Sustainable Electronics?

I am sure that everyone is aware of the connection between sustainability (or the impression of sustainability) as the latest craze in promoting new products.  While some of these ideas are creative and can even be good for the environment (generally speaking), they are often overshadowing and undervalued by the plethora of useless junk which is also being promoted as “sustainable” in order to cash in on the green train.  One of the more ridiculous ideas to date is the cardboard computer.  Now, I am all for a more environmentally conscious computer, but this is a joke.  The ReComputer

is a normal desktop in every way, except it has replaced the metal or plastic cover of a computer with cardboard.  First of all, this small change will do very little in making this a greener product, and uh… how did they over look the obvious: doesn’t cardboard catch fire?  Computer shells are a small part of the overall computer, but they play an important role in safety.  The parts inside a computer get quite hot and the fan is used to dissipate this heat, while the shell isolates the computer from paper and other flammable objects.  While I certainly appreciate the effort here, I think that our time and money would be better spent on a laptop instead, which naturally uses 1/4 the energy of a desktop or an iMac that uses about half the power of a normal PC desktop to run.

There is also another important factor that the ReComputer is not cashing in on; the chic factor.  This computer is not sexy, cool, or something to brag about and it is doubtful that it would last even as long as the normal computer.  However, some products do qualify as such.

thanks to TreeHugger.com

This bamboo keyboard/mouse and the wooden headphones are not making huge strides in their environmental impact, but they are somewhat better and something that most people would be proud of owning.  This factor alone makes them greener by drastically increasing the lifetime of use.  I have no attachment to my keyboard and would have no problem upgrading the next time I buy a computer, but with a keyboard like this one from Impecca I would be inclined to keep it for many years. I particularly like the headphones, and while they do have non PVC cables and renewable wood ear buds, probably the largest gain in sustainability is the packaging which is minimal and environmentally friendly.  In fact, it is going to take some convincing from my wife for me not to buy a pair of these.