billion market reward for the more than 30 corporations that use the EPEAT system, including HP, Dell, Lenovo, Apple, Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and dozens of smaller manufacturers around the world. These companies have registered over 1,000 laptops, desktops, and monitors in EPEAT.

In 2009 EPEAT will expand to provide country-specific registries of greener electronics in 38 countries including Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the United States. In 2010 EPEAT will expand to include printers, copiers and televisions.

The Consumer Electronics Show itself began using greener practices in 2008 for the first time in its 40 year history, and was even greener this year.

"We were able to get nearly 75 percent of the materials used on the show site to be recyclable, biodegradable products," from cleaning solvents to concession supplies, said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, events, with the Consumer Electronics Association.

The Canon display at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (Photo by Stephen Leung)

Chupka, who describes herself as "a green skeptic," says she has found environmentally-friendly things the show can do that make sense and satisfy the demands of legislators, bureaucrats and environmentalists pressuring the industry.

Demonstrators from the the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, appeared at the CES dressed as "TV zombies" to showcase their concern about the millions of TVs that will become obsolete on February 17, 2009, when the government-mandated switch from analog to digital TV signal takes effect.

Activists dressed as "undead TV zombies" criticized electronics manufacturers for their reluctance to take back and safely recycle their used products, although the digital conversion is just a month away.

"CES is all about the electronics industry convincing consumers to replace their old gadgets with the newest, coolest thing," said Robin Schneider, the executive director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, and vice chair of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition. "But at CES you won’t hear much about what consumers should do with the old products they tossed aside."

"We think that as long as these electronic products contain toxic materials, the company that makes the product should take it back and recycle it in a responsibly when the consumer is done with it," said Schneider. "Until they do, we’ll just see more and more TV zombies - old TVs tossed into the landfills."

"Our industry is always under great scrutiny for everything from energy efficiency to the recycling of our products," Chupka says. "No one wants to see a dump filled with old computers that could have been given to a village in Africa. And when analog television signals turn off next February, many are concerned about disposal of old TVs."

A small corner of the Consumer Electronics Show floor (Photo credit unknown)

"Our exhibitors are trying to be very proactive in setting green policies, improving energy efficiency, recycling and scrutinizing their manufacturing processes," she said. "So it's important that as the show that represents the industry, we take that step, too."

She says that this year the show improved its environmental performance.

The show's official services contractor, GES, runs 95 percent of their equipment on natural gas. GES offers eco-friendly booth packages to help exhibitors make small changes that add up to a big difference. Exhibits can employ insert panels that use wood certified as sustainably harvested by the Forest Stewardship Council, shelves and counters made from formaldehyde-free particle board, and eco-friendly carpet. Trash cans and liners were biodegradable.

The main venue, the Las Vegas Convention Center, uses more efficient Energy Star lighting systems.

Chupka says the show no longer prints and mails 40-page conference brochures. In 2008, the show went to a virtual brochure, accessible online. "It's great because it's like a living brochure - it can be updated daily with new speakers and sessions. And we saved 200,000 brochures from the waste stream, not to mention what we saved in costs on printing and postage," she said.

Consumer Electronics Show attendees, who come to Las Vegas from over 140 countries, can conduct a year's worth of business in one location, minimizing travel and saving energy and avoiding greenhouse gas emissions, Chupka points out.

"Each of our attendees has an average of 12 meetings while at CES and approximately 1.7 million meetings are conducted in total," she said.

"CES attendees avoid over 700 million miles of business travel, she says, "enough to travel from the Earth to the Sun seven times."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.