NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

New Tech Gets Gold From Wastewater

Precious metals could be extracted from wastewater. The water we're talking about comes from recycling plants, where the process involves dissolving components in acid and water. That leaves small concentrations of precious metal in the water. Typically, this water is treated but most methods don't extract the tiny particles of metals left behind because it's been too expensive.

Researchers at Magpie Polymers, a French start-up company, think they've found a way to do it, though. The group has developed beads of a special resin, based on polystyrene, that bonds with metals dissolved in water. Passing the water over the resin leaves the metals behind.

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This accomplishes two things: it removes metals so they can be used again and it purifyies the water. Etienne Almoric, administrative and commercial director of the company, told Discovery News that the resin can get the concentrations down to micrograms per liter, or parts per billion. For many metals that's below the limits considered safe to drink by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

It takes about a quart of the resin to filter out anywhere from five to ten cubic yards of water, which would yield a few ounces of metal. An ounce of gold sells for about $1,700 at current prices. But even without the precious metals, disposing of electronics in an environmentally friendly fashion will mean removing the toxic ones such as lead in any case.

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The ability to filter out toxic metals is useful for recycling electronics, but it could also play a role in cleaning up water near, for example, mines, where huge pools of metal-laden water are often a serious environmental concern.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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Paper Laptops: Sturdy as Plastic

Laptops fill landfills, it's a fact. But what if there was one made of recycled material, and it was paper?

That may be the future if PEGA D&E, a Chinese design consultancy, has its way. The idea is to make a laptop shell -– the part that's usually made of non-recyclable ABS plastic -- out of a paper substance called Paper PP Alloy, a combination of recycled paper and polypropylene. Polypropylene is the same plastic used in some furniture and food containers (it's popular for the latter because it can go in a hot dishwasher without melting).

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The paper and plastic are joined in a composite but not mixed like a metal alloy. PEGA says the Paper PP Alloy is just as strong as ABS, and it can even be injection-molded.

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PEGA has thrown out laptop designs before, one inspired by Italian furniture, which exposes some of the metal frame to reduce the amount of plastic used. PEGA has also designed laptops using bamboo and cellulose acetate.

Both the paper and the plastic in the composite are recyclable -- polypropylene has the "5" symbol you see on containers – so this could end up being the way to go for laptop manufacturers, especially as it doesn't require any new fabrication methods.

Image: PEGA D&E

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Geeky 'Sandals' Are Made from PC Motherboards

Data Sandals: $350

There are many ways to express your inner geek, but it's hard to imagine one that will win you more admiration from your peers than these handcrafted Data Sandals. Fashioned from a variety of computer components, they're also the ideal gift for the uber geek who has everything.

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Computer motherboards, ribbon wire and a host of other electronic components all unite as one in these Data Sandals, which are the creation of New Jersey art studio PCB Creations. They're cool, they're highly detailed and they're one of a kind; the only thing they're really not is wearable. Display them, gently fondle them or stare at them in awe -- just don't put them on.

[Via Gizmodiva]

Credit: PCB Creations

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Antenna Scavenges Excess Wireless Signals

We've seen how stray wireless signals can be illuminated for art, but for aesthetes who want more function and less form out of the invisible networks streaming all around us, lend an ear.

A team of researchers at Georgia Tech, led by Manos Tentzeris, a professor in the university's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, have built a simple antenna that can harvest stray energy transmitted from radio, television and cell phone signals.  

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"There is a large amount of electromagnetic energy all around us, but nobody has been able to tap into it," said Tentzeris in a university press release. "We are using an ultra-wideband antenna that lets us exploit a variety of signals in different frequency ranges, giving us greatly increased power-gathering capability."

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An antenna may not sound like a very interesting device, but the cool part is that Tentzeris and his team made the antenna using an inkjet printer.

The antenna's electrical components and circuits were printed using nanoparticle "ink" on paper and a flexible polymer.

"We can now print circuits that are capable of functioning at up to 15 GHz -- 60 GHz if we print on a polymer," said Rushi Vyas, a graduate student working on the project.

At present, the antenna can capture the stray energy of radio signals ranging from FM to radar. Once it harvests the energy, it converts it from AC to DC and then stores it on a battery.

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The scavenging device could also piggy-back with other energy-generating technologies like solar cells. During the day, the solar cells could be gathering energy from the sun, while the antenna is harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy. At night, when the sun goes down, the antenna can continue to work, thereby increasing the overall power output of the solar cells.

The researchers anticipate the autonomous, paper-based wireless sensors will not only be available soon, but will also be affordable.  

Credit: Georgia Tech, Gary Meek

[Via TheRegister]

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Exhibit Visualizes the Journey of Discarded Electronics

Ever wonder where that old cow-boxed Gateway computer you had in high school ended up? After you upgraded to a faster, slicker computer, maybe you passed it along to a younger cousin, donated it to a church, or dumped it off at Goodwill.

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When you parted ways, you may have considered it the end of the computer's life. Think again. That computer had a second, possibly even a third existence in places like Kolkata, India.

To help you visualize this globe-trotting second life, some MIT researchers have created a series of real-time visualizations and videos that are part of a new exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

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The visualizations highlight the "second-life" of used computers when they're adopted by new owners and, as well, illustrate the large volumes of electronic waste that is generated annually. The project is called backtalk and part of MOMA's new exhibition, "Talk To Me: Design and the Communication Between People and Objects," which opens to the public on July 24th.

"As our objects, buildings and cities become digitally controlled and ‘smarter', they are also being embedded with an increasing amount of electronics,” said Carlo Ratti in an MIT press release. Ratti is director of the MIT Senseable City Lab, the group responsible for backtalk.

“But what happens to these electronics once they are discarded?" asked Ratti. "This is what our project set out to explore. Initial results provide an unprecedented glimpse into the global e-waste chain and its patterns of reuse and disposal."

The team developed two different tracking technologies to follow the discarded electronics as they're recycled around the globe. They also partnered with several non-governmental organizations who ship used, donated computers from the U.S. to developing countries. Reused laptops were programmed to detect their location and capture images of their new users with built in cameras. After the new owners gave their consent, data was then sent to MIT in real-time and used to build visual narratives about the computers second lives.

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The second aspect of the visualization reveals the traces of e-waste as it it disperses across the United States. The team used GPS-enabled wireless location trackers top map the paths of batteries, cell phones, printer cartidges and other devices scrapped by volunteers in Seattle, Washington.

“The large volumes of electronic refuse generated annually present both a toxic liability and a potentially valuable resource,” said Assaf Biderman, the lab’s Associate Director. “One of the consequences of digitizing our everyday objects is that the data they capture provides us with new information about the impact of our actions – from what we consume, to the waste we discard, and to the things we give away.”

[Via MIT]

Caption: The recorded trajectories of cell phones, batteries and printer cartridges, discarded in Seattle, WA. Credit: MIT Senseable City Lab

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Gadget Resale Service Helps You Get Top Dollar

uSell Gadget Resale Service: Free

It's easy to love gadgets, but one common result is that you tend to end up with a lot of them. When it's time to unload some of that used technological goodness, a new service promises to help you find the buyer willing to pay you the best price.

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There are countless other services out there for reselling used electronics, of course, but uSell's new approach is to search the sites of multiple buyer companies and find the one that's willing to pay the most for what you have. All you need do is enter in what you're looking to sell along with a description of its condition, and uSell returns one or more resale options including the price the buyer is willing to pay. You can then pick the offer you like best, send in your device and get paid. If you find a better deal on another site within 24 hours of selling on uSell, it even promises to pay you the difference. The hardest part, no doubt, will be resisting the urge to spend your newfound cash on yet another gadget.

Credit: uSell

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Sculpture 'Room' Made from Discarded Computers

Polish sculptor Marek Tomasik (above) has spent the last three years collecting thousands of discarded computer parts and turning them into a walk-in sculpture called "Sometimes You Have To Be Open." (Click on that link for a 3D, panoramic view.) The room-sized piece of art measures 16' x 14' x 15' and is made mostly of old computers and wood. Watch the video below to see more of the exhibit, which is open in a historic castle in Swiecie, Poland.

[Via Gizmag and Inhabitat]

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Immortal Computers Never Grow Old

When it comes to computers, any hardware over two years old is considered middle-aged and anything over five years is considered ancient. Updating old computers is an expensive endeavor, particularly for business, and it's even more painful for nonprofit organizations or school systems with limited budgets. And the cycle of exchanging old electronics for new, after just a few years, increases the amount of e-waste that's shipped overseas or dumped into landfills.

"If you could break that pattern of planned obsolescence, you would generate huge savings, not just on the economic level, but from an environmental standpoint as well," twenty-five-year-old innovator, Jonathan Hefter told a New York Observer reporter.

Hefter has an idea to do just that. He's created a way for people to use an older model computer as a "virtual desktop," outsourcing its processing power, memory and operating system to another piece of equipment located down the hall. The so-called "juicebox" -- the size of a pizza box-size -- is capabl;e of powering hundreds of terminals on a cloud-based network, and can be updated for a fraction of the cost of updating those hundreds of terminals.

Hefter founded a company for this hardware-saving venture: Neverware. The name, as he told, was chosen "'Because with us, [consumers] will never have to buy a new computer again.'" An autodidactic technologist (his degree is in economics), Hefter created a prototype of the virtual desktop on his own in less than a year. He began working to start up Neverware in New York with Dogpatch Labs, an entrepreneurial incubator, until just recently; Hefter now works on the project with education technology organization Startl.

A simple and elegant idea, can the technology behind Neverware really be that incredible? Hefter claims he could transform a setup of 160 traditional PC's in a school into a Neverware system that powers all the computers with just two juiceboxes. An entire system updated with no dangerous e-waste, and all for $20,000? In this case study (also from the Observer article), HP replaced all 160 PC's with newer models for about five times as much money -- with two tons of e-waste. And as we've all heard repeatedly, that's some of the most hazardous waste on the planet. So I, for one, hope Hefter's solution is truly as remarkable as it sounds. He's up against every hardware manufacturing giant out there, but with economics, logic, and bucket loads of Earth-lovers' warm fuzzies on his side, Neverware might prevail.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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E-waste Laws Make Everyone Recycle

Lights and festive décor still adorn houses, opened presents still have their "new gift" tags, small, discarded wrappings are in the trash, and hosts of bloated trash cans line the alley ways: the holidays are almost gone. But if any of those trashcans contains electronics, law enforcement officials might soon show up.

With the popularity of high-tech gifts, concerns about pollution and the growing amount of American waste all at a high, legislation around the country is mandating that consumers recycle rather than dump certain electronics.

Dubbed e-waste, electronics in landfills can leak toxins, including arsenic and lead, which eventually leach  into the soil and water supply. Some estimates say that nearly 70 percent of used computers and monitors in the United States will end up in landfills. Not only does this pollute, but it also means that precious metals like gold and silver are not recovered. As reporter Chris Carroll describes in his article High-Tech Trash, recycling gold from computers “is far more efficient and less environmentally destructive than ripping it from the earth.”

According to the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, 65 percent of Americans are now affected by e-waste laws, which usually mandate that either the manufacturer provides recycling programs or prohibits what the consumer is allowed to throw out with the trash. On the coalition's website, you can see a breakdown of the legislation that has been passed state by state.

Some of these laws have been put into place right in time for the holidays. Before Thanksgiving leftovers were gone, Pennsylvania set statewide guidelines for producers and consumers of electronics about recycling and landfill use. New Jersey and Indiana both have laws going into effect on New Year's Day to ensure e-waste is taken care of safely. And, though the start of the program will have missed the busiest consumer season, New York also recently announced that beginning in April, residents will be able to recycle their old electronics for free.

Conscientious citizens still have plenty of ways to take on e-waste disposal themselves. For a thorough list of where to recycle electronics, check out this New York Times article about Christmas Cleanup. Some places will even give cash back for goods. Perfect for saving up to get an iPad or the new Droid.

Photo: Getty Images/Paul Viant

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Disassemble This Laptop in Thirty Seconds

Many of the items that we use each day are technically recyclable, from the aluminum cans we drink soda from to the very computer screen on which you read these words. But that doesn't necessarily mean people will recycle those items. 

Lots of plastic water bottles end up in landfills and many electronics are shipped overseas to be disassembled, exposing people to hazardous substances. So-called "blood cell phones" fuel human rights abuses.

Some resourceful graduate students at Stanford University set out to change all that by designing a laptop computer that can be easily recycled. The idea is that the easier it is to separate a laptop's plastic innards from the metal stuff, the more likely it is they will be recycled in a responsible way.

The Bloom laptop can be completely disassembled in less than 30 seconds. Compare that to a traditional laptop, which would required three tools and take a skilled person 45 minutes to finish taking apart.

The company whose software was used in the computer help put this video together, and it's worth a gander:

To learn more about electronic waste, read our past coverage:

Wide Angle: E-Waste

Photo: Courtesy of Aaron Engel-Hall

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