The consumer electronics and computer businesses have become synonymous with high rates of (some say planned) obsolescence.

Over twenty US states have or are considering electronics recycling laws, so manufactures are beginning to respond. Three major players - Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba - announced at CES that they are forming the Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company, LLC (MRM).

Recycling is "downstream" solution to the e-waste problem. The "upstream" solution is to rethink product design and marketing to encourage long-term use, not rapid replacement. Additional product design initiatives could reduce toxic components and make recycling easier and cheaper.

Other items of note:

The 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which touts itself as the largest carbon-neutral trade show,  is featuring lots of "green gadgets". Vertatique will be tracking the news coming out of the show, please comment if you have specific experience with any of these devices. Our first CES post features companies offering a new generation of power supplies for computers and other devices. One, Green Plug, cites the following 2008 power supply statistics on its web site:

Here is an update on our past coverage of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, courtesy of New York Times tech columnist David Pogue. He offers a detailed review of the new machine, dubbed the XO, including its innovative energy features:

Europe's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive holds manufacturers "responsible for taking back and recycling electrical and electronic equipment.". While biomed device manufactures may have some short-term exemptions, the handwriting is on the wall . . .

Green Wifi "seeks to bridge the last mile internet access with nothing more than a single broadband internet connection, rooftops and the sun".

Mesh WiFi is a network technology and topology in which each user is also an wireless access point, moving signals to and from neighboring users to create a wireless network (the 'mesh') without a separate wireless infrastructure.