This is the D-Link DIR-855, one of the three new D-Link routers that belong to the company's Green Initiative.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)D-Link claimed today to be the first company to offer green Wi-Fi home networking. While the "first" notion of the claim is debatable--I've seen routers from other vendors with an eco-friendly design--the green aspect is more than welcome.
The company said its green initiative that adds eco-friendly features to the Xtreme NT line of wireless routers could reduce the devices' power consumption by 40 percent without sacrificing performance.
These new features cut down the power usage by automatically detecting link status and network cable length then adjusting the power accordingly. The new routers also feature Wi-Fi scheduling that allows customers to easily program when the Wi-Fi radio signals are turned on and off to further save energy consumption. Though this is not really new, many other routers allows for selectively turning off the wireless signal, D-Link has made this a lot easier to use and provides a user-selectable radio shutdown option that's adjustable by day and start/end times.
D-Link's new environmentally conscientious routers include: D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit Router (DIR-655), D-Link Xtreme N Duo Media Router (DIR-855), and the D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router (DGL-4500). These prodcuts are RoHS- and WEEE-compliment, meaning they are certified to be safe from hazardous materials and are made of recycled materials that could be disposed of properly. Apart from the Green upgrade, these routers also support IPv6, a much larger address space that allows greater flexibility in allocating addresses and routing traffic.
All D-Link's new routers are now available for purchase with the price varying from $150 to $350.
Circuitboard cufflinks are safe.
(Credit: Circuitboard cufflinks are safe.)Castoff computer parts can make for quirky jewelry, if you feel like flashing keyboard button earrings or circuitboard cufflinks.
Unlike these models of creative recycling, some costume jewelry imported from China contains heavy metals from discarded electronics and could make you sick, as the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
No lead in these button earrings.
(Credit: Etsy)Some novelty necklaces and earrings are laced with lead and antimony that likely came from e-waste thrown away by consumers in the United States and other developed nations, then shipped to China for unsafe recycling. "Best Friends Forever" necklaces from Claire's mall shops and stud earrings from Kmart were recalled here in recent months. Accidentally swallowing such leaden baubles could kill a child.
Keeping lead close to your heart.
(Credit: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)The story is a strange twist of fate for the materials inside some of the tens of millions of pounds of computers, monitors, cell phones, and countless other gadgets discarded each year. Watchdog groups want U.S. companies to stop shipping e-waste overseas, where poor people in China, India and elsewhere smash and burn the trash to sell gold, copper and other valuable components, but can get sick in the process from the poisonous metals and plastics. On the flip side, some consumer groups fear that the lack of federal laws around toxic tech in this country will lead to more imports of products rejected as unsafe by Asian and European markets.
When recycling your tired gadgets, it can be hard to tell what their final destination may be. This list of recycling programs from the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition is a good guide.
It may not come in a sustainably-harvested bamboo case, but if you're shopping for an eco-friendly computer, the Dell Latitude D630 is in a league of its own. This model is the first laptop on the market worldwide to win the highest, gold rating from EPEAT, which measures energy-efficiency and green design elements in electronics.
Dell's green machine
(Credit: CNET Reviews)EPEAT ratings, run by the nonprofit Green Electronics Council, take into consideration low-toxic materials as well as the energy conservation and ease of recycling of computers, printers and monitors. The acronym stands for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. When that program launched last year, the pickings were slim. Yet now there are 3 products marked EPEAT gold, 442 ranked next-best as silver, and 62 items rated basic bronze.
The Dell notebook meets EnergyStar requirements of 80 percent efficiency and ships in packaging made from partly-recycled cardboard. Judging by its CNET Editors' Choice award, the Dell D630 performs well too.
The HP rp5700 Business Desktop as well as Dell OptiPlex 740 and 745 mini-tower systems also received gold EPEAT labeling recently.
Dell this week announced plans to reduce its corporate carbon footprint by 15 percent or more within five years and demand that suppliers disclose their own greenhouse gas emissions. Dell also gives customers the option to pay a few bucks extra per PC purchase to plant a tree. Many mainstream electronics makers, including HP and Apple, are pushing to cut carbon emissions and energy waste.
iPod, color green
(Credit: CNET Networks)During his Macworld keynote speech, Steve Jobs played a congratulatory voice message from friend Al Gore on the droolworthy new iPhone, then used that device to locate the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth at the top of Amazon's bestseller list.
Outside the convention center's doors, however, Greenpeace activists handed out flyers painting Apple as less than hip to ecological problems, urging the company to remove toxicants from its products and set up free hardware recycling. Several blocks away, members of the environmental group also projected pictures of Asian electronics waste scrap yards onto a wall of the downtown San Francisco Apple store. Discarded electronics are the fastest-growing portion of the global waste stream. Shiploads of the First World's e-waste routinely reach developing regions of Asia and Africa, where people take apart the machines by hand to sell valuable metals, but endanger their health and the environment in the process.
A greener, imaginary iPod
(Credit: Greenpeace)Pushing its Green My Apple campaign, Greenpeace created a spoof video of Jobs' keynote, in which the imitation CEO announces an eco-friendly MP3 player: "Green iPod contains no PVC, no brominated fire retardants, no lead or mercury. It's powered by solar panels and the kinetic energy of your body when you move around. It's not only recycled, it's recyclable, and it won't poison any kids in China or India anymore."
Last month, Greenpeace's Green Electronics Guide ranked Apple dead last among computer and mobile device manufacturers. Apple has neither phased out toxic flame retardants and PVC nor set up free hardware recycling programs, such as the one provided by Dell, according to Greenpeace. Apple says it complies with European Union rules that went into effect last year forcing the makers of consumer electronics to reduce toxic metals and fireproofing chemicals in their products. Apple pulled some noncompliant products, including iSights, eMacs, and iPod Shuffle battery packs, from the European market last summer.
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