The 1 July
WEEE Directive has been followed by a boom in interest in
IT product recycling, energy saving devices and green energy
sources. Yesterday retailer
Currys Online showcased some of the new eco friendly IT
products.
Consumer products, such as standby energy savers, rechargeable
batteries and solar charges may find themselves being adopted in
business as users take them to work.
"Currys is reviewing the way it buys IT products, purely in
response to demand," explained Patrick Frizoni, marketing manager
for the Spectrum Electronics Group, which supplies Currys with
solar chargers. "As this technology matures and becomes more
impressive, we can see it being demanded by corporate IT buyers
too."
Spectrum offers the Solio, a hybrid solar charger of phones,
cameras and PDAs.
Responding to charges that many green consumer products are
gimmicks, Frizoni explained that the choice of manufacturer is
important. "Our kit is designed in the UK and made by the same
Chinese manufacturer that makes iPods, so we can guarantee
quality."
Frizoni argued that solar power is just emerging from its
infancy. "We can run a router on solar power now. You can run a
mobile on energy generated from a wind up mechanism. It will not be
that long before PCs and servers are running off green energy
sources."
Green intenet centre planned in Manchester
>>
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