The best of the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, so far
By Laura June 
posted Feb 3rd 2009 11:23AM
posted Feb 3rd 2009 11:23AM
The Greener Gadgets Conference is coming up in a few weeks here, so we thought we'd bring you some highlights of the design competition it's sponsoring. First up, Recompute is a fully sustainable design for a desktop computer -- meaning that it makes use of low-impact manufacturing, uses fully recycled materials, and is easily dismantled at the end of its life for... you guessed it: more recycling. We don't have full specs on this puppy right now, but we know it's got 8 USB ports, and that we're getting one if it ever makes it to production. Also in the running is the RITI eco-friendly printer, which uses coffee and / or tea dregs in place of costly, old, boring and non-eco-friendly ink. The printer is also manually operated, and does not use electricity -- which may not make it the speediest device in the world -- but we don't print that much, anyway. Next up, there's Harddrive -- which is a simple USB flash drive encased in concrete to stave off harmful leaching into landfills once disposed of -- though the concrete obviously makes the drive a bit nastier to haul around town. Finally, the Inlet Outlet is a whole-home concept that combines a standard outlet -- which eats up the juice -- with an inlet right next to it, which returns some electricity to the grid. The design is for adapter kits which could easily be used to green up your home. Votes are being tabulated online for the Greener Gadgets Competition, whose winners will be announced on February 27, 2009, at the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York. Check the gallery for more photos of the submissions.
[Via Inhabitat]
[Via Inhabitat]
I kinda like the cardboard computer case.
I like the design. Now the xbox will get a contender in the "burn this house" competition...
Yes, I think it can be a fire hazard as well.
Yeah, fire hazard much? Maybe it's incredibly unlikely that something could light that cardboard on fire, but man it'd make me nervous to have a paper case. Why not use old soda cans?
Yeah, I had a friend who couldn't afford a case so used cardboard boxes. Which was great until the fans sparked. -.-;
On a 24/7 home server, no less.
Have any of you seen hobocomp.com? A server running out of a cardboard box, no less.
Is it really green if you have 20 USB things plugged in?
Yeah, and it looks just how I imagined it would, ugh.
Nice!
I'd like to see that get past FCC regulations...
Was wondering the same thing.. I never thought of cardboard as being a good RF shield.
The hard drive looks like a failure.
I have a hard enough time keeping up with my data without building my entire house out of thumb drives!
Agreed. Also, concrete manufacturing creates a lot of CO2, so fails on the 'green' front too!
Some people don't known or don't want to known but many metals (for example, the material used in computer case) can be recycled at full while paper and carton cannot be recycled at 100% and must pass a process to re-add resins and other chemical component.
This is why Apple strives to make a large percentage of the material used in their newer computers 100% aluminum.
A flammable case for an appliance that generates significant heat.
Yeah, ironic and ill advised. All I could think about was one spilled drink and the case is history.
HAHAHA! Exactly my thoughts. What the hell are they thinking?
If any part of your computer generates enough heat to burn paper products, there's something wrong with it.
Not that it is supposed to generate that much heat. However, if there are laptops catching fire here and there, this thing is due to being much more of a problem. Especially with the amount of fire this thing would generate.
Don't laptops normally catch fire because of Sony batteries? Not other hardware, right?
i hope the case isn't designed to be a heat sync.
Green? more like a smoke filled black.
Maybe if Silverstone or Lian Li made something like this that you could actually manage then more people would be intrested.
it even converts to a cozy fire if you take out the fan and start overclocking!
Apple, stick with aluminum.
My current PC still uses the ATX case I bought back in 1999. I doubt this cardboard box is any "greener" than an SECC case that can be used for 10+ years.
Apple, stick with aluminum.
so lets say the power supply burned out... how do you go in and change it, or do you have to rip the whole thing and glue it back together?
Interesting idea but a better material could be used.
Craft Knife and PVC is all you require to satisfy your servicing/modding needs. Screw blue LEDs, stuck-on bits of painted pasta are going to be the latest craze when this badboy hits the market.
I applaud your idea and now want to see this thing covered in elbow macaroni and glitter in time for Valentines Day.
I dont see how this kind of thing can help to prevent global warming
can we be sure the carboard wonder is not the new $20 indian "sakshat" computer?
This could open the door for other paper computers - like paper mache, rice paper, newspapers..
The heat appears to be in question, but I doubt anyone's computer achieves 451F ambient.
I don't think the heat production of a normally operating PC would be the actual issue, but rather when a problem happens. For example, say your PSU dies and throws a spark, or even a small flame, in the process. In a standard PC nothing much is likely to happen, but in a case like this I'd say it's highly likely that the entire case is going to catch fire and take anything nearby with it.
Is IKEA opening an electronics department?
Man. if this is the best of the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, imagine the worst.
forget the cardboard computer, where does the inlet get it's power from? do i just plug in my hopes and dreams machine and fill my house with electric? does it store in a non-eco friendly battery?
(i get that it comes from crap like solar panels, just pointing out that its pretty dumb that the idea is a plug and pretty much already exists)
Hahaha! Its all good until a single fan stops working, and your house burns down! Talk about a firestarter! Good God people what are you thinking!
I made a cardboard box computer when I was a kid. Out of a 486DX4 100mhz in a baby AT form factor. I got a job at a computer shop with it!
Corrugated Cardboard is actually fire resistant stuff. Think about the frozen pizzas you bake in your oven. You put those on corrugated cardboard and set the oven to 350°F and it's fine, it takes a lot of heat for it to even smolder and a significant amount more to catch fire. Now think about how easily plastic melts...
http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/ware/papier/wellpapp/wellpapp.htm#selbsterhitzung
Corrugated Cardboard fire point is 258°C (486°F), the ignition temperature 427°C (800°F)
You don't put the cardboard in the oven, you either put the pizza directly on the rack, or on a pizza pan.
Digg the Cardboard computer case!
http://digg.com/design/GENIUS_A_Completely_CARDBOARD_Computer_Case
It may burn if you use fancy video cards.
A bunch more are ludicrously over engineered solutions to non-problems.
One of the entrants appears to have 'invented' the bucket. All you need to do is replace your sink...?
http://www.core77.com/greenergadgets/entry.php?projectid=60
A rocking chair with a dynamo to power a reading light - fun, maybe? green no! What is the embodied energy to 'save' 1W to power an LED reading light direct from the grid?
http://www.core77.com/greenergadgets/entry.php?projectid=62
Even Stanford appears to have submitted a force-feedback, network connected light switch to encourage you to think about not turning on the light?!? Energy payback in the lifetime of the moving and electronic parts - I doubt it.
If this is the best we can do the planet is doomed - Buy fewer things and keep them longer!
Looks like it will double as a cat scratcher.