Plastic paper to 'cut' emissions
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A printer that uses re-writeable plastic paper could help firms cut carbon emissions, claims Toshiba.
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(InfoWorld) - If just a small portion of the world's mobile phone users unplugged their charger when the battery is full, it could save enough electricity to power thousands of homes. So said Nokia on Thursday, as it unveiled a new industry group that aims to make mobile phones more environmentally friendly. The group also includes Motorola, France Telecom, Vodafone Group, TeliaSonera, and others. It was created as part of a European Commission project aimed at uniting members of different industries to work on reducing the environmental impact of their products. Members of the new group will try to educate people more about how they can reduce the environmental impact of using their cell phones. For example, manufacturers will start displaying a reminder on phones to unplug chargers once the battery is charged. If only 10 percent of phone users did that, they would save enough energy to power 60,000 European homes each year, Nokia estimates. The companies will alsoÂ reduce the hazardous materialsÂ they use beyond what current legislation requires. One example is Nokiaâs decision to stop using any components in its phones that contain a certain type of environmentally harmful chemical flame retardant. The operators will also increase the number of used phones that are returned for recycling. Theyâll examine existing recycling schemes around the world and identify successful ones. They also plan to try out incentive initiatives to determine if they might improve recycling rates. Environmental organizations including World Wildlife Fund, the Finnish Environmental Institute, the European Consumersâ Organization and the U.K.âs Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are also part of the new initiative. The European Union recently instituted new regulations on the types of hazardous materials that can be included in electronic devices. Most manufacturers were able to alter their products to comply with the new laws, but Palm in July stopped shipping what was its latest smart phone, the Treo 650, to Europe because it didnât meet the regulations.
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It isn't easy being green in an abstract world As Kermit the infuriating frog puppet once said "It's not easy bein' green" - especially as a software developer. OK you can do all things that everyone else does - buy a Toyota Prius hybrid or even cycle to work (as long as you avoid Lycra and silly helmets). You can scribble notes on recycled paper with a pencil (made of wood from managed forests) and turn your machine off standby. You can even diligently recycle your printer ink cartridges and offset your energy consumption by planting a few trees.â¦
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Scientists have invented the first spray-on plastic that can turn the sun's infrared rays into electricity.
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By Ridzwan A. Rahim  MOST of us use plastic bags without considering the danger they pose to the environment and the eco-system.  Plastics are the primary substance in trash found in oceans today.
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Scientists at the University of Warwick have designed a hi-tech solution to an old-technology problem: a cellphone case made of biodegradable polymer.
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Scientists said on Monday they have come up with a cell phone cover that will grow into a sunflower when thrown away. Materials company Pvaxx Research &amp; Development, at
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Growing demand from retailers and manufacturers for smaller, eco-friendly packages is pushing box makers and chemical companies to create compact packaging that is bio-based and recyclable.
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US scientists discover how to make plastics from orange peel, using the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
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Science & environment: Plastic pipes could pump water to bring up nutrients.
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Blog: Why not make plastic forks from sugar cane
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Become a friend to the environment and cut your tax bill.
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Science & environment: RSPB calls for urgent action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and avoid 'calamitous' impact on birds
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[Business India]: Tokyo, Dec 7 : Victor Co of Japan (JVC) has said it has succeeded in manufacturing an environmentally friendly DVD with a special plastic synthesised from corn starch.
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(InfoWorld) - Someday consumers may find themselves listening to paper to learn more about products, receive instructions, or heed warnings. That's the hope of Swedish researchers studying ways to print loudspeakers and keyboards on paper. "The technology could be used in many ways," said Kristina Brink, a professor at Mid Sweden University and coordinator of the Paper Four research project. "In addition to advertising, it could help people with seeing problems use products or provide instructions on taking medication or even warn children of the risks of smoking cigarettes." But the researchers, who have shown how to use printable ink instead of wires or other embedded devices like chips in greeting cards to communicate signals on paper, concede that without a way to print the interactive paper cheaply, their invention may never leave the lab. "Our prototype is handmade, which makes it expensive" but the idea is to be able to print on a large scale, Brink said. "That would make it cheap." A new research phase starting later this year will focus on using interactive paper in packaging, said Brink. This phase follows the construction and successful testing last month of a prototype display that provides information about tourist attractions and examples of CD recordings. Finding ways to prevent messages from being unintentionally activated is a challenge researchers face as they tinker with interactive packaging. Store clerks and shoppers, for instance, could become annoyed by products they handle constantly speaking to them. "This is something that will have to be looked at," Brink said. The current prototype uses an electronically conductive ink that responds to pressure, by a finger or hand, for instance. It also uses printed speakers created with the conductive ink spread over a material -- in this case aluminium foil -- which covers an empty cavity to form a diaphragm. The areas covered by the conductive ink are linked at the edge of the paper to wires, which relay the signals to a chip embedded with audio files. The prototype display consists of three different layers of paper. The back of the display is made of cardboard. The middle layer is printed with the conductive ink on regular paper. And the top layer, the "skin," which uses paper designed for glossy pictures, contains the graphic elements, such as pictures of cities and CDs. The skin layer is also used to cover the conductive ink. The system works like this: When you touch, say, a picture of a new CD recording, the pressure of your hand or finger sends a signal, which is captured by the wire at the end of the paper and forwarded to the chip. The chip, in turn, activates an audio file, which is streamed through the printed speaker also connected to the wire and conductive ink system. The paper printed with the conductive ink can be recycled or thrown away. A video clip of the Four Paper project, which is receiving funds from the European Union and Sweden's paper industry, can be viewed on the project team's Web site.
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Pig manure in Chile will keep neon lights glowing on Tokyo's Ginza in years to come. It's a grand north-south tradeoff to slow global warming: You reduce your "greenhouse gas" emissions so I don't have to cut back on mine.
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The company claims to have developed a new technology that uses plastic instead of glass. From Crave, CNET's gadgets blog.