Tag Archives: informed

How to know if your electronics are GREEN

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Going green is the “next big thing” for seemingly every company out there. From dishwashing soaps, to shoelace companies, every marketer has been placing some sort of a “green” spin on their products lately. The truth of the matter is, there are no federal regulations for what can and cannot be called “green,” so it’s no wonder that everyone is jumping on board the green bandwagon. Furthermore, it should surprise no one that many of the companies who often repackage their old products as “green” do so more as a marketing scheme than a legitimate effort towards bettering our environment. Maybe they’re focusing more so on the “green” in their pockets than the green outside.

In an attempt to help some of you audio visual and videoconferencing enthusiast out there, I’ve put together a little list of certifications  that qualify the green efforts of companies and their technologies.

This means your product is ENERGY STAR® qualified.

       “ENERGY STAR® is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices. Energy efficient choices can save families about a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort. ENERGY STAR helps you make the energy efficient choice.” – EnergyStar.gov

This means your product’s power supply is 80 PLUS™ certified

       80 PLUS is an initiative to promote energy efficiency in computer power supply units (PSU). It certifies products that have more than 80% energy efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated load, and a power factor of 0.9 or greater at 100% load. That is, PSUs that waste 20% or less electric energy as heat at the specified load levels, thus reducing electricity use and bills compared to less efficient PSUs. Sometimes rebates are given for manufacturers who use 80 PLUS-certified PSUs.

This means your product is operating with alternative / renewable energy sources

       Alternative Energy is energy that is made in a way that does not harm the environment, and completely avoids and fossil fuel or nuclear power. Renewable Energy is energy made with renewable resources such as the sun’s light, wind, water, etc.

This means your Electronics are RoHS compliant (Restricted use of Hazardous Substances)

       RoHS is a European program that began restricting the use of 6 hazardous substances for electronics in 2006. These hazardous materials are considered harmful and bad for the wellbeing of the environment and people. RoHS products are not supposed to contain any Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Hexavalent Chromium, Polybrominated Biphenyl or Polybrominated Biphenyl Ethers.

 

This means your Electronics are designed with sustainability and long term customer value in mind

       To have this certification your product must be advanced with its multi-functionality, smaller in size/ weight/ materials in general, and must limit its packaging or incorporate recycled packaging for its shipping means. On top of this the expected life of the product must be greater than its predecessor.

 

This means your Product is WEEE compliant (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment)

       Manufacturer offers or sponsors end of life, trade-in, take-back, recovery or recycling programs ensuring hazardous electronics waste doesn’t end up in landfills. Products, components, materials and packaging are either refurbished for resale or recycled or reclaimed for reuse in new or additional products.

This means your product’s Manufacturer has an environmental charter

       Electronics manufacturer has an environmental charter with goals and objectives that embrace environmental policies, practices and incentives for employees and suppliers to achieve a more sustainable business model. Company typically publishes an annual environmental report card or audit of its progress.

A little about Us

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Welcome to Ecopresence.org, where our goal is to help people “save money, save time, save the planet!” Ecopresence.org is a blog that examines audio visual technologies with an ecological focus Audio visual technologies enhance communication.  They include sound and display technologies that enable communication in venues such as auditoriums, classrooms, and conference rooms as well as related communication technologies such as videoconferencing streaming, and desktop collaboration.

The ecological focus of ecopresence.org examines the decision factors that may affect the environment when making product selections.   Architects and engineers need to understand the environmental effects of the audio and visual devices within a space.   Light, heating and power distribution are affected by the audio visual technology in the building.   Better management of these factors can reduce the overall cost of construction as well as the recurring operational costs of a building.  Ecopresence.org will help with the analysis by recommending and providing tools to aid in planning.

Several factors can contribute to the environmental resources consumed in the operation of a device.  For example, besides the amount of power consumed and heat generated, the amount of waste in packaging can influence the environmental footprint.  However the best savings of resources comes when a resource is never consumed in the first place.  Our emphasis on the return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO) touch upon savings in the maintenance and overall operation of the product.  For example, if there is less maintenance involved in servicing a product, less manpower is needed for the service.  This not only affects the TCO but the reduction in manpower in turn effects the environment.

Expect regular articles from Ecopresence.org that will enable green-focused, informed business decisions for audio-visual and videoconferencing devices. 

We are going to use our unbiased expertise to aid in this mission of ours, and hope to build a community of active and informed readers in the process.

      Follow us NOW on twitter @ecopresence1

Welcome!

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Welcome to Ecopresence.org, where our goal is to help people “save money, save time, save the planet!” Ecopresence.org is a blog that is dedicated to using its expertise, in audio visual and videoconferencing technologies, in order to enable green-focused and informed business decisions, while taking into account these technologies environmental factors, as well as return on investment and total cost of ownership.

What are audio visual and videoconferencing technologies?

                When this blog talks about audio visual and videoconferencing technologies, we are focusing on products involved with the latest technology that aid in enhanced communication in the digital age. We will be touching on the green side of videoconferencing infrastructure and endpoints, audio visual devices, and streaming/ recording/ replay devices, to give a few examples. In order to become recognized as experts, we will not often stray from this category of technology.

What are “green-focused” and informed business decisions?

                Ecopresence.org takes several things into account with its definition of “green focused” when it comes to technology. We will be taking a look into exactly what makes for a “greener” technology, and what less obvious characteristics might be worth greater consideration than expected. We will then take these green considerations and tie them into business side of this industry, thus furthering what will become a practical and informed business decision.

For example, let’s say that we have 2 seemingly identical projectors as far as price and potentially hazardous materials are concerned, except for the fact that projector X consumes less power to operate. Does that mean that projector X is “greener” than projector Y? Ecopresence intends to take a deeper look into situations like this. Yes, projector X is helping to save the planet and your money by using less power. However, if projector X requires more maintenance or upkeep than its competition, then any cost savings with electricity are void by the new cost to keep the machine running, and any “green” effect on the environment that it might have caused can be ignored due to the greater carbon-footprint left behind as a result of shipping it around, bringing in parts, and using technicians.

Needless to say, “green-focused” and informed business decisions have quite a few factors to consider.

What environmental factors are taken into account with these technologies?

                Ecopresence.org will take into account a multitude of environmental factors that should be taken into consideration when weighing the pros and cons of audio visual and videoconferencing technologies. We will touch on issues concerning these devices’ safety of materials, shipping/ assembly/ logistics factors, idle and active power consumptions, and maintenance/ upkeep’s toll on the environment, just to name a few.

By factoring in these environmental properties, Ecopresence.org hopes to provide a better and greener foundation on which to make your final decision.

How does return on investment and total cost of ownership factor into this?

                Ecopresence.org understands that price is a huge thing to consider when researching this technology. That’s why the return on investment and total cost of ownership are going to be huge players in our recommendation or coverage of products. We want to make sure that the technology being invested in is going to benefit you, and isn’t going to constantly dig back into your pocket. We don’t want to recommend setups with a short life span, or vast maintenance costs because we understand and want to help explain the correlation between the green in your pocket and the green in our planet.

A number of other economic considerations will measured through our research as well, and in doing so we hope to continue to add to our mission of saving everything time, saving people money, and saving the planet.

What’s Next?

Expect weekly articles from Ecopresence.org that help enable green-focused and informed business decisions for audio-visual and videoconferencing devices, while taking into account these technologies environmental factors, as well as return on investment and total cost of ownership. We are going to use our unbiased expertise to aid in this mission of ours, and hope to build a community of active and informed readers in the process.

Follow us NOW on twitter @ecopresence1