Specialty metals recycler Umicore uses grams per tonne of gold to illustrate the potential for urban mining of e-waste.

How much gear is attached to the edges of our global ICT infrastructure? Our estimate has now reached 17 billion items, driven by mobile and broadcast devices. The World Bank tells us that the western hemisphere now has more mobile phones than people. This is an average number; 30% of Latin America's population lack access to mobile services.

Looking for the greenest television set? We've had to sort through a complex set of resources in the past to help you buy that green TV. Now, EPEAT has added televisions to its equipment registry. We hope this will bring some clarity to this category.

There is a rich global mix of advanced concepts and technologies emerging from research labs that may improve the future sustainability of ICT equipment and infrastructures. We'll regularly update this post with technologies to watch. (You can see all the technologies which hold the promise of greener ICT in the future by clicking the 'FutureTech' tag, above.) Our latest are two from IBM: the possibility of a liquid transistor and the the demonstration of a very high speed optical communications link.

Wearable tech is of interest to Green ICT because it can drive miniaturization and energy efficient. Miniaturization can reduce resource consumption in the creation of ICT gear and reduce e-waste in its disposal. Miniaturization combined with energy-efficiency can enable a host of applications ranging from "smart building" sensors to compact assistive technology. Is more wearable tech all positive? We look at a number of technologies, including one developed in Kenya which allows shoes to charge mobile phones.

The US ENERGY STAR program looks only at energy efficiency and not other sustainability factors. About twenty set-top boxes (STBs) or cable, IP, or satellite from seven manufacturers came in at less than 65W in the program's Total Energy Consumption (TEC) metric. This is a big improvement from two years ago, when our top twenty cut-off was 100W.

The Apple TV set-top box (STB), which I own, has always been very energy efficient. It is consistently at top the of EPA's ENERGY STAR STB ratings. Now, a third-party test finds the 2013 edition to be the most efficient Apple TV yet.

Apple attracted attention in 2012 because its iPad was so tightly assembled that it was not easily recycled. Now, it appears that Microsoft's Windows Surface tablet may be even less easily recycled.

Here we track gear for consumers and businesses seeking ICT resiliency. This is a wide range of ICT-related gear suitable for areas or situations lacking reliable grid power. Our latest is a is a hand-cranked USB charger.