Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) is an initiative started in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the summer of 2009 by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, which is a division of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability of the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. SEI is dedicated to developing and implementing

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

means for the

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

remanufacturing Remanufacturing is "the rebuilding of a product to specifications of the original manufactured product using a combination of reused, repaired and new parts". It requires the repair or replacement of worn out or obsolete components and modules. ...

, and

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

(

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs ...

cell phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

televisions Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

printers Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * Jame ...

, etc.) Members of SEI include individuals from

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

non-profit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, government agencies, manufacturers, designers, recyclers and refurbishers. The goals of the Sustainable Electronics Initiative are to provide research, education, technical assistance, and data management for the general public and other interested parties with regards to electronics and

electronic waste Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Informa ...

. SEI conducts collaborative research with professors and industry representatives, facilitates networking and information exchange among its participants, promotes the diffusion of technology through demonstration projects, and it provides a forum for discussion of applicable policies and legislation. SEI was created as a response to the growing national and international demand for more sustainable electronic designs and more environmentally friendly ways to handle electronics once they reach the end of their useful lives. Currently, individual states have passed laws regarding ewaste, but federal legislation has not yet been passed. The

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

and

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

are, however, currently considering federal legislation which will fund electronics research, recycling, and refurbishing. Bill S.1397 was proposed by Senator

Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...

( D- MN) and Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as member of the U.S. House of Re ...

( D- NY) in July 2009. The bill addresses the illegal dumping of electronic waste to undeveloped countries. More importantly, however, the bill also focuses on the importance of research and development for the designing and manufacturing of sustainable electronics, which would be recycled, reused, and refurbished more easily. The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, on the other hand, has passed several strict laws governing electronic equipment and its disposal. While one of the SEI goals is to minimize waste, this goal can be reached through the application of life cycle analyses. By analyzing the complete life cycle of a product, SEI will take into consideration the design, processing, manufacturing, use, and disposal stages of electronic equipment. With the use of life cycle analyses, SEI plans to make the overall process of computers and other electronics more sustainable and less environmentally harmful.

Symposia and workshops

In 2009, SEI hosted "Truth, Tragedy, and Transformation of E-Waste," the first free public talk in a lecture series presented by the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the

. Willie Cade, the founder and CEO of PC Rebuilders and Recyclers (PCRR) gave a lecture focusing on the current e-waste problems and how refurbishing can help alleviate the current e-waste problem. Cade also spoke about current assumptions with regards to e-waste and their possible inaccuracies. In addition, free cell phone recycling was offered to attendees of the event, with proceeds going to local nonprofits. Design for Energy and the Environment was the first annual symposium hosted by SEI, which included presentations from representatives from industry, government agencies, and academia. Topics of the symposium include: education, materials and design, life cycle analysis, policies, design for end-of-life, and electronics recovery. In addition, the symposium will include keynote speakers from the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

(EPA),

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

, and

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

. The symposium welcomes designers, manufacturers, chemists, electrical engineers, government representatives, and all others.

Education and research

Design for Energy and the Environment Laboratory (DEE Lab)

The DEE Lab is a new campus research laboratory bringing together faculty and students from design, marketing, business and engineering to solve real world product development problems for industry. Companies are finding that they can no longer compete on the basis of technology alone. User needs must be met through technology, and successful companies must create innovative products that delight customers. For this reason, the DEE Lab links user-centered/customer focused and technology driven disciplines to work toward common goals and solutions. DEE Lab integrates research and instruction to solve real world problems for industry while preparing students for leadership positions in collaborative product development. DEE Lab’s integral disciplines are industrial design, graphic design, architecture and marketing, given their user centered roles, and engineering to support the integration of technology and manufacturing innovation. DEE Lab’s design process methodology combines customer, technology, business and marketing research with structured analysis, interdisciplinary brainstorming, rapid prototyping and evaluation. Research deliverable include development of smart products and technology transfer, strategic product and systems concepts, sustainable product development, ethnographic studies, trends forecasting, ergonomic verification and envisioning new products and systems. Research guides companies in articulating the future or addressing immediate needs through a fresh independent perspective. The DEE Lab is located within the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and is a part of the Sustainable Electronics Initiative. William Bullock, a professor with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Art and Design is the director of the DEE lab.

Competitions

Sustainable E-Waste Design Competition

The Sustainable E-Waste Design Competition is a way for University of Illinois students to get involved in the Sustainable Electronics Initiative. During the spring 2009 semester, students were challenged to create appealing, useful products from e-waste through a School of Art and Design course. Students conducted an e-waste collection on campus and twenty teams each developed useful items from the collected e-waste. The projects were judged by a group of industry representatives. Six of the teams were awarded a total of fifteen thousand dollars in scholarships provided by industry sponsors Wal-Mart, Dell, Motorola and Microsoft. The E-Waste Design competition will occur during the Spring 2010, with the final judging occurring on April 20, 2010. This year, the competition will be international in scope, with participants submitting projects in the form of videos on

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References