Technology Reviews and updates | CES 2009 Updates

The relationship between manufacturers of Consumer electronics and environmentalists is similar to that between George W Bush and Saddam Hussein. No matter how much the latter tries to convince the former, he would not succeed.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas this week threw many good surprises in the form of environment friendly electronic products. Yet, the green brigade is still not convinced that the industry is taking the environment any more seriously than the way Israel takes UN resolutions. And even if the recession in United States, which has had a domino effect in global economy, resulted in less number of people visiting the CES this year, manufacturers like Toshiba and LG have tried to put their greenest foot forward in the show.

Japanese electronics manufacturer, Toshiba recently unveiled its Super Charger battery during the show. Being long lasting, it is being promoted as a product which would save energy, thereby bringing down the need to produce more energy which would obviously result in less CO2 getting dispersed in the atmosphere. The other product which specifically designed to cut energy costs was the LG’s 32-inch TV. According to the company, the new product would require 50 percent less power than the conventional 32-inch LCD TV.

In addition to being responsible for, either directly or indirectly releasing gases into the atmosphere, consumer electronics are the major source of e-waste. Hence, in order to address that problem, mobile phone manufacturer, Motorola recently released its new cell phone made of plastic which contains the plastic recovered by recycling water bottles.

The disagreement between the industry and the green brigade is likely to continue as long as the problems of environmental degradation and global warming are seriously and fully addressed by both governments of the world and business enterprises. However, the showcasing of various environment friendly products in the Consumer Electronics Show this year is a welcome surprise. One should hope that this trend continues and consumer goods manufacturers come up with more such gadgets in future.