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Veritas et Visus Display Standard February 2009 definitely not be restricted or monitored is the flame retardant tetrabromobisphenol (TBBPA), which a recent study conducted under the REACH remit found to be safe to humans and the environment. However, four substances have been identified for priority assessment and possible ban: hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), bis (2ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). Further afield, the much-delayed China-RoHS lists of products and substances are finally expected in the next couple of months. For more information regarding the proposed EU RoHS revisions, visit http://www.ipc.org/rohsrevisions. The WEEE and Batteries Directives may cause problems for those nations, particularly the UK, that have been slow to wake up to their implications; but it will be local authorities rather than the industry who will be suffering headaches this time round. On a more positive note, the missed opportunity of fully incorporating the Basel Convention into the WEEE Directive will be rectified under the EU Waste Shipment Regulation (EWSR). Another addition to WEEE that could arrive this year are new measures to make recycling safer and easier for consumers and businesses, but this may depend on how much progress is made with the other directives. The saga that has been the development and implementation of REACH looks set to continue, but at the moment the major arguments are centering around chemicals used in agriculture. So whilst it is never a good idea to forget about the directive that has been dubbed “RoHS on steroids” it is more likely to be RoHS itself that will make the headlines. If there are problems, and if REACH’s history is anything to go by then there will be, they will almost certainly revolve around the “substances of very high concern” (SVHCs) listed under the Directive, of which there are 15 in use by the electronics industry with another seven likely to be added this year. Manufacturers will now be required to document and track any of these that constitute more than 0.1% by weight of a device, and as with RoHS there are no allowances for components sourced outside the EU for which this data is not available. Interestingly it may ultimately be consumers rather than policy-makers who will influence attitudes towards the directive, as consumer requests for information about SVHCs must be dealt with within 45 days. A few difficult questions could cause serious problems for careless manufacturers, and one is left wondering how a more policysavvy rival could exploit this to lever a competitive advantage. Finally there’s the Energy-using Products Directive. This is definitely the one to watch. The eco-design guidelines released last year were merely the appetizer before this year’s main course. EuP’s Implementing Measures for ecodesign will arrive this year to give the guidelines teeth. Whilst very little reliable information has so far come out of Brussels the expectation is that tungsten bulbs won’t be the only technology that EuP will phase out. The most inefficient power supply units are certain to be on this list, in line with the EU’s intention to revise its energy labelling scheme, and non-mercury-free CFLs may not be too far behind. Even this revision is causing controversy as it looks set to result in a move away from the simple “A-G” rating to one consisting of numbers and letters. Earlier proposals looked at keeping the existing system but losing the lowest (G) category by banning all products in it from the market. This column has predicted the rise of EuP for some time now; this year we will finally learn how accurate those predictions were and this time next year it will be interesting to reflect the relative coverage generated by EuP compared to the more high profile revision of RoHS – but then where EU policy-making is concerned it is always safe to assume there will be a surprise or two along the way. One Laptop Per Child fights on Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child initiative has probably made more headlines for the setbacks it has suffered than the successes it has achieved, but OLPC has consolidated its operations and is now emerging healthier than ever. Negroponte, who is the founder and chairman emeritus of MIT’s Media Lab, founded OLPC with the aim of providing every child in the developing world with access to education through the provision of low cost laptops, with a target price of $100 a unit. The development of OLPC’s XO-1 machine hit a major obstacle back in 2007 when chief technology officer, Mary Lou Jepsen refused to start a new company called Pixel Qi to support development of XO spin-offs separately. Then financial stresses led to further problems - the resignation of OLPC’s 78
Veritas et Visus Display Standard February 2009 software guru Walter Bender, the laying off of half of OLPCs staff, and the remaining staff accepting huge pay cuts. Furthermore, with the prices of mass-market laptops falling, XO-1 is now beginning to face competition from the commercial manufacturers it was set up to undercut, as well as from a similar initiative by Intel that was arguably a cynical move in the wake of the publicity afforded to OLPC. Competition for the XO-1 is also emerging in India, one of the nations OLPC’s efforts were intended to help. The Indian government having recently announced that a competitor machine developed by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras will be a cornerstone of delivering its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technologies. However just before this column went to press the first specs came out, and the details are what some might consider a nice bit of karma (see next article). Yet despite all of this, and to his great credit, Negroponte is fighting on. As he recently commented, “OLPC should have trimmed sooner. We have since grown stronger. Almost all the cutbacks were in engineering staff related to the in-house support of Sugar, which is far better done in the community. In fact, paying people to do it from within created a degree of control that was unsuitable for real open-source development. There are 600,000 laptops in the field, 250,000 in transit and another 380,000 about to be made, so the total adds up to about 1.2m. Thirty-one countries in 19 languages are the exact statistics. It’s less than I anticipated, but still gratifying.” This modesty in the face of adversity almost misses the fact that if the XO-1s remaining to be made arrive in the field then OLPC will have surpassed many of the gloomy predictions made in the media, and set a precedent for future IT philanthropists to follow. Yet perhaps the saddest part of the OLPC story is that those who have followed Negroponte’s lead so far have done so as competitors who have benefited from the lessons he and his organization have had to learn the hard way. Intel has used them to gain positive PR for its business and the Indian government’s move smacks of a mix of political spin and protectionism, but it is hard to imagine any of these motives being in Negroponte’s mind when he founded OLPC. Those of us who have followed and supported him from the start can only hope that OLPC fights on and that future generations of electronic engineers will hold him in the high regard he so richly deserves. As for the future, a fitter and leaner OLPC is gearing up to deliver a second gen machine and repeat the 1 million laptop target with digital books, but the final words are best left to Negroponte: “The fact that there are 500,000 children around the world who have laptops is testament to their [OLPC’s staff’s] extraordinary work and is already a key part of OLPC’s legacy. The future brings with it some uncertainty, some difficulty, but also the excitement that comes with the rededication to a cause, and a new path that will allow us to realize the moral purpose of OLPC. I hope that each one of you will remain supportive of OLPC, and its mission of opening up a universe of knowledge to the world’s poorest children living in the most remote parts of the Earth.” http://www.laptop.org Vodafone Ireland announces ambitious emissions reduction plans Despite the current economic crisis, Vodafone Ireland is aiming to invest in reducing its CO2 emissions by 30% over the next two years by engaging employees with new initiatives on energy, transport and waste. The company already has a track record of success in reducing its carbon footprint – in 2007 it reported a reduction in energy consumption equal to 581 tons of CO2, cutting a massive €100,000 off its energy costs, and achieved a further 8% reduction last year. Boss Charles Butterworth said, “We have the ability to bring about positive change and encourage others to become 'greener'. Despite challenging economic times... a robust environmental strategy will provide strong benefits for all of our stakeholders and, more importantly, will allow us to play our part in combating the challenge that climate change presents.” http://www.vodafone.ie 79
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