Greentech Lead Europe: External power supply standards
could enhance the reliability and extend the lifecycle of external power
supplies (EPS) while decreasing their average weight by up to 30 percent,
according to a new ITU-Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) report.
This could eliminate 300,000 tons of e-waste annually,
the report said.
Further, standardizing efficiency characteristics could
reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of EPS by
between 25 and 50 percent, said the report titled An Energy-aware Survey
on ICT Device Power Supplies.
About four billion EPS are produced each year, weighing
roughly a million tons and resulting in 500,000 tons of e-waste.
“An economic culture prioritizing energy efficiency and
environmental responsibility is the only means through which we will create
sustainable models of economic growth,” said ITU secretary-general Hamadoun I.
Toure. “In the ICT sector, international standards present the ideal mechanism
to encourage an industry-wide commitment to these essential values.”
Luis Neves, fhairman of GeSI, said, “Every bit of e-waste
we avoid or energy efficiency we gain will translate directly into increased
future capacity to invest in innovation and progress; funds that would
otherwise have been required to retroactively correct mistakes of the past. I
expect to see the recommendations of this EPS report quickly reflected by
international ICT standards and the practices of equipment manufacturers.”
The study, authored by Raffaele Bolla, Roberto Bruschi
and Luca D’Agostino (Department of Communication, Computer and Systems Science
(DIST), University of Genoa), analyses 300 commercially available EPS, testing
the correlation between chargers’ weight, volume and supplied power.
Major Corporations Turning to E-waste as Mineral Prices
Explode: GTSO
Recently GTSO Resources, the mining subsidiary of Green
Technology Solutions, said that the major international corporations are
investing heavily in e-waste recycling to recollect expensive minerals.
International corporations such as Waste
Management, Sprint Nextel, Cisco
Systems and more are focusing in e-waste recycling as mineral prices
soar worldwide.
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